John 7:32

The Pharisees

(ο Φαρισαιο). This group of the Jewish rulers (John 7:11; John 7:15; John 7:25) was particularly hostile to Christ, though already the Sadducees had become critical (Matthew 16:6) and they join here (ο αρχιερεις, the chief priests being Sadducees) in determining to silence Jesus by bringing him before the Sanhedrin. They had heard the whispered talk about Jesus before he arrived (John 7:12) and still more now.Heard the multitude murmuring

(ηκουσαν του οχλου γογγυζοντος). First aorist active indicative of ακουω with the genitive case and the descriptive participle of the vivid onomatopoetic verb γογγυζω (verse John 7:12) now grown louder like the hum of bees. It was the defence of Jesus by a portion of the crowd (John 7:31) that irritated the Pharisees. Here the Pharisees take the initiative and enlist the Sadducees in the Sanhedrin (for this combination see John 7:45; John 11:47; John 11:57; Matthew 21:45; Matthew 27:62, the organized court) to send "officers" (υπηρετας) "to take him" (ινα πιασωσιν αυτον, final clause with ινα and first aorist active subjunctive of πιαζω for which verb see verse John 7:30). For υπηρετας (temple police here) see verse John 7:45; John 18:3; John 18:12; John 18:22; John 19:6; Acts 5:22; Acts 5:26. For the word see Matthew 5:25; Luke 1:2, "an under rower" (υπο, ερετης), any assistant.