GENESIS ---EXODUS--- LEVITICUS 1.1-7.38 --- 8.1-11.47 --- 12.1-16.34--- 17.1-27.34--- NUMBERS 1-10--- 11-19--- 20-36--- DEUTERONOMY 1.1-4.44 --- 4.45-11.32 --- 12.1-29.1--- 29.2-34.12 --- THE BOOK OF JOSHUA --- THE BOOK OF JUDGES --- PSALMS 1-17--- ECCLESIASTES --- ISAIAH 1-5 --- 6-12 --- 13-23 --- 24-27 --- 28-35 --- 36-39 --- 40-48 --- 49-55--- 56-66--- EZEKIEL --- DANIEL 1-7 ---DANIEL 8-12 ---

NAHUM--- HABAKKUK---ZEPHANIAH ---ZECHARIAH --- THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ---THE GOSPEL OF MARK--- THE GOSPEL OF LUKE --- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES --- 1 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-16 --- 2 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-13 -- -GALATIANS --- EPHESIANS --- COLOSSIANS --- 1 THESSALONIANS --- 2 THESSALONIANS --- 1 TIMOTHY --- 2 TIMOTHY --- TITUS --- HEBREWS 1-6 --- 7-10 --- 11-13 --- JAMES --- JOHN'S LETTERS --- REVELATION

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John 7

Jesus, Under Constant Threat of Death, Proclaims Rivers of Living Water to Follow His Death (John 7)

In the previous chapter Jesus has proclaimed His coming death. In this chapter we find the threat of death hangs over Him continually, but in the midst of it He proclaims the coming of a great work of the Spirit of God. Indeed this work will result from His death and glorification.

7.1 ‘And after these things Jesus walked in Galilee, for he would not walk in Judea because the Judaisers sought to kill him.’

‘After these things’. A loose connecting phrase having little significance.

His words to the Judaisers in chapter 6 have increased their determination to put Him to death. Yet they dare not touch Him in Galilee, for He is too popular. This very fact confirms a wide Galilean ministry, assumed, but not touched on, in John’s Gospel. So they will wait for Him to come to Judea. The end of His ministry is now approaching. John has mainly left the details of that to others.

7.2 ‘Now the Jew’s Feast of Tabernacles was at hand’.

This was the feast at the end of the year’s harvests, around September.. It was one of the main feasts celebrated by the Jews, being one of the three that were commanded to be celebrated at their central Sanctuary (first The Tabernacle, then the Temple) from ancient times (Exodus 23.14-17). In Exodus 23.16 it is called the Feast of Ingathering, while in Leviticus 23.3 and Deuteronomy 16.13 it is called the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths).

The other two main feasts were the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Weeks, (also called the Feast of Harvest). The former celebrated the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and was distinctive in that every household would sacrifice a lamb, and partake of it, in memory of that deliverance, but it was almost certainly a feast before that for it was during this week that the reaping of the standing grain commenced (Deuteronomy 16.9) and a sheaf of the firstfruits was waved before the Lord (Leviticus 23.10-11). It was an acknowledgement by the nation of their dependence on God for their harvest, and was accompanied by sacrifices (e.g. Numbers 28.16-25).

From the day on which the firstfruits were offered in March/April, 49 days were counted (a week of weeks, hence the name the Feast of Weeks) during which the grain harvest would be gathered in (Deuteronomy 16.9-12). Then the Feast of Weeks (or Harvest) would be celebrated (May/June) and a cake of the firstfruits of the gathered harvest presented to God (Deuteronomy 16.10; Exodus 23.16; 34.22). This was later called the Feast of Pentecost.

Following this the grapevines would be pruned, the figs (summer fruit) gathered in, and this would be followed by the general ingathering of grapes, olives and citrus fruits. Finally around September/October the Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering would celebrate the complete gathering in of the years harvest. It was a feast of thanksgiving for a good harvest (Deuteronomy 16.15), and was especially associated with fruitfulness, with the ‘fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook’ (Leviticus 23.40).

During the feast the people would live in booths or ‘tents’, remembering how the people who followed Moses out of Egypt had lived in tents in the wilderness, and a huge flaming lampstand would be set up in the Temple as a symbol of the pillar of fire that had gone before them and had protected them, and been their guide.

The feast was a joyful one (Deuteronomy 16.15), and became especially associated with the expected coming age of plenty (Zechariah 14.16-19), so that at this time the minds of people would be directed towards the coming age. The celebrating of it was looked on as a guarantee of the pouring out of rain in the coming months (Zechariah 14.17).

7.3-5 ‘His brothers therefore said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works that you are doing. For no man does anything in secret, and himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things show yourself clearly to the world. For even his brothers did not believe in him.’

It was to this feast then that Jesus was urged to go by His brothers (v.3-4). But their aim was to help Him further His cause as the Messiah They wanted Him to perform signs and miracles so that He could become ‘known openly’, and encourage the many followers He had in Judea, as a result of his earlier ministry there, presumably with a view to an uprising.

For no man does anything in secret and himself seeks to be known openly.’ They were constantly puzzled. Jesus would insist on details of His miracles not being voiced abroad, and had an annoying habit of telling people not to tell everyone what He had done for them. Yet it was clear that He felt that He had a public ministry. So if He wanted to be famous He must rather publicise what He was doing. How else could He expect to be accepted as the Messiah?

‘For even his brothers did not believe in him’, that is, understand and respond to the real truth about Him. They did not recognise His mission of mercy from God and His unique status. They shared the popular views about the coming Messiah.

‘7.6 Jesus therefore says to them, ‘My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready.’

But Jesus’ life is directed by God. ‘My time has not yet come’. Others are free to do what they like, ‘your time is always here’, but not He. As He had said to His mother earlier (2.4), He must not be rushed into acting before the time.

7.7 ‘The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I declare that its works are evil’.

While Jesus was doing good and healing, He was popular, but once He begins to reveal men’s sinfulness and hypocrisy, the world begins to hate Him. One thing the world cannot stand is to be revealed as it really is. This was especially true of those who had a high opinion of their own goodness, the Jewish leaders and teachers. They wanted to be commended, not shown up, which was the main reason why they hated Him and wanted to get rid of Him, something of which He was well aware. His brothers can go to the feast safely, but He knows the hatred there is for Him and His teaching, and must be more careful.

7.8-9 ‘You go up to the Feast. I am not going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled.’ And having said these things to them he remained dwelling in Galilee.’

So He tells His brothers to go to the feast, while He remains in Galilee, awaiting God’s time.

Many good authorities have ‘I am not yet going’, but the ‘yet’ is certainly understood if not there. John is hardly likely to have depicted Jesus as deceiving his brothers. What He means is that in view of the situation He is still awaiting word from His Father and will not act until then. Once, however, He receives that word, He goes.

‘My time is not yet fulfilled’. He is aware that danger awaits Him, that His death will be sought. And He knows that it is not yet time for Him to die. He has a ministry to be fulfilled which has not yet been fulfilled.

7.10 ‘But when his brothers were gone to the Feast, then he also went up, not publicly but as it were in secret.’

Once His brothers have gone up to the feast, He follows quietly and without any fuss. He does not want to draw attention to Himself until He is ready. This suggests that He knew that the authorities would be watching for the arrival of His family and their fellow Nazarenes, expecting Him to be with them.

7.11 ‘The Judaisers therefore were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?”.’

There was no doubt that they had been looking for Him and had evil intentions towards Him. This was common knowledge to many, for people were fearful of talking about Him openly ‘for fear of the Judaisers’ (v.13). And when He was seen not to be with His brothers and His family they were puzzled.

7.12-13 ‘And there was much murmuring among the crowds concerning him. Some said, “He is a good man”. Other said, “That is not so, but he leads the mass of people astray”. However no man spoke openly of him for fear of the Judaisers.’

Huge crowds would arrive in Jerusalem and its surrounding districts for the Feast of Tabernacles, which was a popular Feast. And there was constant discussion among them. It is clear that His ministry has been going on for some considerable time, and indeed is approaching its end, and He is now well known everywhere. They dared not discuss Him publicly, but they did discuss Him in private and there were divided opinions about Him. Thus the decision has been made by the religious authorities that He is a dangerous man, and unacceptable to them. He must be put out of the way, and to consort with Him, or even to approve of Him, risked expulsion from the synagogue.

7.14 ‘But when it was now the middle of the Feast, Jesus went up into the Temple and taught.’

The Temple was the place where religious teachers would go to pass on their teachings. Their disciples would gather round them while they sat and taught and interested onlookers were welcome to listen and to ask questions (compare Luke 2.46).

So Jesus waits until half way through the week, and then Himself goes up to the Temple to teach.

7.15 ‘The Judaisers therefore marvelled saying, “How does this man know letters, having never learned?” ’

As they listen to Him even His enemies are impressed. They are amazed. They cannot understand how He has such wide knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures when He has never been through the Rabbinical schools. His wide knowledge of the Scriptures and of current ideas about them impress them and for a while hold them back from acting against Him.

‘Know letters’ - to have the ability to be a teacher. ‘Never learned’ - had not been through the Rabbinical schools.

7.16-17 ‘Jesus therefore answered them and said, “My teaching is not mine, but His that sent me. If any man really wants to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself”.’

Jesus answers their amazement and explains the source of His teaching. ‘My teaching is not mine, but His who sent me. If any man’s will is to do his will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority’. It is God who has taught Him, and the result is that His teaching is such that those who really want to know and do God’s will can only recognise it for what it is. He does not speak on His own authority, but on God’s, and His teaching is such that it reveals that fact to those who seek to judge fairly.

The Pharisees would never enunciate teaching without quoting the authority of earlier teachers, and this is what the crowds would expect. Jesus therefore quotes His authority.

It is significant that while in John’s Gospel Jesus constantly speaks in such a way as to point to His teaching as evidence of His Sonship, comparatively little of that teaching has until now been given to us in the Gospel. It is quite clear therefore that John is expecting his readers to have read that teaching elsewhere. While, of course, there was the oral tradition, those who had known Jesus had almost all died. Thus it can be assumed that the writer is depending on the other Gospels to have given the details of Jesus’ teaching necessary to back up His claims.

‘Speak of myself’. Having the source of His ideas just from His own head.

7.18 ‘He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true and in him there is no falsehood’.

Those who seek their own glory have already been shown to be the Judaisers (5.44). They have become so proud of their teaching and their knowledge that it has become more important to them than recognising the truth. What was once a genuine attempt to solve problems has become something to be protected and defended at all costs, resulting in much pedantry and hypocrisy (they strain out a gnat and swallow a camel - Matthew 23.24). But Jesus is not seeking to defend anything. He seeks only the glory of the One Who sent Him. Thus what He says is true without any dissimulation or insincerity.

7.19 “Did not Moses give you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?’

The Judaisers constantly proclaim Moses as their chief authority, the one who shows them the will of God. Yet they show that, in fact, they reject that authority, by their behaviour in breaking the law of Moses by seeking His death. They are not genuine in the claims that they make, because they seek their own glory and to protect their own position.

7.20 ‘The crowds answered, ‘you have a demon. Who is seeking to kill you?’ Note that it is ‘the people’ that say this, some of whom are not aware of the dark overtones that are in the air. The Judaisers knew exactly what He meant.

7.21 ‘Jesus answered and said to them (the Judaisers), ‘I did one work and you all marvel at it’.

This looks back to the man at the pool who was healed on the Sabbath (5.2-9). This was the incident that above all has turned the Judaisers against Him. He is seen as not only a Sabbath-breaker but also as One Who encourages others to break the Sabbath, and in His defence has claimed God as His own Father.

7.22 “This is why I tell you that Moses has given you circumcision, not that it is of Moses but of the fathers, and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the Law of Moses may not be broken, are you hotly angry with me because I made a man totally whole on the Sabbath day?”

‘This is why I tell you’ referring back to the previous verse. The literal Greek is ‘Because of this Moses --’, but we must read in ‘I tell you’ to understand the sense. Alternately He may be saying that Moses gave them a law of circumcision which involved breaking the Sabbath to demonstrate that the Sabbath law should be interpreted to allow for activities related to God (such as healing and its consequences).

Jesus now challenges their view of the Sabbath. Moses gave them circumcision (although in fact it was practised by the fathers long before Moses), and in order to keep the law of Moses they will circumcise a man on the Sabbath (it had to be done on the eighth day). Is it then right to circumcise a man on the Sabbath, but wrong to make him whole?

In the Mishnah Shabbath 18.3; 19.1, 2 and Nedarim 3.11 all hold that the command to circumcise overrides the command to observe the Sabbath in order that the Law be kept. (The Mishnah was Jewish oral law gathered together by 200 AD by Rabbi Judah the Prince).

Again they are seen as not being honest with the law of Moses. It is clear that the arguments against Him had included that of healing a man on the Sabbath. The Pharisees allowed minimum emergency assistance on the Sabbath in health matters, but what Jesus had done went beyond that in their eyes. He had made a man whole by the power of God. But was this less important than the carrying out of circumcision?

7.24 ‘Do not judge by appearances, but judge righteous judgment’.

Jesus acknowledges their right to judge, but stresses that it is incumbent on them to ensure that their judgment must be righteous, not superficial. Those who claim the right to judge have a special responsibility to ensure that they judge fairly. But they have overlooked the principles of compassion and mercy. As He says in Matthew 23.23, ‘You tithe (give a tenth to God) even of such trifles as mint and cummin, yet you have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith’.

Perhaps we could paraphrase this verse, ‘Do not judge by what appears to you to be right, but by what is truly right’. Their judgment is superficial. They have not considered the deeper implications.

7.25-26 ‘Some therefore of those of Jerusalem said, “Is not this he whom they seek to put to death? And see, he speaks openly and they say nothing to him. Can it be that the Rulers indeed know that this is the Messiah?”.’

Some of the people of Jerusalem now question among themselves. They are puzzled. They know what is intended against Him and yet He is speaking openly, and the authorities, who have not hidden their plans, are doing nothing. Why are they not arresting Him? This again brings out the dishonesty of the Judaisers. If their cause was righteous surely they would have acted openly and immediately.

They can only come to one conclusion. ‘Can it be that in spite of their attitude the authorities recognise this man as the Messiah (the Christ)?’ The very reluctance of the authorities to act must mean that they recognise that He is someone special.

7.27 “However it is, we know from where this man comes. But when the Messiah comes, no one will know from where he comes.”

This raises a problem for them. There were differing views about the origin of the Messiah. Some said his origin would be unknown, others that he would be born in Bethlehem. These, being inhabitants of Jerusalem, were clearly of the former view (compare verse 42 for the other view). This view is mentioned in the Mishnah. In Sanhedrin 97a Rabbi Zera taught, "Three come unawares - Messiah, a found article, and a scorpion."

Yet they are cognisant of where Jesus comes from. Thus to them He cannot be the Messiah. He is not mysterious enough.

7.28-29 ‘Jesus therefore cried in the Temple, teaching, and saying, “You both know me, and know from where I am. But I am not come of myself, and he who sent me is true, whom you do not know. I know him because I am from him and he sent me”.’

Jesus publicises the fact that they do not really know His origin. His words are to all the people, not just the questioners, for the questions have been going the rounds. They may think they know His origin but they do not. If they had they would have known that He had not come at His own devising. ‘The One who sent me is true and you do not know him. I know him, for I come from him and he sent me’. He has come from One Whom they do not know, so they cannot know His origins. The ‘I’ is stressed. His knowledge of the Father is unique.

Of course they would have claimed to know God, but Jesus is stressing that they are failing to recognise the truth, which shows they are strangers to the One Who is true. If they really knew the truth they would recognise that He knew God and that God had sent Him. Then they would really know where He came from and would acknowledge Him. This claim to unique and intimate knowledge of the Father is mentioned elsewhere in the Gospel in 1.18; 6.46; 8.25 and 17.25.

7.30a ‘So they sought to arrest him’. Again ‘they’ means the Judaisers and the authorities. Yet they are clearly having difficulties. Why? Elsewhere we are told it was because they were afraid of the people who saw Jesus as a prophet (Mark 12.12; Luke 20.19). In other words they will not do it openly but are striving to find some means to do it privately so no one knows. Jesus will later accuse them of this when He says, ‘I was daily with you teaching in the Temple yet you did not arrest me’ (Matthew 26.55).

7.30b ‘But no man laid his hands on him because his hour was not yet come’. Their fear and hesitancy was all part of God’s plan. His hour (the hour of His death) was not yet come. Until God was ready they would not be able to touch Him. God can work through human vacillation to bring about His purposes.

7.31 ‘Yet many of the crowds of people believed in him, and they said, ‘When the Messiah appears, will he perform more signs than those which this man has done?’

So the whole of Jerusalem seems to be talking about Jesus, with many differing views. These believed in Him as the Messiah because of the signs they had witnessed, but they were not yet the kind of believers that Jesus was wanting. The writer wants his readers, however, to be aware of the numerous signs that Jesus has done. This surge of support for Jesus clearly has the Pharisees worried, and they report back to the authorities, ‘and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him’. At last they have made up their minds to be bold. They feel they dare not delay any longer. They are losing the confidence of the people.

The Chief Priest were the leaders who controlled the activities of the Temple and were seen by the temporal powers as authorities over the people. They included the High Priest, the Captain of the Temple, the Temple Treasurer, the Temple Overseer, and the Directors of the daily and weekly courses of priests. Significantly it is the religious leaders who are involved. The lay leaders are not mentioned.

7.33 ‘Jesus therefore said, “Yet a little while I am with you, and I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me, and where I am you cannot come.” ’

Aware of the situation Jesus says to those who are around Him, which includes a number of Judaisers, ‘I will be with you a short while. Then I will go to him who sent me’. Jesus knows now that His time is now short. He is in no doubt of their intentions. But then He will return to His Father Who sent Him. They looked for Him at the feast and eventually found Him, but they will not be able to follow Him there.

‘You will look for me and will not find me, and where I am you cannot come’. Compare ‘They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me, because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD’ (Proverbs 1.28-29) and ‘they will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, but they will not find it’ (Amos 8.12). The thought is that, having rejected Jesus, they will continue looking for the Messiah, but will never find him, for because of the hardness of their hearts He will have gone where they cannot come. They will have lost their opportunity. And it is somewhere they can never go unless they believe and are saved.

Still He is trying to make them think, but all it does is puzzle them. They cannot believe that such Scriptures apply to them.

7.35 ‘The Judaisers therefore said among themselves, “Where will this man go such that we will never find him? Will he go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? What is this word that he said, ‘You will seek me and will not find me, and where I am you cannot come’?” ’

Where can He go so they cannot find Him? Is He going to the Dispersion among the Greeks to teach the Greeks? What do His words mean? This is probably not intended to be taken literally. It is a bout of sarcasm. No prospective Messiah would consider such an action. As has occurred throughout his Gospel John outlines questions to which his readers will know the correct answers.

Yet paradoxically the Judaisers are right. That in the end is where His message will find favour. The ‘Dispersion’ are the Jews and Proselytes (circumcised gentile converts) who have been scattered over the known world and live outside Palestine. Many Gentiles had found their ethical teaching attractive and had joined them as ‘God-fearers’, without being circumcised and becoming wholly Jews. It is among these especially that the Gospel will find a firm welcome.

Meanwhile the Feast of Tabernacles is drawing to a close with its emphasis on harvest and the prayers for rain for the coming year. The people were totally dependent on the rain for survival, and during the seven days of this feast a ceremonial procession would gather water each day from the pool of Siloam and carry it to the Temple. There it was poured out before God at the time of the morning sacrifice while the people chanted the words of Isaiah 12.3 - ‘with joy you will draw water from the wells of deliverance’.

Thus the feast also looked forward to the time of deliverance, that time when God would step in and deliver His people from their oppressors, when the land would flourish as it never had before, seeing rain in abundance (Isaiah 32.15) and great flowing rivers (Joel 3.18; Ezekiel 47.1-12; Zechariah 14.8), and when the pouring out of the Spirit would produce fruitfulness of another kind in the hearts of men (Isaiah 44.1-4; Joel 2.23-29).

7.37 ‘Now on the last day, the great day of the Feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, “If any man thirst let him come to me and drink”.’

This is like the cry of the water-seller in Isaiah 55.1. It was on the last day of this feast, the Sabbath, the ‘great day’ which was the seal and climax of the week’s celebrations, and Jesus stood up and ‘cried with a loud voice’. As with the water-seller He is not teaching but making a public announcement. His actions would be especially noticeable as it was usual for a Jewish teacher to speak sitting down. What He was saying was thus intended to be in the form of a proclamation.

The people’s minds would be filled with the events of the week that had gone before and there would be a feeling of joy and well-being in their hearts as they listened.

In Isaiah the cry of the water-seller, “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy and eat, yes, come and buy wine and milk, without money and without price”, was immediately followed by the promise of the renewal of the everlasting covenant (Isaiah 55.3). Jesus’ words are very similar and must have had Isaiah 55.1 in mind. His offer, however, differs somewhat as He can offer what the water seller could not, living water through belief in Him.

7.37a-38 “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his inner being will flow rivers of living water.”

At such a time, reference to flowing water would immediately bring to people’s minds the water poured out daily before God at the Temple, symbolising rain and fruitfulness, and the coming deliverance. Their minds were full of it.

Thus the ‘birth from above, birth from water’ (John 3.6) is here seen in the spiritual rain which will produce the harvest and fill the springs and fountains, while ‘he who believes in me will never thirst’ (John 6.35) associates with the ‘drawing of water from the wells of deliverance’ (compare also John 4.13-14).

Yet now Jesus is promising something even greater. Those who are born from above, and who drink of the water of life through putting their full trust in Jesus, will themselves become the source of life to others. Water will flow out from them to others as in Ezekiel 47.1 onwards (compare Joel 3.18). This is what is to come. They will become a new Temple and the source of life to the world.

The rebirth by the Spirit is unquestionably already taking place in men’s hearts, and they are even now drinking of the water of life as they respond to the words of Jesus, but there is something even more wonderful yet to come, a pouring out of the Spirit which will make them life-giving fountains to the world.

7.39 ‘But this he said about the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit was not, because Jesus was not yet glorified’ (the word ‘given’ is not in the Greek text).

To some extent we must distinguish v.37 from v.38. The promise in v.37 was available to the people as they listened, and as it had been to the Samaritans who believed (John 4). They could come and drink freely now. But the promise in v.38 awaited the death and resurrection of Jesus. Then would an overflowing stream of living water flow out from His people to the world. Men were already experiencing the work of the Spirit, but then the trickle would become a flood. The ‘not yet’ would become ‘now’.

‘The Spirit was not yet’ does not mean there has been no work of the Spirit at all. It means that the abundant outpouring promised by the prophets has not yet come.

It is significant that John here speaks of ‘receiving the Spirit’ (‘the Spirit -- they -- would receive’) for this mirrors Jesus’ very words when He breathes on his disciples and says “receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20.22). To John that was the prime fulfilment of His words, when the Apostles as the first-fruits became fountains of living water. Pentecost would burst on the world with a loud noise revealing the giving of the Spirit to the many, but John looked back especially to that precious, quiet moment when he received the Spirit at the word of Jesus.

It is not good interpretation to degrade that moment as being only a symbolic act, just to fit in with people’s theories. John had no doubt that at that moment he received the Spirit as promised in John 7. The Spirit does not always come with a loud noise (compare the ‘still, small voice’ to Elijah (1 Kings 19.11-12)), and the inner band received Him before Pentecost. They were the first fruits, Pentecost was the wider blessing.

It is interesting that the Jerusalem Talmud also connects these ceremonies with the Holy Spirit. "Why is the name of it called, the drawing out of water? Because of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, according to what is said, 'With joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation’.”

7.40-41a ‘Some of the huge crowds therefore, when they heard these words, said, “This is certainly the Prophet”. Others said, “This is the Messiah”.’

His words stirred up the people, already excited because of the Feast. Some said, ‘this is the Prophet’, others said, ‘this is the Messiah’. But others said, ‘will the Messiah come from Galilee?’ Expectancy was high among the people of Palestine. As people will they dreamed of deliverance from what they saw as the Roman tyrrany. And they awaited a great Prophet like Moses, or a great deliverer.

7.41b-42 ‘But some said, “What? Does the Messiah come out of Galilee?” Has not the Scripture said that the Messiah comes of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem where David was?” ’

They knew the Messiah was to be descended from King David and thus come from Bethlehem. (The passage is slightly ironic. Most readers would know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem). How carefully we should examine the facts before we make judgments.

7.43-44 ‘So there arose a division in the crowd because of him. And some of them would have taken him, but no man laid hands on him.’

And so there was division among them. Some wanted His arrest, others wanted to support Him. Yet even the officials sent to arrest Him (see v.45) were impressed, and did not fulfil their duty (although this may well have also been due to the feeling that if they did so amongst such a divided crowd, anything could happen).

7.45-46 ‘The officers therefore came to the Chief Priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring him?”. The officers answered, “Never did man speak in such a way”.’.

The officials returned to the authorities. When asked why they had not arrested Him they replied, ‘No man ever spoke like this man’ (v.46). They had been impressed by the words of Jesus, and they had also been impressed by the impact the words had made on the crowds. That they were partly thinking of the support Jesus had from the crowds as a result of such speaking comes out in the reply of the authorities. The officials were mixed in their feelings, but had been sufficiently aware of the situation not to act.

7.47-49 ‘The Pharisees answered them, “Are you also led astray? Have any of the leading authorities believed in him, or the Pharisees? But this crowd who do not know the Law are accursed”.’

They, of course, had not had to face the huge crowds and could therefore afford to be brave, and their comment about the crowds was typical of their arrogance. They did look on the common people as accursed in as far as they failed to keep to the Pharisaic traditions (‘the Law’ as interpreted by the Pharisees). They had not been so brave when Jesus had earlier challenged them about their own failure with regard to the law of Moses (v.19).

7.50-51 ‘Nicodemus, he who came to Him before, being one of them, says to them, “Does our law judge a man unless it first hear from himself and know what he does?”

Nicodemus, who had previously consulted Jesus (John 3) and was a member of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish governing body) was one of the group of Pharisees acting in the matter, and he tried to intervene. ‘Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?’. Compare Deuteronomy 1.16-17; 16.18-20; 27.19 with 13.14; 17.4; 19.18. As the next verse tells us Jesus is not being given justice because He is a Galilean. The question is asked in such a way (in Greek) as to expect a negative reply. He soon finds he is wrong.

7.52 ‘They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and discover that no prophet arises from Galilee”.’

The reply tells us all we need to know about the genuineness of the Pharisees. What Nicodemus suggested was basic justice and in accord with the law of Moses. But they dismissed it with the contempt of men who do not want to consider the truth. ‘Are you also from Galilee? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise in Galilee’. Who but a Galilean could suggest such a thing? Jonah was from Galilee but they are thinking of a future prophet. To them Galilee is outside the pale.

Of course, if they had followed Nicodemus’ advice they would soon have discovered that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. But ignoring that, their contempt for the Galileans shows the very nature of their attitudes. They were bigoted, arrogant and contemptible. They came under their own condemnation, ‘these who do not know the law are accursed’.

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