John 11:13

(13) They thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.—These words forbid the thought that they really understood that Lazarus was dead, but did not wish to seem to know it. Three of them, indeed, had heard our Lord apply the word “sleep” to death before (Mat_9:24), but this instance of misunderstanding on their part takes its place with others of a like kind, as showing that the surface meaning of words was that which naturally suggested itself to them. (Comp. Mat_16:6-12, and Luk_22:38) It is not likely that all “the three” were present during this interview. If it took place at Tellanihje, then the nearness of Bethsaida and the other towns of Galilee may have led some of the Twelve to visit their old homes. (Comp. Joh_1:28; Joh_1:48 et seq.) We can hardly imagine that Peter was present without taking a prominent part in the conversation, or that Thomas would have been in his presence the representative speaker (Joh_11:16). His absence may be taken as one of the reasons why the account of the miracle which follows is absent from St. Mark’s Gospel, which is, like St. John’s, the Gospel of an eye-witness. (Comp. Introduction to St. Mark, p. 189, and Excursus E: The Omission of the Raising of Lazarus, in the Synoptic Gospels.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. Howbeit Jesus spake] Or, Now Jesus had spoken.

had spoken] spake.

taking of rest in sleep] The word here translated ‘taking of rest’ corresponds to ‘sleepeth’ or ‘is gone to rest’ in Joh_11:11, and ‘to sleep’ in Joh_11:12. The word translated ‘awake him out of sleep’ in Joh_11:11 is a compound of the word here rendered, ‘sleep.’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Howbeit Jesus spake of his death,.... Under the figurative phrase of sleeping:

but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep; in a literal and natural sense.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.

Ver. 13. Jesus spake of his death] Which profane writers also do call a sleep, but only because the functions of the faculties are extinct by death; therefore they call it an iron sleep, an eternal sleep, &c. Christians call death a sleep, because it is to them a sweet rest in their beds, warmed and perfumed for them by Christ’s body laid in the grave; with whom also they look to rise to life eternal. Ut somnus morris, sic lectus imago sepulchri. "Thy dead men shall live, with my dead body shall they arise," Isa 26:19.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But that the disciples should not understand our Saviour not speaking of ordinary sleep, but of death, is wonderful, considering that there is nothing more ordinary in holy writ than to read of death expressed under this notion; but possibly by our Saviour’s making such haste to him, they conceived that he was not dead, but only in an ordinary sleep, upon the abatement of his disease.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Now Jesus had spoken of his death: but they thought that he spake of taking rest in sleep. Legei , though in the present tense, represents a time anterior to the time of edoxan . Koimhsiv is found in Ecc 46:19. This is an explanation of the misunderstanding, occasioned, perhaps, by the statement of ver. 4, and further elucidated by what follows. A difference prevails between koimhsiv and upnov as both words are used for sleep; but the former has rather the idea of the repose accompanying sleep, the latter the phenomenon itself. With one or two exceptions, koimasyai is always used in the New Testament of the sleep of death, upnov never.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. τ. κοιμ. τ. ὕπν. Recalling κεκοίμηται and ἐξυπνίσω in Joh 11:11.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. εἰρήκει δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς κτλ., “But Jesus had been speaking about his death.” This is one of those parenthetical comments which are so frequent in the Fourth Gospel (see Introd., p. xxxiv), the writer calling attention to a misunderstanding by the disciples of the words of Jesus. They thought that Jesus was using the word κοιμᾶσθαι of natural sleep, whereas he was really using it of death.

ἐκεῖνοι δὲ ἔδοξαν κτλ., “but they thought, etc.,” ἐκεῖνος being employed to mark distinctly the subject of the verb. It is often used by Jn. to make his point, just as an English writer may resort to italics for the sake of clearness (see on 1:8).

κοίμησις does not occur again in the N.T. It is used euphemistically at Ecclus. 46:19, 48:13 of the sleep of death, but not elsewhere in the LXX in any sense.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Taking rest [κοιμησεως] . Akin to the verb in ver. 11 Wyc., the sleeping of sleep. Tyndale's Version of the New Testament, the natural sleep.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.