John 7:35

John 7:35-36 . Then said the Jews, Whither will he go — Jesus spake concerning his death, resurrection, and ascension, but the Jews did not understand him; for they imagined that he threatened to leave them, and go among their brethren of the dispersion. Will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles — Greek, των Ελληνων , of the Greeks, that is, the Jews scattered abroad in different nations, Greece particularly; and teach the Gentiles — Τους Ελληνας , the Greeks, the heathen themselves. By Greeks, we are here to understand idolatrous Gentiles, and not Hellenists, or Jews, who used the Greek language; for these were the dispersed among them. There is, therefore, says Dr. Doddridge, a sarcasm “in these words, beyond what commentators have observed.

They insinuate that if he was to go into foreign countries, to address himself to the Jews there, who might be supposed not so well instructed as those who lived in Judea and at Jerusalem, he would not be able to make any proselytes, even among these; but would be constrained to apply himself to the ignorant and stupid Gentiles, to seek disciples among them; which, to be sure, appeared to these haughty scorners one of the most infamous circumstances that could be imagined, and most incompatible with the character of the true Messiah.” What manner of saying is this — This saying is unintelligible and absurd: for though his meaning be, that he is going to preach among the Gentiles, surely it is possible for us to follow him thither.

John 7:35 . This was quite unintelligible to the Jews, εἶπον οὖν … ἐλθεῖν . The only meaning they could put upon His words was that, finding no reception among the Jews of Judaea and Galilee, He intended to go to the Jews of the Dispersion and teach them and the Greeks among whom they lived. The διασπορὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων does not mean, as Chrysostom and Euthymius suppose, the Gentiles διὰ τὸ διεσπάρθαι πανταχοῦ , but the Jews dispersed among the Gentiles, see Deuteronomy 28:25 , Jeremiah 34:17 , 1 Peter 1:1 , Jam 1:1 ( cf. Schürer, Div. II., vol. ii., and Morrison, Jews under Roman Rule ). But the following clause, καὶ διδάσκειν τοὺς Ἕλληνας , indicates that they supposed He might teach the Greeks themselves: thus ignorantly anticipating the course Christianity took; what seemed unlikely and impossible to them became actual.— τίς ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ λόγος … The saying has impressed itself on their memory, though they find it unintelligible. How they could not go where He could, they could not fathom. Cf. Peter’s “Lord, why can I not follow Thee now?” and the whole conversation, chap. John 13:33 to John 14:6 , “No one comes to the Father but through me”.

Will He go (οὗτος μέλλει πορεύεσθαι) Literally, whither does this man intend to go, or whither is He thinking of going? The A.V. misses the contemptuous insinuation in this man (Rev.). We shall not find him (ἡμεῖς) The pronoun is emphatic; we, the religious leaders, the wise men, who scrutinize the claims of all professed teachers and keep a watchful eye on all impostors. The dispersed among the Gentiles (τὴν διασπορὰν τῶν Ἑλλήνων). Literally, the dispersion of the Greeks. The Jews who remained in foreign lands after the return from the Captivity were called by two names: 1. The Captivity, which was expressed in Greek by three words, viz., ἀποικία, a settlement far from home, which does not occur in the New Testament; μετοικεσία, change of abode, which is found in Matthew 1:11, Matthew 1:12, Matthew 1:17, and always of the carrying into Babylon; αἰχμαλωσία, a taking at the point of the spear; Ephesians 4:8; Revelation 13:10. 2. The Dispersion (διασπορά). See on 1 Peter 1:1; see on James 1:1. The first name marks their relation to their own land; the second to the strange lands. The Gentiles (Ἕλληνας) Literally, the Greeks. So Rev. See on Acts 6:1.

Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the {h} dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? (h) Literally, to the dispersion of the Gentiles or Greeks, and under the name of the Greeks he refers to the Jews who were dispersed among the Gentiles.

The Jews, not at all believing the Divine nature of Christ, notwithstanding all that Christ had said, and all the miracles he had wrought, are at a mighty loss to conclude what our Saviour spake of, and whither he would go; they thought he could go no where in the land of Jewry, but they should hear of him, and be able to come where he was; they conclude therefore that he would go into some pagan country. In the Greek it is, Will he go into the dispersion of the Grecians? There were two most famous dispersions, of which we read in history. The first was of the Jews, of which we read in sacred history, in the captivities of Assyria, whither the ten tribes were carried, 2 Kings 17:6 ; and Babylon, whither the two tribes were carried, 2 Kings 24:14 . And that of the Grecians by the Macedonians; when also many of the Jews were dispersed by Alexander the Great, and his successors. Peter directeth his Epistle to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 1 Peter 1:1 . And James directs his Epistle to the twelve tribes scattered abroad. They fancy that our Saviour would go into some of these places, and preach; by which means the Gentiles would be taught the mysteries of the Jewish religion, which was what above all things they were impatient of hearing; and yet had reason from the prophecies of the Old Testament to fear, viz. their own rejection, and the receiving in of the Gentiles, which afterward came to pass, Romans 11:15 .

John 7:35 . Ποῦ , whither ) More unseasonably they afterwards say, Whether will He kill Himself? ch. John 8:22 — διασποράν ) So the Septuag., Deuteronomy 28:25 [ ἔσῃ διασπορὰ ἐν πάσαις βασιλείαις τῆς γης , thou shalt be a dispersion—a dispersed remnant—among all the kingdoms of the earth] Deuteronomy 30:4 .— τῶν Ἑλλήνων , of the Greeks ) in other words, the Jews outside of Palestine. They think that they will drag Him forth to the light by means of letters, wherever throughout the world He may take His dwelling among Jews.

35 . Then said the Jews ] The Jews therefore said , i.e. in consequence of what Christ had said, shewing that it is to the official representatives of the nation that His words are addressed. Whither will he go , &c.] Better, Where does this fellow intend to go, seeing that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go unto the dispersion among the Gentiles , &c. the dispersed ] Or, the dispersion , meaning those Jews who were dispersed among the heathen outside Palestine; the abstract for the concrete, like ‘the circumcision’ for the Jews generally. The word for ‘dispersion’ ( diaspora ), occurs James 1:1 and 1 Peter 1:1 (see notes there), and nowhere else in N.T. There were three chief colonies of these ‘dispersed’ or ‘scattered’ Jews, in Babylonia, Egypt, and Syria, whence they spread over the whole world. ‘Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him,’ Acts 15:21 . These opponents of Christ, therefore, suggest that He means to go to the Jews scattered among the Gentiles in order to reach the Gentiles and teach them—the very mode of proceeding afterwards adopted by the Apostles. But here it is spoken in sarcasm. Christ’s utter disregard of Jewish exclusiveness and apparent non-observance of the ceremonial law gave a handle to the sneer; which would be pointless if the word translated ‘Gentiles’ (margin ‘Greeks’) were rendered ‘Hellenists,’ i.e. Grecised Jews. Hellenes , or ‘Greeks,’ in N.T. always means Gentiles or heathen. See on John 12:20 .

(35) Whither will he go that we shall not find him? —He had said in John 7:33 , “I go unto Him that sent Me,” and in Joh 7:28. He had declared that they knew not Him that sent Him. There is, then, no contradiction between these verses, and their question, strange as it seems, is but another instance of their total want of power to read any meaning which does not lie upon the surface. He is going away, and they will not be able to find Him, and they can only think of distant lands where other Jews had gone, as of Babylon, or of Egypt, or of Greece. Will He join some distant colony of Jews where they cannot follow Him? They have no thought of His death and return to His Father’s home. Will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?—Better, Will He go unto the dispersion among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? The word for “dispersion” (διασπορά, diaspora) occurs again, in the New Testament, only in the opening verses of the Epistle of St. James and of the First Epistle of St. Peter, and is in both these passages represented by the English word “scattered.” The only other instance of its occurrence in the Bible, is in the Greek version (LXX.) of Psalm 146:2. (In Authorised version, Psalm 147:2, “He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.”) It is also found in 2 Maccabees 1:27, “Gather those together that are scattered from us.” (Comp. Jos.

Wars, vii. 3, § 3; Ant. xii. 1-3; 15:3, § 1.) The abstract word is used like “the circumcision,” e.g., as a comprehensive title for the individuals included in it. These were the Jews who did not dwell within the limits of the Holy Land, but spreading from the three chief centres, Babylonia, Egypt, and Syria, were found in every part of the civilised world. The Babylonian Diaspora owed its origin to the vast number of exiles who preferred to remain in the positions they had acquired for themselves in their new homes, and did not return to Palestine after the Captivity. They were by far the greater part of the nation, and were scattered through the whole extent of the Persian empire. Of the origin of the Egyptian Diaspora, we find traces in the Old Testament, as in Jeremiah 41:17; Jeremiah 42:18. Their numbers were greatly increased under Alexander the Great and his successors, so that they extended over the whole country (Jos. Ant. xvi. 7, §2). Much less numerous than their brethren of Babylonia, and regarded as less pure in descent, they have, through their contact with Western thought and the Greek language, left a deeper and wider influence on after ages. To them we owe the LXX. translation of the Old Testament Scriptures, and the Alexandrian school of Jewish philosophers, two of the most important influences which first prepared the way for, and afterwards moulded the forms of, Christianity.