John 7:10

John 7:10. And when his brethren had gone up unto the feast, then went he also up, not manifestly but as in secret. We must not sever ‘manifestly' from ‘manifest thyself,' in John 7:4. Had Jesus joined any festal band, it would have been impossible (without an express miracle) to restrain the impetuous zeal of Galilean pilgrims, of whom very many had witnessed His ‘signs' and listened to His words. To have gone up publicly would have been to ‘manifest Himself to the world.' At the next great feast, the Passover of the following year, He did enter the holy city in triumph, thus proclaimed King of Israel by the rejoicing multitudes. For this, however, the time was not yet come. It is very probable that this journey must be identified with that related in Luke 9:51 sqq. The privacy here spoken of has been thought inconsistent with Luke's statement that Jesus at that time travelled through Samaria with His disciples, ‘sending messengers before him' (Luke 9:52). But the divergence is only apparent. Jesus went up in secret, in that He avoided the train of Galilean pilgrims, who may have reached Jerusalem before He set out from Galilee; besides, it is probable that the route through Samaria, though not altogether avoided by the festal companies (as we know from Josephus), would be more rarely taken. The sending of messengers implies no publicity; for such a company as this, composed of Jesus and His disciples, such a precaution might well be essential.