‘The Judaisers said to him, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed. Abraham is dead, and so are the prophets. And you say, ‘If a man keep my word he will never taste of death'. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who are you making yourself out to be?” '
The Judaisers tried to ridicule His teaching. They must have known what He really meant but they were as aware as He was that others were listening. So they altered ‘see death' to ‘taste of death' with the intention of emphasising physical death, as their comments about Abraham and the prophets demonstrated. They were refusing to acknowledge that He was speaking of ‘the second death', something that they too believed in.
‘Are you greater than our father Abraham?' In the Greek the question is put in such a way as to assume a negative answer.
‘Who is dead, and the prophets are dead.' The Pharisees believed in the resurrection from the dead. Thus on this at least they should have acknowledged what Jesus meant. They too believed that Abraham and the prophets would live again. But caricature is the weapon of deceivers, and that was what they were. So they pretended to believe that He meant physical death. They were playing to the crowds. How could He say that true believers would never taste of death when both Abraham and the prophets were all dead?