John 7:30

‘So they sought to arrest him.'

Again ‘they' means the Judaisers and the authorities. Yet they were clearly having difficulty in arresting Him. But 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 would not do it openly but were striving to find some means to do it privately so that no one knew. Jesus would later accuse them of this when He said, ‘I was daily with you teaching in the Temple yet you did not arrest me' (Matthew 26:55).

‘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.

‘His hour was not yet come.' Compare John 8:20; John 12:27; John 13:1. The hour would gradually approach, and then finally came.