Matthew Poole and continuators on John 11:1

NOw a certain man was sick, named Lazarus of Bethany , the town of Mary and her sister Martha .

Bethany, (as appeareth by ver. 18.) was nigh unto Ierusalem, not wholly at two miles distance from it: but our Saviour was at this time in Iudea, for ver. 7. he saith to his Disciples, Let us go into Iudea. Again, he was at this time in Galilee, or in Peraea: and we shall find ver. 17. That Lazarus had been in his grave four days, before our Saviour got thither: So as we must allow at least six or seven days betwixt the time when Christ heard of Lazarus his Sickness, and the time when our Saviour came to Bethany.

This B[illegible: 1 letter]thany is here onely described to us, as the place where Martha and Mary lived, or at least where they were born: Some think that Bethany was onely a part of the Mount Olivet; but others more probably, think that it was some little Town or City, standing within that part of the Mount Olivet; for it is here called a Town, and Luke 10.38, 39. the place where these two Sisters lived, is called a Village.