This week we finish reading what has often been referred to as ‘The Later Judean Ministry’ of Jesus. Opposition to Jesus is increasing and conversations are becoming more virulent. In John 8:41 in response to Jesus’ accusation about the Jewish leader’s heritage we read, ‘“We weren’t born of sexual immorality,” they said.’ (CSB) Recall that George Guthrie in his A Short Guide to Reading the Bible Better recommended several Study Bibles. He wrote on page 78, “Some of the best are the CSB Study Bible, the ESV Study Bible, the NIV Study Bible, and the NLT Study Bible.”1 Of the four he mentions, two have comments on our phrase in John 8:41. The NIV Study Bible says, “May have been a slander aimed at Jesus.”2 The NLT Study Bible reports, “This was both a defense and an attack. In Greek, the pronoun we is emphatic: “We [in contrast to you] are not illegitimate,” implying that Jesus was illegitimate.”3
This opinion as to the meaning implied in their reply is not held by all scholars but if correct would indicate that Jesus’ unusual birth was a matter of common knowledge. Neither the CSB nor ESV Study Bibles mention this possibility. The NLT Study Bible seems to often compliment the CSB and ESV Study Bibles. The NLT Study Bible is available in the Church Library.
We will also read this week in John 10:22, “Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter.” (CSB) The Feast or Festival of Dedication was not a Festival prescribed or mentioned in the Old Testament. It commemorated the purification and rededication of the temple on the 25th day of the Jewish month Kislev which corresponds to our November-December time frame or as John tells us ‘It was winter.’ The temple in Jerusalem had been desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 B.C. and a group of resistance fighters led by Judas Maccabaeus finally got independence for the Jewish state in 164 B.C. and the temple was purified and rededicated. Sacrifices were again carried out; however, much had changed since we left the Biblical story in Malachi. For information on this period of Jewish history known as the ‘Intertestamental Period’ you can find articles in any good Bible Dictionary. For information on the festival itself Josephus discusses it in his Antiquities 12.316-325. This Festival is also known and the Festival of Lights and Hanukkah. This festival lasted for eight days.
In John’s Gospel John uses the term ‘Jew’ not in the general ethnic sense as we might use the term today but specifically to refer to the Jewish authorities, those hostile toward Jesus. While Jesus was walking in the Temple during the Feast of Dedication ‘The Jews surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”’ (CSB) Some translations will say ‘gathered around him’ instead of ‘surrounded him.’ The Greek word simply means to ‘encircle’ and can be used to indicate a hostile intent or to provide protection. In the Greek version of the Old Testament this word is found in Psalm 21:17 to indicate hostile intent and in Psalm 31:10 it is used with the idea of protection. Here it would seem that we should see hostile intent. If we read this story carefully and slowly and put ourselves in Jesus’ place, how would we feel being surrounded by a ‘hostile’ group? When Jesus answers them, they ‘pick up rocks to stone Him.’
1Guthrie, George H. 2022. A Short Guide to Reading the Bible Better. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing.
2Barker, Kenneth L., ed. 2020. NIV Study Bible. Fully Revised Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
3New Living Translation Study Bible. 2008. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
This opinion as to the meaning implied in their reply is not held by all scholars but if correct would indicate that Jesus’ unusual birth was a matter of common knowledge. Neither the CSB nor ESV Study Bibles mention this possibility. The NLT Study Bible seems to often compliment the CSB and ESV Study Bibles. The NLT Study Bible is available in the Church Library.
We will also read this week in John 10:22, “Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter.” (CSB) The Feast or Festival of Dedication was not a Festival prescribed or mentioned in the Old Testament. It commemorated the purification and rededication of the temple on the 25th day of the Jewish month Kislev which corresponds to our November-December time frame or as John tells us ‘It was winter.’ The temple in Jerusalem had been desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 B.C. and a group of resistance fighters led by Judas Maccabaeus finally got independence for the Jewish state in 164 B.C. and the temple was purified and rededicated. Sacrifices were again carried out; however, much had changed since we left the Biblical story in Malachi. For information on this period of Jewish history known as the ‘Intertestamental Period’ you can find articles in any good Bible Dictionary. For information on the festival itself Josephus discusses it in his Antiquities 12.316-325. This Festival is also known and the Festival of Lights and Hanukkah. This festival lasted for eight days.
In John’s Gospel John uses the term ‘Jew’ not in the general ethnic sense as we might use the term today but specifically to refer to the Jewish authorities, those hostile toward Jesus. While Jesus was walking in the Temple during the Feast of Dedication ‘The Jews surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”’ (CSB) Some translations will say ‘gathered around him’ instead of ‘surrounded him.’ The Greek word simply means to ‘encircle’ and can be used to indicate a hostile intent or to provide protection. In the Greek version of the Old Testament this word is found in Psalm 21:17 to indicate hostile intent and in Psalm 31:10 it is used with the idea of protection. Here it would seem that we should see hostile intent. If we read this story carefully and slowly and put ourselves in Jesus’ place, how would we feel being surrounded by a ‘hostile’ group? When Jesus answers them, they ‘pick up rocks to stone Him.’
1Guthrie, George H. 2022. A Short Guide to Reading the Bible Better. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing.
2Barker, Kenneth L., ed. 2020. NIV Study Bible. Fully Revised Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
3New Living Translation Study Bible. 2008. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
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