John 7
CHAPTER 7
John 7:1-53 . CHRIST AT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
1, 2. After these things--that is, all that is recorded after John 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 John 5:18 . Hence it appears that our Lord did not attend the Passover mentioned in John 6:4 --being the third since His ministry began, if the feast mentioned in John 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 Leviticus 23:33 , &c. Deuteronomy 16:13 , &c. Nehemiah 8:14-18 ).
3-5. His brethren
Depart . . . into Judea, &c.--In John 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 ( Acts 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 Psalms 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].
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.