Many
of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, “This is truly the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “What, does the Christ come out of Galilee? Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So there arose a division in the multitude because of him. Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him?” The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!” The Pharisees therefore answered them, “You aren’t also led astray, are you? Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees? But this multitude that doesn’t know the law is accursed.”
John 7:40-49
John 7 [37.] Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.
John 7 [40.] Many of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, “This is truly the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “What, does the Christ come out of Galilee? Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Christ comes of the offspring of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So there arose a division in the multitude because of him. Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him?”
John 7 [46.] The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!”
John 7 [47.] The Pharisees therefore answered them, “You aren’t also led astray, are you? Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees? But this multitude that doesn’t know the law is accursed.”
John 7 [50.] Nicodemus (he who came to him by night, being one of them) said to them, “Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?”
Meaning:
On the last and greatest day of the Feast of Booths, Jesus had cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!” (John 7:37-39). These verses describe the reaction. The crowd was divided over who he was, the temple officers came back without him, and the Pharisees answered with scorn for both the officers and the ordinary people.
- “This is truly the prophet” … “This is the Christ”
Some identified Jesus as “the prophet”, the one Moses promised: “Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him” (Deuteronomy 18:15). After the feeding of the five thousand people had said the same (John 6:14). Others went further and said he was the Christ, the anointed King promised to Israel.
- “What, does the Christ come out of Galilee?”
Others objected on the basis of Scripture. God had promised David, “I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom” (2 Samuel 7:12). Micah had named the town: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel” (Micah 5:2).
Their knowledge of Scripture was correct, but their knowledge of Jesus was not. He had grown up in Galilee, yet he was born in Bethlehem and was a descendant of David. Matthew records that Jesus “was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod” (Matthew 2:1), and Luke explains that Joseph went to Bethlehem “because he was of the house and family of David” (Luke 2:4). John lets the irony stand. The objection that seemed to rule Jesus out actually pointed to him.
- “So there arose a division in the multitude because of him”
Jesus divides people. The same thing happens again in John (John 9:16; John 10:19). Jesus said, “Do you think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division” (Luke 12:51). No one can remain neutral about him for long.
- “No man ever spoke like this man!”
The officers had been sent to arrest Jesus (John 7:32). They returned empty-handed and gave a remarkable reason: they had listened to him. These were temple guards, not disciples, yet his words disarmed them. In Galilee the crowds “were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them with authority, and not like the scribes” (Matthew 7:28-29).
- “Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees?”
The Pharisees treated their own unbelief as proof: if the experts had not believed, Jesus could not be the Christ. Yet even as they spoke, one of their number, Nicodemus, was about to defend Jesus (John 7:50-51). Later John notes that “even of the rulers many believed in him” but kept quiet for fear of the Pharisees (John 12:42).
- “But this multitude that doesn’t know the law is accursed”
The leaders despised the ordinary people as ignorant of the finer points of the Law. Jesus saw the same crowds differently: “he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). He thanked his Father for revealing his truth to “infants” rather than to “the wise and understanding” (Matthew 11:25).
The Significance of John 7:40-49
- Let the facts correct our assumptions
The crowd’s objection rested on Scripture, but on an incomplete knowledge of Jesus. Careful, humble enquiry often removes objections that seem decisive at first.
- The power of Jesus’ words
Officers sent to arrest Jesus were arrested by his words. His teaching still has that power for all who will listen.
- No room for spiritual snobbery
Faith does not depend on status or education. God opens the truth to the humble, and Jesus loves those whom others look down on.
Cross-References:
Micah 5:2: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel;" The ruler from Bethlehem.
2 Samuel 7:12: "I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom." The promised Son of David.
Matthew 7:29: "for he taught them with authority, and not like the scribes." The authority of Jesus’ teaching.
Matthew 9:36: "he was moved with compassion for them," Jesus’ compassion for the crowds.
Conclusion: Jesus’ words at the feast divided the crowd: some called him the Prophet, some the Christ, and others objected that the Christ must come from Bethlehem, not knowing that Jesus was born there. The officers sent to arrest him returned saying, “No man ever spoke like this man!”, while the Pharisees scorned them and the people. The passage warns against judging Jesus by assumptions and pride, and invites us to listen to the one whose words still disarm his hearers.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible