officers answered,
Never man so spake. The Pharisees therefore answered them, Are ye
also led astray? Hath any of the rulers believed on Him, or of the
Pharisees? But this multitude which knoweth not the law are
accursed. Nicodemus saith unto them (he that came to Him before,
being one of them), Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear
from himself and know what he doeth? They answered and said unto
him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and see that out of Galilee
ariseth no prophet."--JOHN vii.

After describing how matters were brought to a crisis in Galilee, and
pointing out that, as the result of our Lord's work there, only twelve
men adhered to Him, and in even this final selection not all were to be
trusted,--John passes on to describe the state of feeling towards Jesus
in Jerusalem, and how the storm of unbelief gathered until it broke in
violence and outrage.[28] This seventh chapter is intended to put us in
the right point of view by exhibiting the various estimates that were
formed of the work and person of Jesus, and the opinions which any one
might hear uttered regarding Him at every table in Jerusalem.

But the motive of His going to Jerusalem at all calls for remark. His
brothers, who might have been expected to understand His character best,
were very slow to believe in Him. They only felt He was different from
themselves, and they were nettled by His peculiarity. But they felt that
the credit of the family was involved, and also that _if_ His claims
should turn out to be true, their position as brothers of the Messiah
would be flattering. Accordingly they betray considerable anxiety to
have His claims pronounced upon; and seeing that His work in Galilee had
come to so little, they do their utmost to provoke Him to appeal at once
to the central authority at Jerusalem. They did not as yet believe in
Him, they could not entertain the idea that the boy they had knocked
about and made to run their messages could be the long-expected King;
and yet there was such trustworthy report of the extraordinary things He
had done, that they felt there was something puzzling about Him, and for
the sake of putting an end to their suspense they do what they can to
get Him to go again to Jerusalem. The lever they use to move Him is a
taunt: "_If_ these works of yours are genuine miracles, don't hang about
villages and little country towns, but go and show yourself in the
capital. N