once, and that was when He entered Jerusalem, at the last pass« over, just before His crucifixion. Then He wanted to draw at- tention to the great sacrifice He was about to offer up on the cross. The contrast between His conduct on that occasion and the present one is very remarkable.
When it says that " He went in secret," it does not neces- sarily mean that He went alone. There is no reason to suppose that His own chosen Apostles had gone without Him. It only means that He did not go up publicly in the company of all " His kinsfolk and acquaintance " from Galilee.
11 — [Then the Jews sought Him.'] If, as usually is the case in St. John, the " Jews " here mean the rulers and Pharisees, there can be little doubt that they sought Jesus in order to kill Him, as the first verse tells us they wished to do. They naturally concluded that, like all devout Jews, He would come up to Jeru- salem to the feast.
[Where is He?~\ Here, as in many other places, the Greek word rendered "he" implies dislike and contempt. It is as if they said, "that fellow," (See Matt, xxvii. 63,) "that de- ceiver."
\2.— [There was much murmuring.'] As a general rule the Greek word rendered "murmuring" means an undercurrent of dis- content or dislike, not openly expressed. (Thus, Acts vi. 1.) But here, and at ver. 32, it does not seem to mean more than muttering, and private conversation, implying only that people were not satisfied "about our Lord, and privately talked much to one another about Him.
[The people.] This word in the Greek is in the plural, and evidently means the multitude, or crowd of persons who were gathered at Jerusalem on account of the feast, in contradistinc- tion to the rulers who are called " the Jews."
[Some.. . good man : others. ..deceiveth... people.] These expres- sions show the feeling of the common people towards our Lord, and are doubtless indicative of the classes from which the two opinions came. The class of simple-minded, true-hearted Is- raelites, who had sufficient independence to think for them- selves, would say of our Lord, " He is a good man." So also would the Galileans, probably, who had seen and heard most of our Lord's ministry. On the other hand, the class of carnal Jews who thought nothing of true religion, and were led like a mob at the beck of the priests and Pharisees, would probably take their cue from the Rulers, and say, "He deceiveth the people," simply because they were told so. Such, probably, was the feeling jf the lower orders at Jerusalem.
Let it be noted that Christ is, and always has been, the cause of division of opinion, whenever He has come or has been preached. To some He is a savour of " life," and to others of "death." (2 Cor. ii. 16.) He draws out the true character of