In the Temple at the Feast of Tabernacles.

  32 The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him; and the chief priests and the Pharisees [that is, the Sanhedrin, described by its constituent classes] sent officers to take him. [When the Sanhedrin heard the people expressing their faith in Jesus they felt that it was time to take action.]

  33 Jesus therefore said, Yet a little while am I with you, and I go unto him that sent me. [Knowing their attempt to arrest him, Jesus tells them that it is not quite time for them to accomplish this purpose.]

  34 Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, ye cannot come. [They would soon destroy Jesus; after which they would seek him in vain. Their violence would result in his return to his Father. In long for a Messiah, for the Christ whom they had failed to recognize in Jesus. They, too, would desire the heavenly rest and security of a better world, but their lack of faith would debar them from entering it.]

  35 The Jews therefore said among themselves, Whither will this man go that we shall not find him? Will he go unto the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?

  36 What is this word that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, ye cannot come?

[The words of Jesus were plain enough, but the assertion that he would return to God, and that such a return would be denied to them was, in their ears, too preposterous to be entertained. They therefore made light of it by construing it nonsensically. They asked if he would go among the Jews who had been dispersed or scattered by the captivity and who had never returned to Palestine, and if, when so doing, he would teach the heathen among whom these dispersed were scattered, assuming that such teaching would certainly frustrate and render absurd his claims to be a Jewish Messiah. They little suspected that Jesus, through his apostles, would do this very thing and thereby vindicate his claim as the true Messiah of God.]

  36 What is this word that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, ye cannot come?

  37 Now on the last day [the eighth day], the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. [If we may trust the later Jewish accounts, it was the custom during the first seven days for the priests and people in joyful procession to go to the pool of Siloam with a golden pitcher and bring water thence to pour out before the altar, in commemoration of the water which Moses brought from the rock and which typified the Christ ( 1 Corinthians 10:4 ). If this is so, it is likely that the words of Jesus have some reference to this libation, and are designed to draw a contrast between the earthly water which ceases and the spiritual water which abides, similar to the contrast which he presented to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well.]

  38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said. [in such passages as Isaiah 58:11 ; 14:8 , etc.] from within him shall flow rivers of living water. [For comment on similar expressionstfg.cgi?section=T#">Section

  39 But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified. [The first and second chapters of the Book of Acts is the best comment upon this passage. When Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father and was glorified, he sent forth the Spirit upon his apostles on the day of Pentecost, and the apostles in turn promised the gift of the Spirit to all who would believe, repent, and be baptized.]

  40 Some of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, This is of a truth the prophet.

  41 Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, What, doth the Christ come out of Galilee?

  42 Hath not the scripture said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?

  43 So there arose a division in the multitude because of him.

[Some of the well disposed toward Jesus, seeing the boldness with which he proclaimed himself, asserted that he was the prophet spoken of by Moses ( Deuteronomy 18:15 ), which prophet was thought by some to be the Messiah himself, and by others to be no more than the Messiah's forerunner. Still others of the multitude went further and asserted that he was the Christ. These latter were confronted by those who contended that Jesus was not born in the right place nor of the right family. These did not know that he had satisfied the very objections which they named.]

  41 Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, What, doth the Christ come out of Galilee?

  42 Hath not the scripture said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?

  43 So there arose a division in the multitude because of him.

  44 And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him. [We note here that the enmity of the rulers which had been taken up by the men of Jerusalem (see verse 30) had now reached a faction even of the multitude, so that it desired his arrest, but was restrained from acting.]

  45 The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees [i. e., to those that had sent them]; and they said unto them, Why did ye not bring him? [These officers were temple police or Levites, that the Sanhedrin was assembled and waiting for the return of the officers. An extraordinary proceeding for so great a day, but no more extraordinary than that assembly at the feast of the Passover which met and condemned Jesus six months later.]

  46 The officers answered, Never man so spake. [Their report has passed into a saying, which is as true now as when first spoken.]

  47 The Pharisees therefore answered them, Are ye also led astray?

  48 Hath any of the rulers believed on him, or of the Pharisees?

  49 But this multitude that knoweth not the law are accursed.

[This rebuke to the officers may be paraphrased thus: You are to respect the authority of the officers and the judgment of the Pharisees, but you have permitted yourselves to be influenced by a multitude which rests under a curse because of its ignorance.]

  48 Hath any of the rulers believed on him, or of the Pharisees?

  49 But this multitude that knoweth not the law are accursed.

  50 Nicodemus said unto them (he that came to him before, being one of them) [therefore able to speak from a position of equality],

  51 Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear from himself and know what he doeth? [Nicodemus bids these proud rulers note that they were breaking the very law which they extolled-- Deuteronomy 1:16 ; Exodus 23:1 .]

  52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and see that out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. [They laid the lash to the pride of Nicodemus by classing him with the Galilæans who formed the main body of Jesus' disciples, thus separating him from the true Jews. There is no clear evidence that any of the prophets save Jonah was from the district at this time called Galilee, and this fact would justify the hasty demand of the objectors, who were not very scrupulous as to accuracy.]