40 Some of the crowd therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, “This truly is the Prophet.” 41 Others were saying, “This is the Christ.” Still others were saying, “No, for is the Christ going to come from Galilee? 42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43 So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him. 44 Some of them were wanting to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him.
45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” 46 The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken like this!” 47 The Pharisees then answered them, “Have you also been led astray? 48 Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him? 49 But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.” 50 Nicodemus (he who came to Him before), being one of them, *said to them, 51 “Does our Law judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing?” 52 They answered him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.” 53 [Everyone went to his home. John 7: 40-53 LSB
John 7: 40-53
V. 40 This is truly the Prophet - This is "some" of the crowd, but there is also "others" and "still others", with various takes on Who Jesus is. When they say the prophet they are referring back to the words of Moses. God's Word is where they should be looking and it is the story of God's redemption through Christ, but they are kind of circular in their approach, and ultimately if one is not willing to believe, they won't. Hmm, so how does one become willing to believe, to see and comprehend the evidence that stands before them in Christ?
15The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him. 16This is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God or see this great fire anymore, so that we will not die!”… Deuteronomy 18: 15-16
Prophet (4396) prophetes from próphemi = literally to tell beforehand in turn from pró = before, in front of, forth, on behalf of + phemí = speak, tell) is primarily a forth-teller or one who speaks out God’s message, primarily to their own generation, usually always calling the people to God's truth for them at that moment, often using the phrase "Thus saith the Lord." The prophet is one who speaks before in the sense of proclaim, or the one who speaks for, i.e., in the Name of (God). "As distinct from the sacral figures of pagan antiquity the biblical prophet is not a magician. He does not force God. On the contrary, he is under divine constraint. It is God Who invites, summons, and impels him--e.g., Jer 20:7" (Lamorte and Hawthorne) Although we commonly think of the prophet as predicting future events (foretelling) generally this was secondary to his work of forth-telling. When they functioned as predictors or prognosticators, the Biblical prophets foretold the future with 100 percent accuracy. And so if they were correct on the first coming of Messiah, they will be correct on His second coming and on the coming of the antichrist. In sum, forth-telling dealt with current events and fore-telling with future events, but in both the goal is the same -- to call us to trust the Lord and submit to His will for our lives, living in conformity with His Word. Lexham Bible - Prophetes is someone who is specially endowed or enabled to receive and deliver direct revelation of God's will. See also Dictionary of Biblical Imagery discussion of imagery associated with PROPHET. The prophetes (prophet) is the outspeaker; he who speaks out the counsel of God with the clearness, energy and authority which spring from the consciousness of speaking in God’s name, and having received a direct message from Him to deliver - Precept Austin
V. 41 This is the Christ - He was both the Prophet and the Christ, proclaiming the truth and being the truth. He is the Messiah, another word for Christ, the One to take the throne of David. In Christ He is also the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, a conqueror who destroys both sin and death by way of the cross. To what extent they are professing this it does not say, so to the question, are they the remnant? I do not know, only God can see their hearts. We are relegated to judging fruit, and the profession is in the positive, but many believed in John 2 as well, yet it turned out to be superficial, not born of the Spirit.
…43Jesus said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord’? For he says: 44‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand until I put Your enemies under Your feet.”’ 45So if David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how can He be David’s son?”… Matthew 22: 43-45
20On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on him who struck them, but they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. 21A remnant will return— a remnant of Jacob— to the Mighty God. 22Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overflowing with righteousness.… Isaiah 10: 20-22
…9They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water. 10 On that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him, and His place of rest will be glorious. 11On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.… Isaiah 11: 9-11
V. 41b No, for is the Christ going to come from Galilee - Now they will argue geographically, and in verse 42 we see that they have enough study, more than most today, of the Scriptures to know that He is of the line of David, born in Bethlehem. Here is where the Jewish leaders could step in and help, and I am sure some of them went so far as to look into this, but they hate Jesus. They could have pulled the records, found where Jesus was born and laid this much to rest, but the ignorance is working in their favor, so they are silent on the matter. This is the most important question of their time and all time, Who is Jesus?
…4I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any go missing, declares the LORD. 5Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land. 6In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.… Jeremiah 23: 4-6
1Now, O daughter of troops, mobilize your troops; for a siege is laid against us! With a rod they will strike the cheek of the judge of Israel. 2But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel— One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity. 3Therefore Israel will be abandoned until she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of His brothers will return to the children of Israel.… Micah 5: 1-3
V. 43 So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him - This goes on today, Who is Jesus? When people knock on my door wanting to share their religion with me, mostly Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, that is what I want them to answer, Who is Jesus? This is a good and right place to divide if he is just a man, just a moral teacher, just a prophet like Mohammad or Gautama. The answers to this question are worth dividing over, which Jesus did you believe in?
33But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. 34Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.…
36A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 37Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; 38and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.… Matthew 10: 33-38
…3I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it way too easily. 5I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”… 2 Corinthians 11: 3-5
V. 46 Never has a man spoken like this - Again, it was not His time, but there is also something truly special about Him.
Steven Cole - The temple guards, who were Levites, came back from their mission to arrest Jesus (Jn 7:32) empty-handed, so the chief priests and Pharisees asked them (Jn 7:45), “Why did you not bring Him?” The guards easily could have said, “Because the crowd would have been upset with us!” But instead, they candidly admitted (Jn 7:46), “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” Although the guards did not intend this meaning, John probably wants his readers to think, “Precisely! Jesus is not merely a man! He speaks as He does because He is the eternal Word of God made flesh!” But the impression is that these temple guards were too fearful of the chief priests and Pharisees to take a bold stand with Jesus. That would have meant their jobs! So they fade from view. In the same way, there are many in our day who are impressed with Jesus’ eloquence or His wisdom. They think He was a great man and a brilliant religious teacher. But they don’t see Him as the eternal Word of God in human flesh and so they don’t believe in Him as their Savior and Lord. Out of fear of what others may think, they don’t take a bold public stand of faith in Christ. - Precept Austin
V. 47 Have you also been led astray - It's like the serpent, "hath God said", you don't want to identify as one of the foolish, do you? This is all posturing, they have no great argument, but they say it with confidence. This is why no one can come unless the Father draws; they can't handle being social outcast, looked down on, made fun of. "Do you really believe those Bible stories about an ark? You are not one of those young earth Christians are you? Don't you know that Darwin proved macro evolution years ago, that we all come from monkeys, it's not entropy, we are not witnessing a downward spiral, it's all going up, we are evolving into something better all the time. Trust the Science." The guy with the megaphone and the haughty laugh is sometimes just spewing the propaganda that is fueled by his own hatred of God and a desire to believe something that he finds appealing, that sits him at the table of the so called intellectuals. Will these soldiers have the courage to stand up to the religious elite, the Scribes and Pharisees? When the cock crows will they be found amongst the deniers?
The Pharisees then answered them, "You have not also been led astray (planao), have you - This question calls for a response of "No" but Robertson suggests that "they really believed it." The Pharisees were indignant and incensed giving rise to their rhetorical question of whether the officers were led astray by Jesus. Notice that the assessment of the Pharisees is that Jesus was a deceiver and misled people with His teachings. The Pharisees use the perfect tense for led astray, suggesting He began to lead them astray in the past and that deception continued to the present. How tragic that those men who should have been the teachers of the truth were in fact (ironically) the very ones who were leading the masses astray! They needed to look carefully in the mirror (but mirrors in that day were not as good as they are today)!
As Paul Apple says the Pharisees are "Marshalling the Troops – making sure no one was breaking rank and casting his lot with Christ." - Precept Austin
…29This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you; he cannot deliver you from my hand. 30Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ 31Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree, and drink water from his own cistern,…
…32until I come and take you away to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey—so that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, for he misleads you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ 33Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?… 2 Kings 18: 29-34
V. 48 Have any of the rulers or Pharisees - I believe there to be at least one on his way at the moment, two if you count Joseph of Arimathea. This would be quite scandalous to have such a rift in the leadership.
38Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (but secretly for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he came and removed His body. 39 Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus at night, also brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom.…
…41Now there was a garden in the place where Jesus was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. 42And because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they placed Jesus there. John 19: 38-42
This crowd which does not know the law is accursed - For all their learning they couldn't recognize the Messiah, yet we see they are major respecters of persons. Those who believe are simply uneducated idiots to them. The Pharisees want you to believe what they tell you to believe, for men to follow them, not God.
This crowd which does not know (ginosko) the Law is accursed - The derogatory remark by the Pharisees indicates they consider the crowd as nothing but rabble (the lower classes - Learned rabbis despised those who were not concerned with the Law)! Know means to know in the sense of being intimately acquainted with or trained by the Law. Many in the crowd had in fact believed in Him (Jn 7:31). It seems others thought He was the expected Messiah (Jn 7:41). As usual the "default" mode of the Pharisees was to throw out the Law (and throw them under the bus called Law), declaring these commoners did not know the Law of Moses and they justly deserved the verdict of "accursed." What hypocrisy! In fact those who knew (or thought they knew) the Law of Moses, were the very ones who that Law would ultimately condemn and curse! Accursed (eparatos - only here in NT) is a verbal adjective from eparaomai which means to call down curses upon. - Precept Austin
V. 51 Does our law judge a man unless it first hears from him - This is Nicodemus from John 3, a ruler of the Jews, the teacher of Israel, a very distinguished scholar, well studied, so they can't say of him what they said of the crowd. They hold a master's degree, he holds a doctorate. It's a good question, shouldn't they hear Him out, let Him make His case? What are they scared of?
Deuteronomy 19:15-19 “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. 16 “If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, 17 then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. 18 “The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.
V. 52 Are you also from Galilee - Are you one of those ignorant, red neck, fishermen as well? They all know Nicodemus, but they don't like being called out on matters of the law in which they have considered their own selves to be experts.
V. 52b Search and see that no prophet comes out of Galilee - Let's make the argument about something else, isn't that always the way, let's make a straw man. They haven't really answered Nicodemus. Why not actually turn to the Scriptures and meet with the Man, aren't we bound to those more than your traditions?
Steven Cole - Nicodemus' statement of truth in Jn 7:51 "led to their put-down, “You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.” A few commentators argue that we can never be sure that Nicodemus came to genuine faith in Christ, but most hold that his courageous act of helping Joseph of Arimathea bury Jesus (Jn 19:38-40) indicates that he did finally believe. But here we cannot be sure where he’s at in the process. He was at least sympathetic towards Jesus and concerned about the irrational hostility that he saw the Jewish leaders taking towards Him. So he registers this mild objection to their murderous intent. But when they vilify him as being a Galilean, he says no more. He could see that they weren’t in the mood for a rational discussion. But his point was valid: In contradiction of the law that they purported to uphold, they were judging a man without hearing his case (Dt. 1:16-17). Also, their put-down (Jn 7:52), “Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee,” was incorrect. Jonah, Nahum, and perhaps other prophets had arisen out of Galilee. But they were so upset with the direction that they saw things going that they were not using sound reason, but just illogical ridicule. I still remember an incident from when I was in college (back in the Dark Ages!). An agnostic philosophy professor told our class that Jesus never claimed to be God. I raised my hand and said, “What about when He said, ‘I and the Father are one’? Or what about when He told His disciples, ‘He who has seen me has seen the Father’?” But rather than deal honestly with my objection, she ridiculed me by asking, “Which Bible are you reading—the Catholic Bible or the Protestant Bible?” The class laughed and my point was brushed aside. Even though this professor taught us the logical fallacy of ad hominem arguments, she used one against me to dodge the uncomfortable truth that Jesus did in fact claim to be God. - Precept Austin
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