Continuing a Bible study of the Gospels:
(John 7:1) After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for He would not walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill Him.
In the last chapter, Jesus had fed the five thousand and then had a long discourse with the Jews concerning Himself, the Bread of life. He then must have gone to Jerusalem as John 6:4 had said the Passover was near. Finding that the Jews sought to take His life, He would not continue there but He returned to Galilee and walked there.
(2) Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.
This would make it at the end of September or the beginning of October when the Jews celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles. It was so called because of the tents or tabernacles which were erected in and around Jerusalem and designed to commemorate their dwelling in tents in the wilderness. During this feast the Jews dwelt in those tents for eight days.
(3) His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea that Your disciples also may see the works that You do."
Jesus's brothers or cousins or some such close relatives urged Jesus to leave that place and go into Judea so that the disciples He had made there previously (John 4:1) or perhaps any disciples from all over who would be going to Judea for the feast, would be able to witness His works.
(4) "For no one does anything in secret while He Himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show Yourself to the world." (5) For even His brothers did not believe in Him.
Jesus's kin did not believe in Him and did not know His true purpose in doing the things He did. They thought He did His works for fame and glory from men; therefore they said He needed to go into Judea where He would be seen by a greater number of people than where He was.
(6) Then Jesus said to them, "My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready."
Jesus told them that it was not yet His time to go and be seen there, but that they could go anytime they wanted.
(7) "The world cannot hate you, but Me it hates because I testify of it that its works are evil."
The reason they could go anytime they wanted was because they were not hated by the world. Jesus said that the world hated Him because He testified about how evil its works were.
(8) "You go up to this feast; I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."
Jesus urged His kin to go on to the feast, but He was not going at that time because the time was not yet right for Him to go.
(9) When He had said these words to them, He was still in Galilee. (10) But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.
Jesus had been still in Galilee when He spoke to His brothers, but after they had left to go to the feast, He also started toward it, but not openly as it would have been if He had gone with all His relatives, but He went secretly.
(11) Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"
Indeed, the Jews were looking for Jesus at the feast and asked around where He was.
(12) And there was much murmuring among the people concerning Him, for some said, "He is a good man;" others said, "No, but He deceives the people."
There was much murmuring among the people as they debated about Jesus. Some saw Him as a good man, while others thought He only deceived the people, pretending to be the Messiah.
(13) However, no man spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.
However, no one spoke openly about Jesus for they feared the Jews, that they might be mobbed by them and turned out of the synagogue or even prosecuted.
(14) Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.
At about the middle of the feast, about the fourth day, it was apparently Jesus's time and He went up into the temple and taught.
(15) And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this man know letters, having never learned?"
The Jews marveled at Jesus and wondered how He knew the scriptures so well when they knew He had had no formal education.
(16) Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me."
Hearing the people or knowing their thoughts, Jesus answered that His doctrine came directly from His Father who sent Him.
(17) "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of Myself."
Jesus went on to say that if any man was willing to do the will of the Father, if he had an honest desire to obey God, he would be led to embrace the doctrines of the Bible, and would then know if Jesus taught the doctrines of God or if He spoke of Himself and was not directed by God.
(18) "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but He who seeks His glory who sent Him, the same is true and no unrighteousness is in Him."
Jesus said that anyone who spoke from himself was seeking his own glory, but as He only sought the glory of the One who sent Him, God, that made Him true and there was no unrighteousness or falsehood or deception in Him.
(19) "Didn't Moses give you the law and yet none of you keep the law? Why do you go about to kill Me?"
Jesus pointed out that Moses had given them the law and yet none of them kept it continually. All men violated it in some way or another as there was no one who did good (Psalm 14:3, Psalm 53:3). He asked why then they wanted to kill Him because they presumed He had violated the law as when He healed the man at the pool of Bethesda and told him to carry his mat.
(20) The people answered and said, "You have a devil; who goes about to kill you?"
The majority of the people were not aware of the intentions of the chief priests and scribes, and said that Jesus must be demon possessed to think that anyone wanted to kill Him.
(21) Jesus answered and said to them, "I have done one work and you all marvel."
I believe Jesus's point was that He had done that one work of healing the man at the pool of Bethesda and that had them all shocked and astonished that He should do it on the Sabbath and then tell the man to carry his mat on that day.
(22) "Moses therefore gave to you circumcision (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and you on the Sabbath circumcise a man."
Jesus told them that Moses had given them the law of circumcision, although it did not come from Moses originally; it had been in practice since Abraham. He said that they circumcised on the Sabbath.
(23) "If a man on the Sabbath Day receives circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry at Me because I have made a man completely whole on the Sabbath Day?"
Jesus went on to say that if one received circumcision on the Sabbath because it was the eighth day when the law directed male children to be circumcised, and that was not breaking the law of Moses, but upholding it, how could they then be angry at Him for healing a man and making him whole on the Sabbath. Circumcision is a physical symbol of the relationship between God and the Jewish people. It's about making the physical body holy and acceptable unto God. Therefore if that holy act was lawful to be done on the Sabbath, then how could they be angry at Jesus for making a man completely whole on the Sabbath?
(24) "Judge not according to the appearance but judge righteous judgment."
It's the original, "You can't judge a book by its cover." Jesus said they should not judge according to the appearance of a man, as they saw Him as only a carpenter's son, but rather they should judge His fruits, His actions. Was it not good to make a man whole on the Sabbath? In like manner, people shouldn't judge the chief priests to be pious and holy just because they wore long flowing robes and spoke long prayers in public. Once again, they were to judge their fruits whether or not they were good.
(25) Then some of them of Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?"
Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, apart from the people as a whole who had come into Jerusalem for the feast, had heard about plans to kill Jesus and asked if this man was the One they sought to kill.
(26) "But, lo, He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?"
Those people from Jerusalem continued to reason among themselves. If Jesus was the one they sought to kill, then why didn't they say anything when Jesus taught so boldly? They supposed that the rulers must have known that He was the Christ.
(27) "However, we know where this Man is from, but when Christ comes, no one knows where He comes from."
The people continued to reason among themselves. Could Jesus really be the Christ when they knew where He had come from, the son of Joseph and Mary from Galilee? However, they would not know exactly where the Christ would come from. They knew by prophecy that He would come from Bethlehem, be from the line of David, and born of a virgin, but they didn't know who His parents would be, and Joseph and Mary from Galilee didn't fit their expectations.
(28) Then Jesus cried out as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me and you know where I am from, and I am not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, Whom you do not know. (29) But I know Him for I am from Him and He has sent Me."
Perceiving the questioning among the people, Jesus cried out in a loud voice in answer to them. I think the sense is, "So you think you know Me and where I am from?" But He had not come into the world in the normal way by Himself and His parents. Actually, the people might have realized that there would be some miracle to His birth, as how can one be born of a virgin? Jesus had come from God. God had sent Him, and God was true, true to the promises He made by the prophets and true in the testimonies He gave of Jesus, as when Jesus was baptized. Obviously, these Jews did not truly know God as they professed to know Him or else they would have known these things.
(30) Then they sought to take Him, but no man laid hands on Him because His hour had not yet come.
That made them angry and they sought to take hold of Jesus, but they were not able to lay hands on Him, being restrained by divine providence, because it was not yet the right time.
(31) And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When Christ comes, will He do more miracles than these which this Man has done?"
Many people believed in Jesus, reasoning in their hearts that the coming Christ could not do any more miraculous things than this Man had done, so He must be Him.
(32) The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.
The Pharisees heard that the people were thinking such positive things about Jesus, and that raised their ire all the more. They, with the chief priests, sent officers to take Jesus.
(33) Then said Jesus to them, "Yet a little while I am with you, and then I go to Him who sent Me. (34) You shall seek Me and shall not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."
As Jesus knew that the Pharisees had planned to take Him and put Him to death, He told the people that He would only be with them for a little while, about six months from this Feast of Tabernacles to the next Passover, and then He would go back to Him who had sent Him. He warned they would be seeking their Messiah but they would never find Him because He had already come and gone. And where He went, to heaven, they could not come.
(35) Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where will He go that we shall not find Him? Will He go to the dispersed among the Gentiles and teach the Gentiles?"
The Jews wondered among themselves where Jesus could go that they would not be able to find Him. They wondered if He would go to where the Jews had been dispersed among the Gentiles and teach them.
(36) "What saying is this that He said, 'You shall seek Me and shall not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"
However, if that was the case, then what had Jesus meant when He said they would seek Him and not find Him and they wouldn't be able to go where He went. If He went to some region of the Gentiles, nothing really kept them from finding Him there.
(37) In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink."
On the last day of the feast, the Jews had a ceremony of drawing water from the fountain of Siloam which the priests poured out on the altar while they sang, "With joy shall you draw water from the wells of salvation." It was on this day that they commemorated God's miraculously giving water out of a rock (John Wesley's Notes on the Bible). Jesus stood up and cried out that if any man thirsted, let him come to Him and drink of His living water.
(38) "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."
Jesus went on to say that whoever believed in Him, as the Scriptures themselves had said (Isaiah 44:3 and Isaiah 55:1), an abundance of living water would flow from his heart. An interesting note about the use of "belly" instead of our more romantic "heart"--actually our feelings do flow more from our bellies than from our hearts. We have "butterflies in our stomach," we can be literally sick in the stomach with dread, and we can feel immense love in our gut.
(39) (But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom they who believe in Him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.)
This was a parenthetical statement by John explaining Jesus's figurative expression of "rivers of living water." He meant this in a spiritual sense. John went on to say that he who believed in Jesus would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit after Jesus had been glorified and ascended into heaven. That is not to say that the one who believed didn't have the Spirit of God drawing him to Himself and to Jesus, but once the Holy Spirit lived within him, there would be greater measures of spiritual gifts and guidance, "rivers of living water."
(40) Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."
Many of the people who heard Jesus speak believed and said that He was surely the great Prophet Moses had spoken of in Deuteronomy 18:15, "The Lord thy God will raise up to you a Prophet from the midst of you, of your brethren, like Me, to Him you shall hearken."
(41) Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Will Christ come out of Galilee? (42) Has not the scripture said that Christ comes from the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem where David was?"
Other people said Jesus was the Christ, which they misunderstood as being separate from the Prophet. Then others asked if the Christ would come out of Galilee as they imagined Jesus was born in Galilee just because He grew up there. They knew from the scriptures the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem.
(43) So there was a division among the people because of Him.
The people were all divided over their opinions about Jesus. Many would miss out on the gift of salvation because they got hung up on every detail. And of course, it's not that the details were wrong, they just didn't see the whole picture. I think of how some people wish to question every single contradiction they think they find in the Bible in order to disprove it and disprove God. However, they just don't know the whole picture. Any scripture can be taken out of context to mean something else. But in the context of the whole and especially with the help of the Holy Spirit showing us truth, we can be assured God's Word is true, even if we don't have all the answers. Although the longer you are with the Holy Spirit and in God's word, you begin to understand considerably more than you did in the beginning, and many of those answers reveal themselves.
(44) And some of them would have taken Him, but no man laid hands on Him.
Some of the people wanted to seize Jesus and would have taken Him, but no one laid hands on Him. Just like in verse 30, it was not yet Jesus's time to be seized, so no one was able to lay hands on Him.
(45) Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?"
Those officers that the chief priests and Pharisees had sent to take Jesus (verse 32) reported back to those who sent them. The chief priests and Pharisees asked why they had not brought Jesus to them.
(46) The officers answered, "Never has a man spoke like this Man."
It's not just that God did not permit the officers to lay hands on Jesus, but He softened their hearts toward Him! I think that is wonderful! Those officers might be brought to salvation even though they were once the enemy. We should never judge and give up on any person as the Holy Spirit of God is able to draw even the meanest hearts.
(47) Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived? (48) Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? (49) But these people who do not know the law are cursed."
The Pharisees asked the officers if they, too, were deceived. They thought by suggesting that not one ruler or Pharisee believed in Him would be proof to them that Jesus was not the Christ. After all, they were learned in the scriptures and so wise and holy! They judged all those people cursed who did not know the law as they supposedly did.
(50) Nicodemus said to them (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them), (51) "Does our law judge man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"
Nicodemus, who had come to Jesus in the night (John 3:1), was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews. He asked the other chief priests and Pharisees if their law would judge a man without hearing from him and witnessing what he did. Their law required justice and gave every man the right to a fair and impartial trial. Nicodemus stepped in to make sure justice was done and that Jesus was not presumed guilty and condemned without hearing from Him personally. Nicodemus had a secret respect for Jesus that made him step in, but it appears he did not have the courage to openly testify for Him.
(52) They answered and said to him, "Are you also of Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet arises out of Galilee."
The chief priests and Pharisees asked Nicodemus if he was also from Galilee, insinuating that he must be one of Jesus's followers. They told him to go search the scriptures and the histories and see that no prophet arose out of Galilee. However, showing how much they didn't know the scriptures or perhaps they did know but didn't think they would be challenged, they were wrong about the fact that no prophet had come from Galilee. Jonah had come from Galilee and of course, he became a symbol of Christ three days in the tomb when he was three days in the belly of the great fish. Additionally, being rulers, they surely had access to a public register that would tell them that Jesus had been born in Bethlehem and that He was in the genealogy of David.
(53) And every man went to his own house.
Thus that simple question of Nicodemus put an end to their desire to seize Jesus at that time, and everyone went back to his own house.
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