John 7:42

Joh 7:42. Οὐχί, Hath not) And yet indeed this very prophecy was realised in the person of Jesus. Why had they not turned their attention to it? especially as they were admonished of the fact, Mat 2:1. etc. Thirty-two years were not a time beyond memory, especially as there intervened in His twelfth year a new admonition, Luk 2:42 [His sitting among the doctors in the temple, and astonishing them with His understanding and answers].—ἀπὸ Βηθλεέμ, from Bethlehem) This John takes for granted as known from the other evangelists respecting Jesus.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

scripture said . . . of the seed of David, and out of . . . Bethlehem, &c.--We accept this spontaneous testimony to our David-descended, Bethlehem-born Saviour. Had those who gave it made the inquiry which the case demanded, they would have found that Jesus "came out of Galilee" (Joh 7:41) and "out of Bethlehem" both, alike in fulfilment of prophecy as in point of fact. (Mat 2:23; Mat 4:13-16).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 42. Where David was?] That is, where he was born, 1Sa 16:1; 1Sa 16:4, and where he was before he became king in Israel.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(42) Hath not the scripture said . . .—Comp. the prophecies in Mic_5:1; Isa_11:1; Jer_23:5.

Where David was.—Comp. the history in 1 Samuel 16.

It has often been asked, sometimes in the spirit of objection, sometimes in the spirit of inquiry, how the Apostle, if he really knew the history of our Lord’s birth at Bethlehem, could record these questions without a correction. But in these verses he is giving the feelings and opinions of the multitude, and it is a mark of the truthfulness of his narrative that he gives them just as they really occurred. He, remembering the events as they took place, can with perfect historic fitness record the passing thoughts and words, erroneous as they were. A writer of the second century could not possibly have unintentionally made so great a mistake, with the earlier Gospels before him; nor could he have intentionally so thrown himself into the spirit of a Jewish multitude as to invent the question. (Comp. Joh_7:52, and references in Note there.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

42. of the seed of David] Psa_132:11; Jer_23:5; Isa_11:1; Isa_11:10.

out of the town of Bethlehem] Literally, from Bethlehem, the village where David was. Mic_5:2; 1 Samuel 16.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So there was a division among the people concerning him. Some, though they did not go so far as to believe him to be the Messiah, yet took him to be a prophet, and a very extraordinary one; others made no difficulty to assert him to be the Christ; and others objected to it on account of the country from whence he came, and so fulfilled the words of Christ, Luk 12:51.

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John 7:44

joh 7:44

joh 7:44

joh 7:44And some of them would have taken him,.... Some of the latter sort, who did not believe he was the Messiah; who were the most averse to him, and hot and furious against him; these were for seizing him at once in a violent manner, and for carrying him before the sanhedrim, as an impostor and blasphemer to be examined and tried, and judged by them, to whom it belonged to judge and determine concerning such persons:

but no man laid hands on him; though they had a good will to it, no man had power to do it; they were held back and restrained by the providence of God; and were diverted from it upon one consideration or another; either fearing the people, or being awed by the majesty of Christ's countenance, or words; the true reason of which was, that which is before given, that his hour was not yet come.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?

Ver. 42. Hath not the Scripture said?] {See Trapp on "Mat 2:5"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Scriptures of the Old Testament had both described the family from whence the Messiah was to arise, viz. the family of David, Psa 132:11, and the town, which was Bethlehem, Mic 5:2; which was David’s father’s town, where he lived also, till God called him out to the kingdom, 1Sa 17:15; 20:6.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

42. Seed of David—Like many sceptical reasoners of the present day, these men ignore what they cannot confute, namely, that the descent of Jesus from David was matter of record, and his birth at Bethlehem was claimed by his followers as fact.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 42, 43. Hath not the Scripture said, That the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was? Therefore a division arose in the multitude because of him. De Wette, Baur, Weisse, Keim, and others have tried to prove from this that the evangelist was ignorant of Christ"s birth at Bethlehem. "Hilgenfeld candidly owns that this passage assumes the author"s knowledge of this very fact" (Godet). It was unknown to the multitude, who were not at that moment aware how this argument would ultimately be pressed by the first preachers of the gospel. John leaves the objection unanswered, because he knew that all his readers, familiar with the synoptic narrative, would answer it for themselves. As respects the well known belief current in John"s later years, and confirmed by the ecclesiastical tradition of Hegesippus (Eusebius, "Hist. Ec:," 3:19, 20), that the relatives of Jesus were summoned, as descendants of David, into the Emperor Domitian"s presence, it is clear that Jesus was believed to be the humble heir of David"s throne and family, so that his readers would see that he fulfilled not only the prophecy of Mic_5:2, but those of Isa_11:1 and Jer_23:5, passages which anticipate the Messiah"s descent from David. These were minor points in the great tableau of John"s Gospel. He who believed with overwhelming conviction that Jesus was the Logos made flesh, the Son of God, and the risen and glorified Lord, bestowing the Spirit of his own wondrous Person upon his Church, would not trouble much about these mistakes of the people concerning the ancillary details of his earthly career which, when he wrote, had become universally known. It was, however, instructive, half a century later, to see how flimsy, unveracious, and worthless the objections were which passed from lip to lip at this crisis in the life of our Lord. A Greek of the time of Hadrian would be surely very unlikely to have represented this condition of the Jerusalem mind. Now, some of those who believed that he was a great Prophet, the predicted Prophet, yet refused to agree with others who hailed him as the Christ. The division or violent party split ( scisma) in the crowd on that "last great day of the feast" may have had persons friendly to him on both sides; but on one side at least there were those who were ready to side with Pharisees and "Jews" and lay hands upon him.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

From Bethlehem - And how could they forget that Jesus was born there? Had not Herod given them terrible reason to remember it? Micah v, 2.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

42. ἐκ τ. σπ. Δ. Psa 132:11; Jer 23:5; Isa 11:1; Isa 11:10. see on Joh 2:22.

ἀπὸ Βηθλεέμ. Mic 5:2; 1Sa 16:1; comp. Mat 2:6. Like Oedipus they are tragically ignorant that the very test which they so confidently apply tells against them.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.