John 7:1-13

ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.

Vv. 1-13.

1. The history now moves forward over a period of six months to the Feast of Tabernacles in October. Nothing can be more manifest than the combination in this Gospel of the two elements, as we may call them, of biographical order and the selection of material for another than a biographical end. A full recognition of this fact is necessary in order to a candid and judicial examination of many of the difficulties in this Gospel, which are suggested by those who doubt its apostolic authorship or its truthfulness.

2. The true explanation of the demand of the brethren seems to be this: that they wished Him to go to Jerusalem, as the proper place for the assuming publicly of His Messianic office. If He was unwilling to do this, it must be that He was conscious of the weakness of His claims. By this demand they would test Him, and they thought He was failing to meet it. The attitude of the brethren does not seem to have been like that of the leading Jews, one of bitter hostility. The fact that they came to believe so soon after the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 1:14) seems to show that they were less “slow of heart to believe.” In Mark 3:21 they appear to be desirous of protecting Him from harm, as one carried away by enthusiasm under a delusion, rather than ready to deliver Him to the hands of His enemies. But they were not prepared to believe, even at this time, when His public ministry was within six months of its ending. Perhaps the very fact of His delay in making Himself known in the manifest and prominent way of which they had thought in their picturing of the Messiah's advent, was a main ground of their doubt and hesitation. They were impatient to have this doubt removed, if it could be. They were not ready to believe, until it was removed.

3. The word καιρός, John 7:6; John 7:8, may be regarded as kindred in its use to ὥρα, and thus as referring here, when used of Jesus, to the time of His great manifestation of Himself as the Messiah. This view, which is substantially that of Godet, gives the simplest explanation of these verses. What they desired was not merely that He should go to Jerusalem, as an ordinary Jew would go, for the celebration of the feast, but that He should go for the purpose of this public manifestation. That this is the correct view is shown (a) by the ἵνα clause of John 7:3; (b) by the expressions openly, as opposed to in secret, and manifest thyself to the world (John 7:4), comp. not openly (John 7:10); (c) by the fact that the hatred of the world is given as the reason why the time must be delayed (John 7:7); (d) by the satisfactory explanation which it gives of the I go not up (οὐκ) of John 7:8 (which is more probably the correct text), as connected with the he went up of John 7:10; (e) by the accordance of this passage, if thus explained, with the plan and character of John's Gospel. It thus becomes not a mere biographical item of little importance for any further purpose, but a part of the great progress towards the end which this writer carefully follows in his work.

4. John 7:12-13 present strikingly the position both of the people and the leaders at this time. It is evident from this Gospel that the Jewish rulers and leading enemies of Jesus moved solwly in the development of their plans against Him. As yet, they had not made public the course which they intended finally to take. Even their own partisans among the people were, apparently, uncertain whether they might not suddenly change to a more favorable attitude. The position of the rulers was, throughout the whole course of the history, a difficult one.

They could not, with safety, move too slowly, for the impression made by Jesus on the minds of the people was becoming more and more favorable, and might, at any moment, cause a dangerous excitement or uprising. They could not move too rapidly, for they must have some foundation for severe measures, which should be in some degree satisfactory to the public judgment. The result was, that, for a considerable period after their own feelings were settled in hostility, and probably after their plans were formed with somewhat of definiteness, they still kept the announcement of their purpose from the people. The life-like way in which the course of the rulers is described in this Gospel, from the beginning to the end, is one of the strong indications that the author was himself acquainted with the characters of those of whom he wrote.

As he looked back over the remembered experience, from the standpoint of his later life, when he had come to understand all the events from the side of the Divine plan, he felt, and accordingly he declares, that the rulers' failure to carry out their purpose was because Jesus' hour had not yet come. But it is evident that he knew equally well, and that he would have his readers know, that the reason of their delay was the feeling in their own minds that their hour had not yet arrived. They were waiting for that hour, and even at the end they moved forward to the final act, not because the time seemed fully ripe, but because it seemed impossible to delay any longer.

The verses now before us belong to the time of deliberation and waiting. They were seeking for grounds of decisive action. They were ready to seize upon every occasion for violent dispute. They were sometimes carried away by indignation, and almost prepared to lay hands upon Him (comp. e.g. John 7:30). But this was the sudden outbreak of passion; when reason resumed control, they restrained themselves and waited for a more favorable moment.