John 7:1
JEWRY; Judea.... [ Continue Reading ]
JEWRY; Judea.... [ Continue Reading ]
FEAST OF TABERNACLES; the Jews had three great annual feasts: the feast of the Passover, the feast of the Pentecost, and the feast of Tabernacles. Deuteronomy 16:1-15. This last was held from the fifteenth to the twenty-second day of their month Tizri, which included a part of September and October.... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS BRETHREN; or relatives. DEPART HENCE; from this obscure and secluded region. INTO JUDEA; where was the metropolis of the nation, and where men that sought to be known were accustomed to resort. THAT THY DISCIPLES ALSO MAY SEE; thy disciples there.... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT DOETH ANY THING IN SECRET; works in a secluded place, removed from the observation of men. AND HE HIMSELF SEEKETH; that is, while he himself seeketh. TO BE KNOWN OPENLY; they upbraid him with acting inconsistently. He seeks to be known openly as the Son of God, and yet he keeps himself remove... [ Continue Reading ]
The teaching and example of the holiest man on earth will not, without the grace of God, lead even his relatives to believe in Christ and live.... [ Continue Reading ]
MY TIME; his time to go up to the feast, and manifest himself as the Messiah. YOUR TIME IS ALWAYS READY; you are in no danger of persecution, and can safely go at any time you may choose.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WORLD CANNOT; they have no occasion to do it.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN SECRET; privately, or in a retired manner.... [ Continue Reading ]
MURMURING; private inquiry and contention about Jesus.... [ Continue Reading ]
LETTERS; learning. Whence his learning? He has never been instructed by doctors of the law.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT MINE; I come from God, and I teach what he has committed to me to be taught.... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL DO HIS WILL; here, as often elsewhere, the Saviour teaches that love and obedience towards the Father is the only true preparation for understanding and judging aright concerning the words of the Son whom he has sent. OF MYSELF; of myself alone, without the direction of the Father. All men who... [ Continue Reading ]
OF HIMSELF; this does not mean speaking about himself, or by his own power, but speaking independently of any commission or authority from God. A false teacher, not sent from God, would seek his own private ends. Christ was sent by the Father, sought his glory, and his testimony was true.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY GO YE ABOUT TO KILL ME? under the pretence that I have broken the law of Moses respecting the Sabbath, chap John 5:8, while you yourselves are continually violating that law.... [ Continue Reading ]
HAS A DEVIL; are influenced by an evil spirit.... [ Continue Reading ]
DONE ONE WORK; cured a man on the Sabbath. Chap John 5:8. YE ALL MARVEL; because he had done such a work, as if it were a violation of holy time.... [ Continue Reading ]
MOSES THEREFORE GAVE UNTO YOU CIRCUMCISION; he enjoined it, though it did not originate with him. It was appointed of God, and was practised from the days of Abraham. YE ON THE SABBATH - DAY CIRCUMCISE; this required more labor on the Sabbath than he performed in healing a man; and as they justifie... [ Continue Reading ]
ACCORDING TO THE APPEARANCE; according to the outward letter of an act. He still refers to the charge of breaking the Sabbath. Judged by the outward letter, the circumcising or healing of a man on the Sabbath might seem to be Sabbath-breaking. But judged according to truth, neither act was such.... [ Continue Reading ]
WE KNOW THIS MAN; he parentage and place of birth. NO MAN KNOWETH WHENCE HE IS; the Jews knew that the Messiah should be a descendant of David, and born in Bethlehem. Matthew 2:4-6. But they had an idea that, before his manifestation as king of Israel, he would hide himself, and then suddenly appea... [ Continue Reading ]
YE BOTH KNOW ME-KNOW WHENCE I AM; some understand the Saviour as upbraiding the Jews for their willful rejection of him, as much as to say, You know from my works who I am, and who has sent me. Compare chap John 3:2; John 12:42. Others suppose that he concedes to them a merely earthly knowledge of h... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS HOUR WAS NOT YET COME; his time to be taken and slain.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL SEEK ME; in the days of your distress you shall in vain seek the Messiah, who has been among you and been rejected by you. WHERE I AM; that is, in God's presence; but to them the saying was unintelligible.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LAST DAY; the closing day of the feast. On this day, water from the pool of Siloam was carried with great solemnity and poured out on the altar. THIRST; not literally, but spiritually-thirst in soul for satisfying enjoyment.... [ Continue Reading ]
RIVERS OF LIVING WATER; a living fountain shall be opened within him, whence shall flow streams refreshing his own soul and the souls of others. Compare chap John 4:14. No man is at liberty to interpret the words of Christ in a literal sense, when such interpretation is shown by the sense of men to... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT YET GIVEN; not so fully and abundantly given as Christ foretold that he would be, and as he afterwards was.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PROPHET; the prophet who they thought would precede the Messiah. Chap John 1:21; MATTHEW 16:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
OF THE SEED OF DAVID-THE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM; all this was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth; but from the neglect of careful inquiry, they remained ignorant of the fact.... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS PEOPLE; the common people, to whom the Pharisees imputed criminal ignorance of the Scriptures. Tyrannical teachers and rulers fear the elevation and influence of the common people. They wish to keep them in ignorance, and are often opposed even to their reading the Bible, and judging of its mea... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE OF THEM; one of the great council, or rulers of the Jewish nation. Chap John 3:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
OF GALILEE; this was an expression of contempt, as Galilee was a despised country. They knew that Nicodemus was not from Galilee, but they meant to reproach him for favoring a Galilean.... [ Continue Reading ]