John 7 - Introduction
CHAPTER 7. _ At the Feast_.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 7. _ At the Feast_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Having described the crisis in Galilee the evangelist proceeds to describe the various opinions and discussions held regarding Jesus in Jerusalem. See Sanday, p. 144. In chap. 6, a Passover was said to be at hand; but Jesus did not go to it, but continued to go about teaching in Galilee, περιεπάτει... [ Continue Reading ]
_The circumstances of His visit to Jerusalem_.... [ Continue Reading ]
But occasion arose for His abandoning His purpose to remain in Galilee. ἦν δὲ … σκηνοπηγία. In Hebrew חַג הַסֻּכּוֹת (Leviticus 23:34), the Feast of Succoth, or Booths, in Greek σκηνοπηγία, the fixing of tents; so called because in this Feast the Jews commemorated how their fathers had dwelt in tent... [ Continue Reading ]
The desirableness of doing so is urged by His brothers. εἶπον … τῷ κόσμῳ. The reason they advanced was “that Thy disciples also may see Thy works which Thou doest”. καὶ οἱ μαθηταί σου seems to imply that since the Feeding of the Five Thousand in April, Jesus had been living in comparative retirement... [ Continue Reading ]
It is indeed added οὐδὲ γὰρ … αὐτόν, “For not even did His brothers believe in Him”; but this does not mean that they did not believe He wrought miracles, but that they had not submitted to His claim to be Messiah. They required to see Him publicly acknowledged before they could believe. Therefore t... [ Continue Reading ]
His answer was ὁ καιρὸς ὁ ἐμὸς οὔπω πάρεστιν … ἕτοιμος. The time for my manifestation to the authorities as Messiah is not yet come; but no time is inappropriate or unsafe for you to show yourselves.... [ Continue Reading ]
The reason of the different procedure lies in the different relation to the world held by Jesus and His brothers. οὐ δύναται … ἐστιν. There is no danger of your incurring the world's hatred by anything you do or say; because your wishes and actions are in the world's own spirit. But me the world hat... [ Continue Reading ]
ὑμεῖς … πεπλήρωται “Go ye up to the feast. I go not up yet to this Feast, for my time is not yet fulfilled.” His time for manifesting Himself publicly was not yet come, and therefore He did not wish to go up to the feast _with His brothers_, who were eager for some public display. Had He gone in the... [ Continue Reading ]
He therefore remained where He was.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὡς δὲ ἀνέβησαν … κρυπτῷ. “But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the Feast, not openly, but, as it were, in secret.” That is to say, He went up, but not at His brothers' instigation, nor with the publicity they had recommended. [Of course if we read in John 7:8 ἔγω οὐκ ἀναβαίνω a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Disappointment at Jesus' non-appearance_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Οἱ οὖν Ἰουδαῖοι … ἐκεῖνος; “the Jews,” possibly, as usual in John, the authorities (so Meyer, Weiss, etc.), and thus in contrast to the ὄχλοι of John 7:12; but John 7:15 rather indicates that the term is used more generally. They looked for Him, expecting that He would appear at least at this third... [ Continue Reading ]
Among the masses (ἐν τοῖς ὄχλοις) there was γογγυσμὸς πολύς regarding Him; not “murmuring,” as R.V [59], but rather “whispering,” suppressed discussion in low tones, in corners, and among friends; “halblaute Mittheilung entgegengesetzter Ansichten” (Holtzmann), “viel im Volke über ihn herumgeredet”... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἤδη δὲ τῆς ἑορτῆς μεσοῦσης. “But when it was now mid-feast,” _i.e._, the fourth day. μεσοῦν is commonly used in this sense: ἡμέρα μεσοῦσα, midday; θέρος μεσοῦν, midsummer. ἀνέβν … ἐδίδασκε. “Jesus went up to the temple and taught”; see John 18:20; He did not go to Jerusalem to seclude Himself and wo... [ Continue Reading ]
_He teaches, and discussions regarding Him are evoked_. John 7:37 -end. _His manifestation on the last day of the Feast, and the consequent action of the Sanhedrim_. John 7:14-36. _The teaching of Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles_. [Spitta supposes that the original place of paragraph John 7:15-24... [ Continue Reading ]
But though not received from them, it was a derived teaching. He is not self-taught. Ἡ ἐμὴ διδαχὴ … με. The teaching which I give has not its source in my knowledge but in Him that sent me. “Der Autodidakt in Wahrheit ein Theodidakt ist,” Holtzmann. The truest self-renunciation is the highest claim.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐάν τις … λαλῶ. “If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know concerning the teaching, whether it is of God (or from God) or I speak from myself.” As Jesus everywhere asserts (John 5:46; John 18:37), he who thirsts for God will recognise Him as God's messenger; he who hungers for righteousness i... [ Continue Reading ]
There are also two different kinds of teachers: the one ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ λαλῶν, speaks his own mind, teaches his own ideas, does not represent God and reveal His mind; because he τὴν δόξαν τὴν ἰδίαν ζητεῖ, “seeks his own glory,” which of course cannot be reached by representing himself to be merely the he... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐ Μωσῆς … ἀποκτεῖναι. The connection is not obvious, but seems to be this: You reject my teaching, but that is not surprising, for you reject Moses' also (_cf._ John 5:39; John 5:45-47). “Did not Moses give you the law?” or, “Hath not Moses given you the law?” [the point of interrogation should be... [ Continue Reading ]
This, some of the crowd think mere raving. He is a monomaniac labouring under a hallucination that people wish to kill Him. Δαιμόνιον … ἀποκτεῖναι; This question, repudiating the idea that any one seeks to slay Him, needs no answer and gets none.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jesus prefers to expose the unjustifiable character of the hostility which pursued Him (John 7:16). Referring to the miracle wrought at Bethesda, and which gave occasion to this hostility, He says ἕν ἔργον … σαββάτω. One single work I did and ye all marvel [are horrified or scandalised]; for this sa... [ Continue Reading ]
_Opinion of inhabitants of Jerusalem regarding Jesus_. Knowing the hostility of the authorities, they express surprise that Jesus should be allowed to teach openly; and wonder whether the authorities themselves can have changed their opinion about Him. This they find it difficult to believe, because... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἔλεγον οὖν, in consequence of the bold denunciation which they had heard from the lips of Jesus. τινὲς ἐκ τῶν Ἱεροσολυμιτῶν [or Ἱεροσολυμειτῶν, or Ἰεροσολυμειτῶν], distinct from the ὄχλος of John 7:20, which was unaware of any intention to kill Him; but themselves not so familiar as the Galileans wi... [ Continue Reading ]
For, πολλοὶ … Here as usual alongside of the hostility evoked by the deeds and words of Jesus faith also was evoked; faith which suggested covertly that He might be the Messiah. ὁ Χριστὸς ὅταν ἔλθῃ, “When the Christ comes will He do more signs than this man has done?”... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἤκουσαν … αὐτόν. The Pharisees, perceiving that many of the people were coming under the influence of Jesus, determined to put a stop to His teaching, and persuaded the Sanhedrim [οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ φαρισαῖοι] to send officers to apprehend Him.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Sanhedrim takes action regarding Jesus_.... [ Continue Reading ]
εἶπεν οὖν αὐτοῖς [αὐτοῖς omitted by modern editors] ἔτι μικρὸν χρόνον … πέμψαντά με. Seeing the servants of the Sanhedrim [οὖν], Jesus said to the crowd: “Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go to Him that sent me”. The “little while” is prompted by the actively hostile step taken by the Sa... [ Continue Reading ]
In John 7:34 He views with pity (_cf._ “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” etc.) their too late awakening to a sense of their need: ζητήσετέ με καὶ οὐκ εὑρήσετε. “The tragic history of the Jewish people since their rejection of Jesus as Christ is condensed into these words,” Reith. _Cf._ Luke 17:22, “The days... [ Continue Reading ]
This was quite unintelligible to the Jews, εἶπον οὖν … ἐλθεῖν. The only meaning they could put upon His words was that, finding no reception among the Jews of Judaea and Galilee, He intended to go to the Jews of the Dispersion and teach them and the Greeks among whom they lived. The διασπορὰ τῶν Ἑλλ... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν δὲ τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ … This exact specification of time is given that we may understand the significance of the words uttered by Jesus. The Feast of Tabernacles lasted for seven days (Leviticus 23:34; Nehemiah 8:18), and on the eighth day was “an holy convocation,” on which the people celebrated th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus proclaims His ability to quench human thirst with living water_.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ πιστεύων … ζῶντος. [The nominative absolute is common.] No Scripture gives the words _verbatim_. Isaiah 58:11 has: “The Lord shall satisfy thy soul in drought: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not”. _Cf._ John 4:14. The words seem to intimate th... [ Continue Reading ]
τοῦτο … ἐδοξάσθη, for these words apparently refer to Pentecost, the initial outpouring of the Spirit, when it once for all became manifest that the Spirit's presence did not turn men's thoughts in upon themselves, and their own spiritual anxieties and prospects, but prompted them to communicate to... [ Continue Reading ]
The immediate results of this declaration were twofold. In some faith was elicited: many of the crowd said: “This is of a truth the prophet”; others, going a step further, said: “This is the Christ”. On the relation of “the prophet” to “the Christ,” see on John 1:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
But others, either honestly perplexed, or hostile to Christ, and glad to find Scripture on their side, objected, μὴ γὰρ ἐκ τῆς Γαλιλαίας ὁ Χριστὸς ἔρχεται; “But does the Christ come out of Galilee?” [Hoogeveen explains the γάρ by resolving the sentence into a double statement: “Others said this is n... [ Continue Reading ]
Σχίσμα … χεῖρας. On this verse Calvin has the following pertinent remark: “quaecunque dissidia emergunt quum praedicatur Evangelium, eorum causa et semen prius in hominibus latebant; sed tunc demum quasi ex somno expergefacti se movere incipiunt, qualiter vapores aliunde quam a sole procreantur, qua... [ Continue Reading ]
ἦλθον οὖν … αὐτόν. It now appears that the οὐδεὶς of the preceding clause applies even to the officers sent by the Sanhedrim. They returned empty-handed πρὸς τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ φαρισαίους, that is, as the single article shows, to the Sanhedrim, or at any rate to these parties acting together and off... [ Continue Reading ]
_Anger of the Sanhedrim on receiving the report of their officers_.... [ Continue Reading ]
The servants frankly reply: οὐδέποτε … ἄνθρωπος. The testimony is notable, because the officers of a court are apt to be entirely mechanical and leave all responsibility for their actions with their superiors. Also it is remarkable that the same result should have found place with them all; for in v... [ Continue Reading ]
But their apology only rouses the indignation of those who had sent them, μὴ καὶ ὑμεῖς πεπλάνησθε; Are ye also, of whom better things might have been expected, deluded? μή τις … φαρισαίων; What right have subordinates to have a mind of their own? Wait till some of the constituted authorities or of t... [ Continue Reading ]
To this strong expression one of their own number (and therefore to their great surprise), Nicodemus, the same person who had visited Jesus under cover of night, takes exception and makes a protest. [Tisch [61] deletes the clause ὁ ἐλθὼν νυκτὸς πρὸς αὐτόν, and no doubt it has quite the appearance of... [ Continue Reading ]
This remonstrance is exasperatingly true, and turns the bitterness of the Pharisaic party on Nicod mus, μὴ καὶ … ἐγήγερται. “Art thou also, as well as Jesus, from Galilee, and thus disposed to befriend your countryman?” _Cf._ Mark 14:70. By this they betray that their own hostility was a merely pers... [ Continue Reading ]