John 7:50-53 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Nicodemus, he who came to Jesus by night Having now got a little more courage; being one of them Being present, as a member of the great council, saith to them, Doth our law judge (κρινει, condemn) any man before it hear him Before the magistrate, appointed to execute it, summon him into his presence, that he may hear from him what he has to say in his own defence; and know what he doeth Namely, from credible witnesses? As if he had said, Do not we ourselves act as if we knew not the law, if we pass sentence on a man before we hear him? They answered By personal reflection; the argument they could not answer, and therefore did not attempt it. For, notwithstanding that perfect knowledge of the law, and that high reverence for its precepts, which they made such boast of, they were acting directly contrary to the most essential principles of equity established by it. But, being greatly exasperated by Nicodemus's reproof, which was the more poignant and provoking, because it was well founded; and being in a violent passion with him, for condemning their conduct, and speaking favourably of Jesus, they asked him, with an air of disdain and surprise mixed with fierceness, Art thou also of Galilee Art thou one of his party? One of the ignorant, low faction, that has leagued to support a Galilean Messiah in opposition to the law, which has determined the Messiah's nativity to Bethlehem? Search and look; for out of Galilee ariseth (or rather, hath arisen, as ουκ εγηγερται properly signifies) no prophet They could not but know the contrary. They knew Jonah arose out of Gath-hepher; and Nahum from another village in Galilee. Yea, and Thisbe, the town of Elijah the Tishbite, was in Galilee also. They might, likewise, have known that Jesus was not born in Galilee, but at Bethlehem, even from the public register there, and from the genealogies of the family of David. Add to this, that many of the people had heard the shepherds declare, on the testimony of the angel, that he was born at Bethlehem, and had wondered at the words which had been told them by the shepherds, Luke 2:15-18. Nay, and the chief priests and Pharisees were not ignorant that the wise men from the East went to Bethlehem to worship him soon after he was born, as king of the Jews: the memory of which facts could not be lost in the space of thirty years. Here, then, we have a striking instance of the power of prejudice to shut men's eyes against the clearest truth. Dr. Campbell, however, thinks they did not mean all that they expressed; because, when men's passions are inflamed, they are not wont to be accurate in their words, or distinct in recollecting, on the sudden, things which make against them; and that therefore this expression of the Pharisees, whom prejudice, pride, and envy had concurred in blinding, need not appear surprising to us. And every man went unto his own house The council separated immediately: for, being conscious that their poor answer would not bear examination, they took care, by rising up and dispersing, to prevent a reply. So that short, plain question of Nicodemus, spoiled all their measures, and for the present frustrated their designs. A word spoken in season, how good is it! especially when God gives it his blessing.