John 7

Joh 7:1-53.

CHRIST AT THE

FEAST OF

TABERNACLES.

1, 2. After these things--that is, all that is recorded after

Joh 5:18.

walked in Galilee--continuing His labors there, instead of going to

Judea, as might have been expected.

sought to kill him--referring back to

Joh 5:18.

Hence it appears that our Lord did not attend the Passover mentioned

in

Joh 6:4

--being the third since His ministry began, if the feast

mentioned in

Joh 5:1

was a Passover.

2. feast of tabernacles . . . at hand--This was the

last of the three annual festivals, celebrated on the fifteenth of the

seventh month (September). (See

Le 23:33,

&c.; De 16:13,

&c.; Ne 8:14-18).

3-5. His brethren said--(See on

Mt 13:54-56).

Depart . . . into Judea, &c.--In

Joh 7:5

this speech is ascribed to their unbelief. But as they were in

the "upper room" among the one hundred and twenty disciples who waited

for the descent of the Spirit after the Lord's ascension

(Ac 1:14),

they seem to have had their prejudices removed, perhaps after His

resurrection. Indeed here their language is more that of strong

prejudice and suspicion (such as near relatives, even the best, too

frequently show in such cases), than from unbelief. There was also,

probably, a tincture of vanity in it. "Thou hast many disciples

in Judea; here in Galilee they are fast dropping off; it is not like

one who advances the claims Thou dost to linger so long here, away from

the city of our solemnities, where surely 'the kingdom of our father

David' is to be set up: 'seeking,' as Thou dost, 'to be known openly,'

those miracles of Thine ought not to be confined to this distant

corner, but submitted at headquarters to the inspection of 'the

world.'" (See

Ps 69:8,

"I am become a stranger to my brethren, an alien unto my

mother's children!")

6-10. My time is not yet come--that is, for showing Himself to the

world.

your time is always ready--that is "It matters little when we go up,

for ye have no great plans in life, and nothing hangs upon your

movements. With Me it is otherwise; on every movement of Mine there

hangs what ye know not. The world has no quarrel with you, for ye bear

no testimony against it, and so draw down upon yourselves none of its

wrath; but I am here to lift up My voice against its hypocrisy, and

denounce its abominations; therefore it cannot endure Me, and one false

step might precipitate its fury on its Victim's head before the time.

Away, therefore, to the feast as soon as it suits you; I follow at the

fitting moment, but 'My time is not yet full come.'"

10. then went he . . . not openly--not "in the

(caravan) company" [MEYER]. See on

Lu 2:44.

as it were in secret--rather, "in a manner secretly"; perhaps by

some other route, and in a way not to attract notice.

11-13. Jews--the rulers.

sought him--for no good end.

Where is He?--He had not been at Jerusalem for probably

a year and a half.

12. much murmuring--buzzing.

among the people--the multitudes; the natural expression of a Jewish

writer, indicating without design the crowded state of Jerusalem at this

festival [WEBSTER and

WILKINSON].

a good man . . . Nay . . . deceiveth the people--the two opposite views

of His claims, that they were honest, and that they were an

imposture.

13. none spake openly of him--that is, in His favor, "for fear of the

[ruling] Jews."

14, 15. about the midst of the feast--the fourth or fifth day of the

eight, during which it lasted.

went up into the temple and taught--The word denotes formal and

continuous teaching, as distinguished from mere casual sayings.

This was probably the first time that He did so thus openly in

Jerusalem. He had kept back till the feast was half through, to let the

stir about Him subside, and entering the city unexpectedly, had begun

His "teaching" at the temple, and created a certain awe, before the

wrath of the rulers had time to break it.

15. How knoweth . . . letters--learning

(Ac 26:24).

having never learned--at any rabbinical school, as Paul under Gamaliel.

These rulers knew well enough that He had not studied under any

human teacher--an important admission against ancient and modern

attempts to trace our Lord's wisdom to human sources [MEYER]. Probably

His teaching on this occasion was expository, manifesting that

unrivalled faculty and depth which in the Sermon on the Mount had

excited the astonishment of all.

16-18. doctrine . . . not mine, &c.--that is, from Myself

unauthorized; I am here by commission.

17. If any man will do his will, &c.--"is willing," or "wishes to

do."

whether . . . of God, or . . . of myself--from above or from beneath;

is divine or an imposture of Mine. A principle of immense importance,

showing, on the one hand, that

singleness of desire to please God is the grand inlet to light on all

questions vitally affecting one's eternal interests, and on the other,

that the want of his, whether perceived or not,

is the chief cause of infidelity amidst the light of revealed religion.

18. seeketh his own glory--(See on

Joh 5:41-44).

19, 20. Did not Moses, &c.--that is, In opposing Me ye pretend zeal

for Moses, but to the spirit and end of that law which he gave ye are

total strangers, and in "going about to kill Me" ye are its greatest

enemies.

20. The people answered, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill

thee?--This was said by the multitude, who as yet had no bad

feeling to Jesus, and were not in the secret of the plot hatching, as

our Lord knew, against Him.

21-24. I have done one work, &c.--Taking no notice of the popular

appeal, as there were those there who knew well enough what He meant, He

recalls His cure of the impotent man, and the murderous rage it had

kindled

(Joh 5:9, 16, 18).

It may seem strange that He should refer to an event a year and a half

old, as if but newly done. But their present attempt "to kill Him"

brought up the past scene vividly, not only to Him, but without doubt

to them, too, if indeed they had ever forgotten it; and by this

fearless reference to it, exposing their hypocrisy and dark designs, He

gave His position great moral strength.

22. Moses . . . gave unto you circumcision, &c.--Though servile work

was forbidden on the sabbath, the circumcision of males on that day

(which certainly was a servile work) was counted no infringement of the

Law. How much less ought fault to be found with One who had made a man

"every whit whole"--or rather, "a man's entire body whole"--on the

sabbath-day? What a testimony to the reality of the miracle, none daring

to meet the bold appeal.

24. Judge not, &c.--that is, Rise above the letter into the

spirit of the law.

25-27. some of them of Jerusalem--the citizens, who, knowing the

long-formed purpose of the rulers to put Jesus to death, wondered that

they were now letting Him teach openly.

26. Do the rulers know, &c.--Have they got some new light in favor

of His claims?

27. Howbeit we know this man, &c.--This seems to refer to some

current opinion that Messiah's origin would be mysterious (not

altogether wrong), from which they concluded that Jesus could not be

He, since they knew all about His family at Nazareth.

28, 29. cried Jesus--in a louder tone, and more solemn, witnessing

style than usual.

Ye both, &c.--that is, "Yes, ye know both Myself and My local

parentage, and (yet) I am not come of Myself."

but he that sent me is true, &c.--Probably the meaning is, "He that

sent Me is the only real Sender of any one."

30-32. sought to take . . . none laid hands--their impotence being

equal to their malignity.

31. When Christ cometh, will he, &c.--that is, If this be not the

Christ, what can the Christ do, when He does come, which has not been

anticipated and eclipsed by this man? This was evidently the language of

friendly persons, overborne by their spiteful superiors, but unable to

keep quite silent.

32. heard that the people murmured--that mutterings to this effect

were going about, and thought it high time to stop Him if He was not to

be allowed to carry away the people.

33, 34. Yet a little while, &c.--that is, "Your desire to be rid of

Me will be for you all too soon fulfilled. Yet a little while and we

part company--for ever; for I go whither ye cannot come: nor, even when

ye at length seek Him whom ye now despise, shall ye be able to find

Him"--referring not to any penitential, but to purely selfish cries in

their time of desperation.

35, 36. Whither will he go, &c.--They cannot comprehend Him, but

seem awed by the solemn grandeur of His warning. He takes no notice,

however, of their questions.

37-39. the last day, that great day of the feast--the eighth

(Le 23:39).

It was a sabbath, the last feast day of the year, and distinguished by

very remarkable ceremonies. "The generally joyous character of this

feast broke out on this day into loud jubilation, particularly at the

solemn moment when the priest, as was done on every day of this

festival, brought forth, in golden vessels, water from the stream of

Siloah, which flowed under the temple-mountain, and solemnly poured it

upon the altar. Then the words of

Isa 12:3

were sung, With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of

Salvation, and thus the symbolical reference of this act, intimated

in

Joh 7:39,

was expressed" [OLSHAUSEN]. So ecstatic was the

joy with which this ceremony was performed--accompanied with sound of

trumpets--that it used to be said, "Whoever had not witnessed it had

never seen rejoicing at all" [LIGHTFOOT].

Jesus stood--On this high occasion, then, He who had already drawn all

eyes upon Him by His supernatural power and unrivalled teaching--"JESUS

stood," probably in some elevated position.

and cried--as if making proclamation in the audience of all the

people.

If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink!--What an offer!

The deepest cravings of the human spirit are here, as in the Old

Testament, expressed by the figure of "thirst," and the eternal

satisfaction of them by "drinking." To the woman of Samaria He had

said almost the same thing, and in the same terms

(Joh 4:13, 14).

But what to her was simply affirmed to her as a fact, is here

turned into a world-wide proclamation; and whereas there, the

gift by Him of the living water is the most prominent idea--in

contrast with her hesitation to give Him the perishable water of

Jacob's well--here, the prominence is given to Himself as the

Well spring of all satisfaction. He had in Galilee invited all the

WEARY AND HEAVY-LADEN of the human family to come

under His wing and they should find REST

(Mt 11:28),

which is just the same deep want, and the same profound relief of it,

under another and equally grateful figure. He had in the synagogue of

Capernaum

(Joh 6:36)

announced Himself, in every variety of form, as "the BREAD of Life," and as both able and authorized to

appease the "HUNGER," and quench the "THIRST," of all that apply to Him. There is, and there

can be, nothing beyond that here. But what was on all those occasions

uttered in private, or addressed to a provincial audience, is here

sounded forth in the streets of the great religious metropolis, and in

language of surpassing majesty, simplicity, and grace. It is just

Jehovah's ancient proclamation now sounding forth through human

flesh, "HO, EVERY ONE THAT THIRSTETH, COME YE TO THE

WATERS, AND HE THAT HATH NO MONEY!" &c.

(Isa 55:1).

In this light we have but two alternatives; either to say with Caiaphas

of Him that uttered such words, "He is guilty of death," or

falling down before Him to exclaim with Thomas, " MY LORD AND MY GOD!"

38. as the scripture hath said--These words belong to what follows,

"Out of his belly, as the scripture hath said, shall flow," &c.

referring not to any particular passage, but to such as

Isa 58:11;

Joe 3:18;

Zec 14:8;

Eze 47:1-12;

in most of which the idea is that of waters issuing from beneath the

temple, to which our Lord compares Himself and those who believe in

Him.

out of his belly--that is, his inner man, his soul, as in

Pr 20:27.

rivers of living water--(See on

Joh 4:13).

It refers primarily to the copiousness, but indirectly also to

the diffusiveness, of this living water to the good of

others.

39. this spake he of the Spirit--who, by His direct personal agency,

opens up this spring of living waters in the human spirit

(Joh 3:6),

and by His indwelling in the renewed soul ensures their unfailing

flow.

they that believe, &c.--As the Holy Ghost is, in the redemption of

man, entirely at the service of Christ, as His Agent, so it is

only in believing connection with Christ that any one "receives" the

Spirit.

for the Holy Ghost was not yet given--Beyond all doubt the word

"given," or some similar word, is the right supplement. In

Joh 16:7

the Holy Ghost is represented not only as the gift of Christ,

but a gift the communication of which was dependent upon His own

departure to the Father. Now as Christ was not yet gone, so

the Holy Ghost was not yet given.

Jesus not yet glorified--The word "glorified" is here used

advisedly, to teach the reader not only that the departure of Christ

to the Father was indispensable to the giving of the Spirit, but

that this illustrious Gift, direct from the hands of the ascended

Saviour, was God's intimation to the world that He whom it had cast out,

crucified, and slain, was "His Elect, in whom His soul delighted," and

that it was through the smiting of that Rock that the waters of the

Spirit--for which the Church was waiting, and with pomp at the feast of

tabernacles proclaiming its expectation--had gushed forth upon a thirsty

world.

40-43. Many . . . when they heard this . . . said,

Of a truth,

&c.--The only wonder is they did not all say it. "But their minds were

blinded."

41. Others said, This is the Christ--(See on

Joh 1:21).

Shall Christ come out of Galilee?

42. scripture said . . . of the seed of David, and out of . . .

Bethlehem, &c.--We accept this spontaneous testimony to our

David-descended, Bethlehem-born Saviour. Had those who gave it made the

inquiry which the case demanded, they would have found that Jesus "came

out of Galilee"

(Joh 7:41)

and "out of Bethlehem" both, alike in fulfilment of prophecy as in

point of fact.

(Mt 2:23; 4:13-16).

44-49. would have taken him; but, &c.--(See on

Joh 7:30).

45. Then came the officers--"sent to take him"

(Joh 7:32).

Why . . . not brought him?--already thirsting for their Victim, and

thinking it an easy matter to seize and bring Him.

46. Never man spake like this man--Noble testimony of unsophisticated

men! Doubtless they were strangers to the profound intent of Christ's

teaching, but there was that in it which by its mysterious grandeur and

transparent purity and grace, held them spellbound. No doubt it was of

God that they should so feel, that their arm might be paralyzed, as

Christ's hour was not yet come; but even in human teaching there has

sometimes been felt such a divine power, that men who came to kill them

(for example, ROWLAND

HISS) have confessed to all that they were

unmanned.

47. ye also deceived--In their own servants this seemed intolerable.

48. any of the rulers or . . . Pharisees

believed--"Many of them" did, including Nicodemus and Joseph, but

not one of these had openly "confessed Him"

(Joh 12:42),

and this appeal must have stung such of them as heard it to the

quick.

49. But this people--literally, "multitude," meaning the

ignorant rabble. (Pity these important distinctions, so marked

in the original of this Gospel, should not be also in our version.)

knoweth not the law--that is, by school learning, which only subverted

it by human traditions.

are cursed--a cursed set (a kind of swearing at them, out of mingled

rage and scorn).

50-53. Nicodemus--reappearing to us after nearly three years' absence

from the history, as a member of the council, probably then sitting.

51. Doth our law, &c.--a very proper, but all too tame rejoinder,

and evidently more from pressure of conscience than any design to

pronounce positively in the case. "The feebleness of his defense of

Jesus has a strong contrast in the fierceness of the rejoinders of the

Pharisees" [WEBSTER and

WILKINSON].

52. thou of Galilee--in this taunt expressing their scorn of the

party. Even a word of caution, or the gentlest proposal to inquire

before condemning, was with them equivalent to an espousal of the hated

One.

Search . . . out of Galilee . . . no prophet--Strange! For had not

Jonah (of Gath-hepher) and even Elijah (of Thisbe) arisen out of

Galilee? And there it may be more, of whom we have no record. But rage

is blind, and deep prejudice distorts all facts. Yet it looks as if they

were afraid of losing Nicodemus, when they take the trouble to reason

the point at all. It was just because he had "searched," as they

advised him, that he went the length even that he did.

53. every man went unto his own home--finding their plot

could not at that time be carried into effect. Is your rage thus

impotent, ye chief priests?