John 7:30

Ver. 30. “ They sought therefore to take him; and yet no one laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. ”

The result of this strong protestation (therefore) was to confirm His declared enemies in the design of arresting Him. It is clear that the ζητεῖν (to seek) was an affair of the rulers, as in John 5:16; John 5:18. They were strengthened in their resolution of accomplishing it and in the search for the means of arriving at the result. But the appointed hour had not yet struck. The expression: his hour, does not designate that of His arrest (John 18:12), as Hengstenberg thinks, but that of His death as the result of His arrest (comp. John 7:8).

The divine decree, to which the evangelist alludes thereby, does not exclude second causes; on the contrary, it implies them. Among these, the interpreters make especially prominent the veneration with which the multitudes at this time regarded Jesus. Yes, assuredly; comp. Luke 20:19. But we may also think, with Hengstenberg, of the resistance which the conscience of His enemies was still opposing to the extreme measures to which their hatred was impelling them. When the hardening of their hearts was consummated and the Spirit of God ceased to restrain their hands, then the hour of Jesus struck. There is, therefore, no reason to assert, with Reuss, that “the historical interpretation of this verse creates a contradiction.” The sequel is about to show us a first attempt in the sense indicated, but one which fails precisely because the moral ground was not yet sufficiently prepared. This verse is thus the transition to the following narrative, which relates the first judicial measure taken against Jesus.