John 11:48

the Romans will come They do not inquire whether He is or is not the Messiah; they look solely to the consequences of admitting that He is. "The Sanhedrin, especially the Pharisaic section of it, was a national and patriotic body. It was the inheritor and guardian of the Rabbinical theories as to the Messiah. There can have been no class in the nation in which these were so inveterately ingrained, and therefore none that was so little accessible to the teaching of Jesus. It was from first to last unintelligible to them. It seemed to abandon all the national hopes and privileges, and to make it a sin to defend them. If it were successful, it seemed as if it must leave the field open to the Romans … It is rarely in ancient literature that we find a highly complicated situation so well understood and described." S. pp. 188, 189. This last remark is eminently true of the whole narrative portion of the Fourth Gospel.

our place and nation -Our" is very emphatic; both our placeand our nation. -Place" is perhaps best understood of Jerusalem, the seat of the Sanhedrin, and the abode of the bulk of the hierarchy. Other interpretations are (1) the Temple, comp. 2Ma 5:19; (2) the whole land; so that the expression means -our land and people," which is illogical: the land may be taken from the people, or the people from the land, but how can both be taken away? (3) -position, raison d"être." In any case the sentiment is parallel to that of Demetrius, and his fellow-craftsmen (Acts 19:27). They profess to be very zealous for religion, but cannot conceal their interested motives.