John 7:25-27

“ Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said therefore, Is not this man here the one whom they seek to kill? 26. And behold, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Can the rulers indeed have recognized the fact that he is the Christ? 27. But as for this man, we know whence he is, while as for the Christ, when he shall come, no one will know whence he is. ”

So great freedom and eclat in the preaching of Jesus struck some of the dwellers in Jerusalem with surprise (οὖν, therefore). Knowing the intentions of the priestly authorities better than the multitude who had come from outside (ὁ ὄχλος, of John 7:20), they were on the point of drawing from this fact conclusions favorable to Jesus; but they feel themselves arrested by an opinion which was generally spread abroad at that time, and which seemed to them irreconcilable with the supposition of His Messianic dignity: that the origin of the Messiah was to be entirely unknown. We find an opinion which is nearly related to this expressed by Justin. About the middle of the second century, this Father puts into the mouth of the Jew Trypho these words: “The Christ, even after His birth, is to remain unknown and not to know Himself and to be without power, until Elijah comes and anoints Him and reveals Him to all.” “Three things,” say the Rabbis, “come unexpectedly: the Messiah, the God- send and the scorpion” (Sanhedr. 97a, see Westcott).

This idea probably arose from the prophecies which announced the profound humiliation to which the family of David would be reduced at the time of the advent of the Christ (Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 53:2). It was true that it was not unknown, that the Messiah would be born at Bethlehem; but the words: whence He is, refer not to the locality, but to the parents and family of the Messiah. Those who speak thus imagine of course that they are acquainted with the origin of Jesus, in this second relation also. Comp. John 6:42. Thus they sacrifice the moral impression produced upon them by the person and word of the Lord to a mere critical objection: a bad method of reaching the truth!