Many put their faith in him.
These are the same “the Jews” as before.
Not “all” but “many. More on this in the following verse but let’s focus on the many. We don’t even know if this is a majority of those present. It is an ambiguous term: many. Not most. So who believed and why? We can rule out peer pressure causing them to believe. In fact there may have been peer pressure in the opposite direction. Remember recently Jesus was so unpopular in these parts that there were credible death threats against him, possibly by some of these same people. Publicly admitting you think he raised a dead man to life and putting your faith in him was risky. It doesn’t appear to be the case that the believers out numbered the doubters.
How about the idea that many people were gullible or stupid? Possible, although I think more people are skeptical than not in any crowd.
The thing that’s so hard about God’s scheme for gaining children and not slaves, is that it requires subtlety not violence. He isn’t forcing anyone to believe therefore there must always be room for doubt. There’s coming a day when he will reveal himself utterly, but that day will be the day all knees bend involuntarily. Resurrection is a violent act, perhaps the most violent because it breaks the most ancient curse of sin and causes the clocks to run backward. If it was shown too clearly it would compel belief without faith. This is why the working here is important. The many didn’t just believe Lazarus was raised from the dead; they put their faith - trust - in the person of Jesus, the resurrector. It’s much more reasonable to ask ourselves if we could believe our own eyes if we were there when this happened. Search inside. See how easily you can dismiss miracles. We need assurance from the Holy Spirit even to believe what we see first hand - contrary to the popular saying, seeing is not believing. This fits with what we know God is up to in the world: sons and daughters who choose to believe the unbelievable because He has shown it to them. The two trees again and again. Here is a man raised from the dead. Tree of knowledge? Impossible. Must be hiding something or deceiving me. Tree of life? I believe and put my faith in you Jesus even though it makes no sense.
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