John 7:1

7:1-13 The brethren or kinsmen of Jesus were disgusted, when they found there was no prospect of worldly advantages from him. Ungodly men sometimes undertake to counsel those employed in the work of God; but they only advise what appears likely to promote present advantages. The people differed about his doctrine and miracles, while those who favoured him, dared not openly to avow their sentiments. Those who count the preachers of the gospel to be deceivers, speak out, while many who favour them, fear to get reproach by avowing regard for them.

John 7:1 . After these things — That is, after he had miraculously fed the five thousand, walked on the sea to his disciples, and discoursed with the multitude concerning the bread of life, as is recorded in the preceding chapter; Jesus walked in Galilee — That is, continued there, and instructed his disciples for some months after the second passover; for he would not walk in Jewry — Would not continue in Judea; because the Jews — Those of them who did not believe in him, and in particular the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees; sought an opportunity to kill him — Either by private assassination, tumultuous assault, or legal process, being incensed by the growing fame of his miracles, and the freedom of his discourses.

CHAPTER 7 Joh 7:1-53. Christ at the Feast of Tabernacles. 1, 2. After these things—that is, all that is recorded after Joh 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 Joh 5:18. Hence it appears that our Lord did not attend the Passover mentioned in Joh 6:4—being the third since His ministry began, if the feast mentioned in Joh 5:1 was a Passover.John 7:1-10 Jesus, exhorted by his unbelieving kinsmen to showhimself at Jerusalem at the feast of tabernacles,refuseth, but afterwards goeth up in secret.John 7:11-13 The Jews seek him, and differ in their sentiments of him.John 7:14-29 He teacheth in the temple.John 7:30-32 Some are ready to lay hands on him, others believe;the rulers send officers to apprehend him.John 7:33-39 Christ foretells his departure to the Father, andpromises the Holy Spirit to believers.John 7:40-44 Divers options concerning him.John 7:45-53 The officers, struck with his discourse, returnwithout him, and are rebuked by the Pharisees, whochide with Nicodemus for taking his part.

After the third passover, which happened after our Saviour had entered upon his public ministry, of which we read, John 5:1, and all those things which we read of, John 5:1-6:71, done by our Saviour, both at the feast at Jerusalem, John 5:1-47 and after he went into Galilee, John 6:1, and had made that excellent discourse, of which we had a large account, John 6:1-71; Jesus continued still to converse in Galilee, where he was; for he would not go into Judea, nor converse there, because the Jews, for the causes mentioned John 5:18, sought to kill him. They had two things (as appeareth from thence) against him: 1. His violation of the sabbath (as they thought) by healing him that lay at the pool of Bethesda. 2. His making himself equal with the Father.

John 7:1 . Περιεπάτει , was walking ) for several months after His second passover [mentioned at ch. John 6:4 ].— οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι , the Jews ) who believed not.— ἀποκτεῖναι , to kill ) [ through the hatred which they had conceived against Him, from as far back as the Pentecost of the previous year (ch. John 5:18 , “because He had not only broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God”), and which revived at this feast of Tabernacles, and subsequently blazed out more furiously .—Harm., p. 352]; John 7:19 , “Why go ye about to kill Me?” 30, 44; John 8:40 ; John 8:59 , “Then took they up stones to cast at Him; but Jesus hid Himself.”

1–9 . The controversy with His brethren 1 . After these things ] The interval is again vague (see introductory note to chap. 6); but comparing John 4:4 with John 7:2 we see that it covers about five months, the interval between the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles. walked in Galilee ] To this ministry in Galilee, of which S. John tells us nothing, most of the incidents narrated Matthew 14:34 to Matthew 18:35 belong. The tenses here are all imperfects, implying continued action. he would not walk in Jewry ] From this we understand that He did not go up to Jerusalem for the Passover mentioned John 6:4 . ‘Jewry’ is found here in all the English versions excepting Wiclif’s; it was common in the earlier translations. But in the A. V. it has been retained (probably by an oversight) only here, Luke 23:5 , and Daniel 5:13 : elsewhere Judæa has been substituted. In Daniel 5:13 the same word is translated both ‘Jewry’ and ‘Judah!’ Comp. the Prayer Book version of Psalm 76:1 .

(1) After these things . . . —Denoting not immediate sequence, but covering the interval included in this verse— i.e., the Galilean ministry of Matthew 15-18. (Comp. Note on John 21:1 .) It would have been natural for Him to have gone up to the Passover of that year ( John 6:4 ), but He did not do so on account of the open hostility of the Jews. He continued his sojourn in Galilee. Jewry was frequent in the older English translations, but has been preserved in the Authorised version of the New Testament only here and in Luke 23:5. (See Note there, and comp. Daniel 5:13 and the Prayer Book version of Psalm 76:1.)

After these things - After the transactions which are recorded in the last chapters had taken place, and after the offence he had given the Jews. See John 5:18 . Jesus walked - Or Jesus lived, or taught. He traveled around Galilee teaching. In Jewry - In Judea, the southern division of Palestine. Compare the notes at John 4:3. The Jews sought - That is, the rulers of the Jews. It does not appear that the common people ever attempted to take his life.

John 7:1-2 .[256] Μετὰ ταῦτα ] after these transactions, chap. 6 Οὐ ΓᾺΡ ἬΘΕΛΕΝ ἘΝ Τ. ἸΟΥΔ. ΠΕΡΙΠ. ] whither He would already have gone for the approaching Passover ( John 6:4 ), had He not had been influenced by this consideration (comp. John 5:16 ; John 5:18 ). We must not assume from this, as B. Crusius does, that John regarded Judaea as the proper seat of the ministry of Jesus; nor, with Schweizer, make use of the passage to impugn the genuineness of John 6:1-26 ; nor say, with Brückner, that John here again takes up the theme of the hostility of the Jews, because this had not been dropped in what precedes ( John 6:11 ; John 6:52 ), where so late as in John 7:30-31 even, a division among the disciples is mentioned, and does not immediately become prominent in what follows. To this sojourn in Galilee, to describe which was beyond the plan of John’s Gospel, most of the narrative in Matthew 14:34-36 belongs. It lasted from a little before the Passover ( John 6:4 ), which Jesus did not attend in Jerusalem, onwards to the next feast of Tabernacles ( John 7:2 ); hence also the Imperfects . δέ ] leading on to what, nevertheless, afterwards induced Him to go to Jerusalem. Ἡ ΣΚΗΝΟΠΗΓΊΑ ] חַנ הַםֻּכּוֹח , beginning on the 15th Tisri (in October), and observed with special sacredness and rejoicing. Leviticus 23:33 ; Josephus, Antt . iii. 10. 4, al.; Plutarch, Symp . iv. 6. 2; Ewald, Alterth . p. 481 f.; Keil, Archaeol .

I. § 85. [256] As to Baur’s assaults on the historical character of the contents of chap. 7, see Hauff in the Stud. u. Krit . 1849, p. 124 ff. According to Baur, the object of chap. 7 is to show how the reasoning on which unbelief ventures to enter only becomes its own logical refutation.