The same line of thought as that which we have found in the two previous Chapter s is continued in that before us. He who is the Fulfiller of the Sabbath and of the Passover is the Fulfiller also of the great feast in which the festivals of the Jewish year culminated, that of Tabernacles. The first... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:1. AND AFTER THESE THINGS JESUS WALKED IN GALILEE: FOR HE WOULD NOT WALK IN JUDEA, BECAUSE THE JEWS SOUGHT TO KILL HIM. The events of chap. 6 belonged to the period of the Passover; chap. 7 is occupied with the feast of Tabernacles. The interval covered by the brief description of this verse,... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:2. AND THE FEAST OF THE JEWS, THE FEAST OF WAS AT HAND. This annual festival, the last of the three at which the men of Israel were required to present themselves before the Lord in Jerusalem, began on the 15 th of Tizri, that is, either late in September or early in October. It had a twofold... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:3. HIS BRETHREN THEREFORE SAID UNTO HIM, DEPART HENCE, AND GO INTO JUDEA, THAT THY DISCIPLES ALSO MAY BEHOLD THY WORKS THAT THOU DOEST. His brothers, in thus urging Him to depart into Judea, have distinctly in mind (as appears from John 7:8) the approaching feast and the concourse of people w... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:4. FOR NO ONE DOETH ANY THING IN SECRET, AND HIMSELF SEEKETH TO BE IN BOLDNESS. ‘To be in boldness' may seem a singular expression; the Greek words, however, will not admit of the rendering ‘to be known openly;' and it is clear that the form of the phrase is chosen so as to be in corresponden... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:5. FOR NOT EVEN DID HIS BRETHREN BELIEVE IN HIM. This verse seems to afford an unanswerable argument against those who hold that amongst these ‘brothers' of our Lord were included two or three of the twelve apostles. How long this unbelief lasted we cannot tell: the words of Paul in 1 Corinth... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:6. JESUS THEREFORE SAITH UNTO THEM, MY TIME IS NOT YET PRESENT, BUT YOUR TIME IS ALWAY READY. The answer is remarkably akin to that addressed to His mother in chap. John 2:4. Very different, probably, were the mother and the brethren in their measure of faith and in the motive of their words;... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:7. THE WORLD CANNOT HATE YOU; BUT ME IT HATETH, BECAUSE I BEAR WITNESS CONCERNING IT, THAT ITS WORKS ARE WICKED. Jesus takes up the word which they had used; but in His mouth it has a depth of solemn meaning of which they knew nothing. With them the world was the whole body of Israelites, wit... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:8. GO YE UP UNTO THE FEAST: I GO NOT UP YET UNTO THIS FEAST, BECAUSE MY TIME IS NOT YET FULFILLED. The words ‘not yet' imply an intention of attending the festival, though as yet the appointed time had not come. The interval before it comes may be of the shortest, but the ‘not yet' lasts till... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:9. AND WHEN HE HAD SAID THESE THINGS UNTO THEM HE ABODE STILL IN GALILEE. How long, we are not informed. As, however, it would seem that His brothers were on the point of setting out for Jerusalem, to be present at the beginning of the festival, and as He Himself was teaching in the temple wh... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:10. AND WHEN HIS BRETHREN HAD GONE UP UNTO THE FEAST, THEN WENT HE ALSO UP, NOT MANIFESTLY BUT AS IN SECRET. We must not sever ‘manifestly' from ‘manifest thyself,' in John 7:4. Had Jesus joined any festal band, it would have been impossible (without an express miracle) to restrain the impetu... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:11. THE JEWS THEREFORE SOUGHT HIM AT THE FEAST, AND SAID, WHERE IS HE? Their expectation that He would be present at this festival may have rested on no other ground than the national usage, to which Jesus had occasionally conformed even during His public ministry. Possibly His words (John 7:... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:12. AND THERE WAS MUCH MURMURING AMONG THE MULTITUDES CONCERNING HIM. SOME SAID, HE IS A GOOD MAN: BUT OTHERS SAID, HAY, BUT HE LEADETH ASTRAY THE MULTITUDE. From the ‘Jews' the Evangelist turns to the ‘multitudes.' Amongst these is eager discussion concerning Jesus; the speculation, the hesi... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:13. HOWBEIT NO MAN SPAKE BOLDLY CONCERNING HIM, BECAUSE OF THE FEAR OF THE JEWS. Both sides, through their fear of the Jews, shrank from speaking out their thoughts. So complete was the ascendancy of these rulers over the people that no one ventured on any open discussion of the claims of Jes... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:14. AND WHEN IT WAS ALREADY THE MIDDLE OF THE FEAST, JESUS WENT UP INTO THE TEMPLE-COURTS, AND TAUGHT. It is evident that the Evangelist means to impress us with the suddenness of this appearance of Jesus in the temple-courts. The Lord suddenly comes to His temple, and, at this feast of pecul... [ Continue Reading ]
In this section Jesus appears at the feast to which He went up when His Father's, and therefore His own, hour was come. The opportunity afforded by it of teaching is embraced, and we are presented with the teaching and its effect. In the successive discourses recorded, the same general line of thoug... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:15. THE JEWS THEREFORE MARVELLED, SAYING, HOW KNOWETH THIS MAN LETTERS, HAVING NEVER LEANED? The marvelling on the part of the ‘Jews' (see note on chap. John 5:20) is not an astonishment that compels further inquiry and leads towards belief. They are baffled, and forced to acknowledge against... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:16. JESUS THEREFORE ANSWERED THEM, AND SAID. MY TEACHING IS NOT MINE, BUT HIS THAT SENT ME. It was the practice of Jewish Rabbis to proclaim from whom they ‘received' their teaching, and to quote the sayings of the wise men who preceded them. What they proclaimed of themselves the teaching of... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:17. IF ANY ONE WILL TO DO HIS WILL, HE WILL PERCEIVE OF THE TEACHING, WHETHER IT IS OF GOD, OR WHETHER I SPEAK FROM MYSELF. Many a time did the Jews refuse to recognise the teaching of Jesus unless He could prove by a miracle that God was working with Him. Here He tells them that, had they th... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:18. HE THAT SPEAKETH FROM HIMSELF SEEKETH HIS OWN GLORY. If a man speaks from himself, giving out all that he says as coming from himself, it is clear that he is seeking the glory of no one but himself. If one who so acts is a messenger from another (and here the thought in the later words, ‘... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:19. DID NOT MOSES GIVE YOU THE LAW, AND NO ONE OF YOU DOETH THE LAW? WHY SEEK YE TO KILL ME? There are two ways in which this verse may be taken, and between them it is not easy to decide. They turn on the interpretation of ‘no one of you doeth the law;' for this may find its explanation eith... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:20. THE MULTITUDE ANSWERED, THOU HAST A DEMON; WHO SEEKETH TO KILL THEE? It is important to observe that this answer is returned by the _multitude_, not by those to whom John 7:19 is addressed, and the multitude is apparently in entire ignorance of the designs of ‘the Jews.' That the people s... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:21. JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, DID ONE WORK, AND YE ALL MARVEL. This answer seems to have been addressed to the multitude, or rather to the whole body of those present including ‘the Jews,' not to ‘the Jews' alone (as is supposed by some who make John 7:20 a parenthesis): hence the ca... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:22. FOR THIS CAUSE HATH MOSES GIVEN YOU THE CIRCUMCISION (NOT THAT IT IS OF MOSES BUT OF THE FATHERS), AND YE ON THE SABBATH DAY CIRCUMCISE A MAN. The very law was intended to teach them the fundamental principle upon which Jesus rested His defence, to look beyond the letter to the spirit, an... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:23. IF A MAN RECEIVETH CIRCUMCISION ON THE SABBATH DAY, THAT THE LAW OF MOSES MAY NOT BE BROKEN, ARE YE ANGRY WITH ME, BECAUSE I MADE A MAN EVERY WHIT WHOLE ON THE SABBATH DAY? Their reverence for the law and their determination that it should not be broken led them to break the letter of the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:24. JUDGE NOT ACCORDING TO THE APPEARANCE, BUT JUDGE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT. Righteously had they judged in regard to themselves. So let them judge His work, and they will see that, where they had suspected only the presence of iniquity, there was the highest righteousness.... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:25. SOME THEREFORE OF THEM OF JERUSALEM SAID, IS NOT THIS HE WHOM THEY SEEK TO KILL? The speakers are a different class from those hitherto introduced, ‘they of Jerusalem:' these seem to have more knowledge of the designs of ‘the Jews' than was possessed by ‘the multitude' (John 7:20).... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:26. AND, LO, HE SPEAKETH BOLDLY, AND THEY SAY NOTHING UNTO HIM. CAN IT BE THAT THE RULERS KNOW THAT THIS IS THE CHRIST? No opinion as to these designs is expressed; there is neither sympathy nor blame; there is only bewilderment, occasioned by the inconsistency between the supposed wishes of... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:27. HOWBEIT WE KNOW THIS MAN WHENCE HE IS; BUT WHEN THE CHRIST COMETH, NO ONE PERCEIVETH WHENCE HE IS. In John 7:42 we read of the expectation that the Christ would come from Bethlehem (see also Matthew 2:5). But there is no inconsistency between this verse and that, for it seems to have been... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:28-29. JESUS THEREFORE CRIED IN THE TEMPLE-COURTS TEACHING AND SAYING. Knowing that such words were in the mouths of the people of Jerusalem, Jesus cried aloud in the hearing of all. The word ‘teaching' may seem unnecessary: it appears to be added in order to link what is here said to the tea... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:30. THEY SOUGHT THEREFORE TO SEIZE HIM. Jesus had not mentioned the name of God, but those with whom He spoke (familiar with modes of speech in which the Divine Name was left unspoken and replaced by a pronoun, as here, or by some attribute) did not miss His meaning. He had denied to them the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:31. BUT OF THE MULTITUDE MANY BELIEVED IN HIM, AND SAID, WHEN THE CHRIST COMETH, WILL HE DO MORE SIGNS THAN THESE WHICH THIS MAN HATH DONE? The last verse showed how the hostility to Jesus was growing; this verse presents the brighter side. The division of the people goes on continually incre... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:32. THE PHARISEES HEARD THE MULTITUDE MURMURING THESE THINGS CONCERNING HIM, AND THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND THE PHARISEES SENT OFFICERS TO SEIZE HIM. To the various parties already mentioned in this chapter, the Jews (John 7:11; John 7:13; John 7:15), the multitudes (John 7:12), or the multitude ... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:33. JESUS THEREFORE SAID, YET A LITTLE WHILE AM I WITH YOU, AND I GO UNTO HIM THAT SENT ME. In the action now taken by His foes Jesus sees a token of the rapidity with which His hour is approaching. These words, which (John 7:35) were spoken in the presence of ‘the Jews,' declare His perfect... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:34. YE SHALL SEEK ME, AND SHALL NOT FIND ME. The frequent occurrence of the ‘seeking' in this chapter suggests as the first meaning of these words, Ye will seek to lay hands on me, but shall not find me. That was the only ‘seeking' of which the Jews wished to think. Rut the eye of Jesus reste... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:35. THE JEWS THEREFORE SAID AMONG THEMSELVES, WHITHER IS THIS MAN ABOUT TO GO, THAT WE NOT FIND HIM? Our Lord's words were mysterious, but yet were so closely linked with His earlier teaching, as related in this very chapter, that their general meaning would be clear to every patient listener... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:36. WHAT IS THIS WORD WHICH HE SPAKE, YE SHALL SEEK ME, AND SHALL NOT FIND ME: AND WHERE I AM, YE CANNOT COME? This verse contains little more than a repetition of the Saviour's former statement, but is useful in reminding us that the Jews, whose bitter words we have just been considering, we... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:37. AND IN THE LAST DAY, THE GREAT DAY, OF THE FEAST. The feast of Tabernacles properly so called continued seven days. During (a part of) each day all the men of Israel dwelt in booths made with boughs of palm, willow, pine, and other trees. Day by day burnt-offerings and other sacrifices we... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:38. HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, AS THE SCRIPTURE SAID, OUT OF HIS BELLY SHALL FLOW RIVERS OF LIVING WATER. The words of John 7:37 remind us of the people who drank of the spiritual rock that followed them (1 Corinthians 10:4), the miracle commemorated in the pouring of the water from Siloam; the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:39. AND THIS SPAKE HE CONCERNING THE SPIRIT, WHICH THEY THAT BELIEVED IN HIM WERE TO RECEIVE: FOR THE SPIRIT WAS NOT YET GIVEN; BECAUSE THAT JESUS WAS NOT YET GLORIFIED. To this authoritative explanation of the ‘living water' we have more than once referred (see chap. John 4:10; John 4:14). T... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:40. SOME OF THE MULTITUDE THEREFORE, WHEN THEY HEARD THESE WORDS, SAID, OF A TRUTH THIS IS THE PROPHET. On ‘the prophet,' and the distinction between this appellation and ‘the Christ,' see the note on chap. John 1:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:41-42. OTHERS SAID, THIS IS THE CHRIST SOME SAID, WHAT, DOTH THE CHRIST COME OUT OF GALILEE? HATH NOT THE SCRIPTURE SAID. THAT THE CHRIST COMETH OF THE SEED OF DAVID, AND FROM BETHLEHEM, THE VILLAGE WHERE DAVID WAS? See Matthew 2:6. This explanation of the prophecy of Micah (chap. John 5:2) i... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:43-44. THERE AROSE THEREFORE A DIVISION AMONG THE MULTITUDE BECAUSE OF HIM. AND SOME OF THEM WOULD HAVE SEIZED HIM; but no man laid hands on him. Compare John 7:30. Here, as there, the result of the division of opinion is a more eager attempt to apprehend Him about whom the dispute has arisen... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:45. THE OFFICERS THEREFORE CAME TO THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND PHARISEES; AND THEY SAID UNTO THEM, WHY HAVE YE NOT BROUGHT HIM? The sending of the officers is mentioned in John 7:32. From John 7:37 we may gather that they had been lingering near Him for a day or more: His last words seem to have de... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:46. THE OFFICERS ANSWERED, NEVER DID A MAN SO SPEAK. A new testimony to Jesus, borne by men who, awed by the majesty of His words, instead of attempting a deed of violence, declare to their very masters that He is more than man.... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:50-51. NICODEMUS SAITH UNTO THEM (HE THAT CAME TO HIM BEFORE, BEING ONE OF THEM), DOTH OUR LAW JUDGE A MAN, EXCEPT IT HAVE FIRST HEARD FROM HIMSELF AND LEARNED WHAT HE DOETH? Twice already in this section have we read of the restraint placed on the enemies of Jesus. Those amongst the multitud... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:52. THEY ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, ART THOU ALSO OF GALILEE? SEARCH AND SEE THAT OUT OF GALILEE ARISETH NO PROPHET. No answer to the argument was possible: they can but turn on Nicodemus himself. They assume that no one but a Galilean can take the side of Jesus. The last words are difficult... [ Continue Reading ]
John 7:53. AND THEY WENT EACH ONE UNTO HIS OWN HOUSE. The first words of the section confirm the doubts which we have expressed as to its genuineness. They are not a natural mode of describing the breaking up of the Sanhedrin which had been in assembly (John 7:45); and other persons have been mentio... [ Continue Reading ]
The almost unanimous voice of modem criticism pronounces the narrative before us to be no genuine part of the Gospel of John. The section is wanting in the oldest and most trustworthy MSS. of the Gospel, and in several of the most ancient versions. It is passed by without notice in the commentaries... [ Continue Reading ]