John 7:32

John 7:32. The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize him. To the various parties already mentioned in this chapter, the Jews (John 7:11; John 7:13; John 7:15), the multitudes (John 7:12), or the multitude (John 7:20; John 7:31), and them of Jerusalem (John 7:25), are here added the Pharisees and also the chief priests, now mentioned for the first time in this Gospel. In three earlier passages (chap. John 1:24; John 3:1; John 4:1) John has spoken of the Pharisees, and in the last of these only (chap. John 4:1) has there been any intimation of either secret or open hostility on the part of this sect toward our Lord. It is otherwise with the other Gospels. In the course of that Galilean ministry which is not distinctly recorded by John the Pharisees occupy a very distinct position as foes of Jesus. To the period between John's last mention of the Pharisees and the present verse belong His controversies with them respecting fasting, His association with sinners (Matthew 9; Mark 2; Luke 5 compare Luke 7:49), the sabbath (Matthew 12; Mark 2; Luke 6), the tradition of the elders (Matthew 15; Mark 7), and the forgiveness of sins (Luke 5; Matthew 9; Mark 2 compare Luke 7:39). The Pharisees have attempted to persuade the multitude that He wrought His miracles through the prince of the devils (Matthew 9; Matthew 12; Mark 3). He has refused their request that they might see a sign from heaven (Matthew 16; Mark 8), and has warned the disciples against their teaching (Matt.; Mark 8) and their ‘righteousness' (Matthew 5:20). In Matthew 12:14 we read that the Pharisees (Mark 3:6, the Pharisees and the Herodians) held a consultation how they might destroy Him. Up to this point, however, in the narrative of the Fourth Gospel it would seem most probable that, as a body, they had not assumed a position of distinct hostility to our Lord. It was not in Galilee, of which the earlier Gospels speak, but in Jerusalem, where were their chief members and influence, that an organized opposition could best be formed by them; and in many passages at all events we gather that those of their number who assailed Jesus were no more than emissaries sent down from the capital by the rulers. Things now take a different turn in John's Gospel. The Pharisees come more prominently forward, act more as a party than as individuals, and begin to constitute a distinctly hostile power to Jesus. The events which had passed in Galilee, though not noted by John, may explain the change. The chief priests are, as has been said, first mentioned here by John. In the other Gospels also they are scarcely referred to up to this period of the history, for Matthew 16:21 (Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22) is a prophecy, and the only remaining passage in the first three Gospels is Matthew 2:4, where it is said that Herod convened ‘all the high priests and scribes of the people.' It has been supposed that this expression denotes the Sanhedrin, but the great court of the nation did not include ‘all the scribes.' With much more certainty may the words of Matthew 16:21, ‘the elders and the high priests and the scribes,' be taken as an enumeration of the three elements of the supreme council. What is the exact meaning of chief priests or high priests, thus spoken of in the plural, it is perhaps impossible to say. The usual view is that the chiefs of the twenty-four classes of priests are intended; but there seems little or no evidence in support of this explanation. The only point on which we can speak with certainty is that the expression must include all living who had been high priests. In those unsettled times the tenure of office was occasionally very short, and always precarious. Annas the father-in-law of Caiaphas (chap. John 18:13) was deposed by the Roman Procurator about fourteen years before the time of which we now speak: within three or four years of his deposition as many as four were appointed to the high-priesthood, the last of whom, Caiaphas, retained office until A. D. 36. At this time, therefore, besides the actual high priest, three or four may have been living who had once borne this name, and their former dignity would give them weight in a council which consisted of Jews alone. Whether prominent members of families to which present or former high priests belonged (compare Acts 4:6) were also included under this name, or whether it denoted other priests who stood high in influence as members of the Sanhedrin, is very doubtful. The multitude talked among themselves in the temple of the grounds of the faith in Jesus which was growing in their hearts. Their talk is secret (‘murmuring'), but not so secret that the Pharisees did not overhear their words. Convinced that the teaching which so powerfully impresses the people must be heard no longer, they seek therefore the aid of the chief priests, whose attendants are immediately dispatched with orders to seize Jesus.