John 7:19-24
 
John 7:19 (KJB)
Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?
 
Here Jesus confronts them by asking two important questions. The first one dealt with the fact that the law of Moses was given to Israel and then they are confronted with the fact that even though they had the law of Moses, they were not keeping the law. In the second question, Jesus deals with this one instance in which they are not keeping the law. They had desired to murder Him and that was a violation of the sixth commandment. (Exo 20:13 KJV) Thou shalt not kill.
 
Yet they wanted to kill Jesus. Jesus knew the intents and thoughts of these people really well and even though, up to this point, they may have never openly called for His death, yet their thoughts and intents were all focused on the death of Jesus. (James 2:10 KJV) For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. James tells us that if a person keeps the whole law and yet offends in one point, they are guilty of the whole law which was 618 commandments, not just 10. So the Jews were guilty of not keeping the whole law because right there they were plotting the murder of Jesus.
 
John 7:20 (KJB)
The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?
 
Here the people responded to the statements of Jesus by claiming that He was indwelled by a devil. They wanted to know who had planned to kill Him. Many of the people who were present may not have been the ones who wanted to see Jesus dead but the leaders were definitely plotting to get Him killed. There may not have been any physical action toward that goal but when intentions begin to establish themselves, a plan is not far behind and Jesus knew their intentions.
 
John 7:21 (KJB)
Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.
 
Marvel - Be astonished or be amazed
 
The one work which Jesus is alluding to is the healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda. They had accused Him of violating the Sabbath by doing the work of healing. So Jesus begins a discourse concerning the Sabbath day since they also believed that Jesus was teaching others to disobey the law by working on the Sabbath. The astonishment would have come because the healing was done on the Sabbath and working on the Sabbath was subject to stoning. (Num 15:32-36 KJV) And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. {33} And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. {34} And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. {35} And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. {36} And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.
 
John 7:22 (KJB)
Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man.
 
Jesus now points out to them that if He is guilty of violating the Sabbath by healing a man and if that healing was considered a work, then those who perform circumcision on the Sabbath in the temple are also guilty for violating the Sabbath because circumcision involved the work of cutting. The ceremony of circumcision did not start with Moses but Abraham, just as tithing did not start with Moses but with Jacob.
 
(Num 15:32-36 KJV) And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. {33} And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. {34} And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. {35} And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. {36} And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.
 
(Gen 28:20-22 KJV) And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, {21} So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: {22} And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.
 
John 7:23 (KJB)
If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?
 
Angry - Gall, bile, inflamed, or furious
Every whit - Complete or entire
Whole - Healthy or sound
 
The violation of the sabbath by working was a penalty of death as we saw with the man who picked up sticks on the sabbath day. However, by the Jews doing circumcision on the sabbath day, they were showing that circumcision was more important than the sabbath day. It was part of the covenant which God made with Abraham and they believed that it superseded the sabbath day rules. Now since they were doing work on the sabbath, Jesus now asks them a question which is really unanswerable by them. Why would they be angry with Jesus for making a man completely healthy? Just as the Jews had worked on the body of a baby for circumcision, Jesus had made the body of a man totally whole. If the Jews were working on the sabbath, then how could they justify being angry at Jesus for doing the same thing? It was another case of hypocrisy.
 
John 7:24 (KJB)
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
 
Appearance - Sight or outward appearance
 
The Pharisees had judged Jesus guilty of violating the sabbath by making the man whole but when proper analysis was made of the accusation, the Jews were guilty of doing the same thing, that is, they were working on the sabbath by doing circumcision. This is why quick and biased judgments are dangerous. The very ones who accused the Lord Jesus Christ of violating the law were doing it way before He was even born and none of them were ever stoned to death for that crime. This verse is not stating that Christians should never judge a situation but that the judgments must be made righteously with all information. For example, a man should not accuse another of committing adultery when he, himself, has his eye on his neighbor when she is sunbathing by the pool. That would be as hypocritical as the Pharisees working on the sabbath and then accusing Jesus of doing the same thing. It would be like the manager of an open Burger King calling up McDonalds 11 AM Sunday morning and accusing them of being open on Sunday. Christians must make judgments all the time because we are to test the Spirits or the teachings we hear. No true Christian would go into a Mormon Church or a Roman Catholic Church because they know the doctrines are false and misleading. Judgment is necessary for our own spiritual good but it must be done properly and not in haste or in a biased manner.

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