John 8:52

Now. Looking back to ver. 48. If we were too hasty then in saying that you have a demon, your words now fully justify us. They understood Him to be speaking of natural death.

Is dead [α π ε θ α ν ε]. Better, died : referring to the historical fact.

Taste of death. They change the form of Jesus ' statement. The Lord himself tasted of death. See Hebrews 2:9. The phrase taste of death does not occur in the Old Testament, but is common in Rabbinic writings. "The angel of death," say the Rabbis, "holdeth his sword in his hand at the bed's head, having on the end thereof three drops of gall. The sick man, spying this deadly angel, openeth his mouth with fear; and then those drops fall in, of which one killeth him, the second maketh him pale, the third rotteth."