Resurrect Lazarus (Jn 11:1-44)
Was Lazarus buried according to Jewish burial customs?
‘John’ illustrates in explicit detail the raising of a single man: Lazarus.
(Jn 11:43-44) And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go”.
Unlike Jesus, Lazarus was not buried according to Jewish burial customs:
(Jn 19:38-40) After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took his body. 39 Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. 40 They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom.
Jesus’ body was bound with burial cloths along with the spices. The myrrh is a plant derivative that could be of several forms; one of them is oil (does not evaporate). The aloes are plant leaves (do not evaporate). Those leaves should have been smeared with myrrh. Those leaves should have been bound around the body with the burial cloth. And then the wrapped body should have been laid over even more leaves. But Lazarus was not prepared for burial according to the Jewish burial custom. ‘The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth.’ The myrrh and aloes and the burial cloths allover the body were missing.
If Lazarus were Wrapped ACCORDING to Jewish burial customs then he would not have been able to move, nor come out of the tomb by himself, simply because his whole body would still be wrapped!!! The mere fact that he came out first on his own and only later they untied his hands and feet, means that he was not wrapped allover, according to Jewish burial customs.
‘So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go”’ confirming that Lazarus was only ‘tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth’ but not his whole body.
Some Christians say that Lazarus was indeed wrapped allover his body according to Jewish burial customs, but God unwrapped him as part of the miracle. If that were the case, then why did God fall short of untying his hands and feet or at least unwrapping his face? '38 So Jesus perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.' 'John' testifies that Lazarus was in a CAVE (that can support life). Lazarus was NOT buried according to Jewish burial customs. ‘The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth.’ This is not Jewish burial custom. The burial cloths wrapped allover the body were missing. It is 'John' who witnessed and reported this. It is not that 'John' is lying; on the contrary, it is very fortunate for us to have 'John' as a witness so that we know how Jesus performed his fake ‘miracles’. Anyone can disappear for a while, tie himself up, wrap his face in a cloth, and then wait alive in a cave.
Some Christians say that Lazarus was not buried according to Jewish burial custom because his sisters were too poor and could not afford the burial cloths and the spices. But those Christians forgot that his sister, Mary, anointed the feet of Jesus with oil worth 300 days of wages. This proves that she had more than enough money for a Jewish burial. No, Lazarus was not buried according to Jewish burial customs.
Continue:
How did Jesus conspire
with Lazarus?
Why did Lazarus conspire with Jesus?
Why Marry in particular?
