Bible Commentaries

Jewry; Judea.

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. This was a season of special thanksgiving for the ingathering of the harvest.

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.

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 removed from public view.

These things; the miracles which he wrought, in proof of his being the Messiah.

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.

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.

The world cannot; they have no occasion to do it.

In secret; privately, or in a retired manner.

Murmuring; private inquiry and contention about Jesus.

Letters; learning. Whence his learning? He has never been instructed by doctors of the law.

Not mine; I come from God, and I teach what he has committed to me to be taught.

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 have the Bible may know whether it is from God, and whether its doctrines are true. If they do not know, it is because they do not love and obey God, and it is wholly their own fault.

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.

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.

Has a devil; are influenced by an evil spirit.

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.

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 justified the one, they ought not to condemn the other.

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.

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 appear from an unknown quarter. Compare Malachi 3:1; Matthew 24:26.

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 himself, as if he had said, Ye do indeed know me as a man, and whence I am; and yet I have a higher origin, being sent from the Father.

Whom ye know not; though they had the Scriptures, they had no true knowledge of God, and this was the reason why they did not ]know his Son. Compare chap John 8:19; John 16:3; John 17:3. An affirmation of the Bible may be true in one sense, and not true in another. In order, therefore, rightly to treat it, we must understand the sense in which a declaration is made, and in that sense, on the authority of God, must receive it.

His hour was not yet come; his time to be taken and slain.

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.

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.

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 be false.

Not yet given; not so fully and abundantly given as Christ foretold that he would be, and as he afterwards was.

The Prophet; the prophet who they thought would precede the Messiah. Chap John 1:21; Matthew 16:14.

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.

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 meaning. They would themselves do the reading and judging, as well as the governing. If others undertake to exercise their inalienable rights, they are filled with wrath, and ready to pronounce them accursed. But such curses will rebound on their authors. Psalms 109:17.

One of them; one of the great council, or rulers of the Jewish nation. Chap John 3:2.

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.