The Jewish Annotated New Testament (230 page)

69
:
Holy One of God
, this title is not present elsewhere in the Fourth Gospel. See Judg 13.7; 16.17 in reference to Samson as a Nazirite, and Ps 106.16 in reference to Aaron.

70
: Judas is aligned with the cosmic forces hostile to Jesus. This verse foreshadows Judas’s role as the betrayer, which in 13.2 is associated with the devil entering into him

71
:
Judas
, the name of Judah the Maccabee, who led a revolt against the Seleucid (Greek) rulers of Judah in 167–164 BCE;
Iscariot
, that is, a man (Heb “‘ish”) from the town of Kerioth.

7.1
–52: Festival of Tabernacles. 1
:
Judea
was the location of the Temple in Jerusalem, where the leadership would have been hostile to Jesus if they saw him as a possible insurrectionary who would bring down Roman power to crush even their limited autonomy.

2
: Tabernacles, or
Booths
(Heb “Sukkot”), a weeklong fall pilgrimage festival celebrating the harvest and commemorating Israel’s sojourn in the desert after the Exodus. It was required that all males attend this festival (Lev 23.42; Deut 16.16, which specifies Passover, Weeks, and Booths as required). Jesus’ refusal (v. 8), followed by his covert attendance (v. 10), shows that he meant to obey the requirement.

3
:
His brothers
, likely biological relations, rather than disciples (for “brothers” as disciples, see 20.17).

6
–7
: Jesus’ brothers, like “the Jews,” represent the hostile world.

8
: Jesus tries to hide his intentions. Despite this statement, he secretly goes to Jerusalem (v. 9).

11
:
The Jews
, here the Jewish crowds in Jerusalem.

13
:
The Jews
, here Jewish authorities.

14
–18
: Jesus teaches openly in the Temple (see 8.20n.), which he mentions when interrogated by Annas (18.20).

15
:
The Jews
, here the crowd that was listening to Jesus.

18
: An implicit criticism of Jewish authorities as self-glorifying (cf. Mt 23.5–7).

22
–24
: Jesus refers to the healing of the lame man (ch 5).
Moses
, the Torah (Gen 17.10; Lev 12.3), including
the patriarchs
, traditions predating the time of Moses.

25
: The
people of Jerusalem
know the sentiment against Jesus (contrast the crowd of v. 20). A distinction is drawn between the people and the authorities; significantly, Gk “hoi Ioudaioi” (“the Jews”) is not used of either group in vv. 25–26.

27
:
No one will know
…, a possible allusion to the tradition of the “hidden messiah,” one of several different strands of messianic expectation in the first century (cf.
1 En
. 46.1–3).

27
–28
: Although the crowd claims to know where Jesus came from—perhaps an allusion to Nazareth (see 1.45; 6.42)—Jesus asserts that they do not know where he really comes from. He does therefore fulfill the expectations of the “hidden messiah” tradition.

30
:
They
, perhaps the people of Jerusalem (v. 25), but their attempt to arrest him suggests that “they” refers specifically to the authorities.

31
: The crowd continues to be divided in their assessment of Jesus, with some believing that he fulfills the criteria of the messiah, such as doing signs.

32
:
Pharisees
and
chief priests
, implies that “the Jews” as a whole are hostile to Jesus: the Pharisees, who held to a more expansive interpretation of Torah, including oral tradition, were often at odds with the priesthood, most of whom were Sadducees who differed from the Pharisees in that they relied on the Written Torah and did not believe in a bodily resurrection after death.
Temple police
, the guards who kept order in the Temple.

34
–35
: Another misunderstanding. The Jews think that Jesus refers to a trip to the Dispersion (the Diaspora), yet readers know that Jesus is alluding to his death.
The Greeks
, Gentiles.

37
–39
: According to rabbinic sources, it was customary at Sukkot to bring water in a golden pitcher from the pool of Siloam to the Temple to remind the people of the water from the rock in the desert (Num 20.2–13) and as a symbol of hope for messianic deliverance (Isa 12.3). On each day of the festival there was a procession including prayers for deliverance (Heb “hoshana,” pl. “hoshanot,” meaning “deliver” or “save”); on
the last day
was “Hoshana Rabbah,” the “great” hosanna, the culmination of these prayers (
b. Sukk
. 53a). The Johannine material suggests that these practices may have been known to the author in the first century.

38
:
As the scripture has said
, allusions to Isa 44.3; 58.11; Prov 18.4.

39
:
The Spirit
, NRSV capitalizes this word to identify this as the Holy Spirit predicted in 14.26ff. and given in 20.22. It thus may allude to the spirit that will infuse the community after Jesus’ death (cf. 15.26).
Glorified
, a reference to Jesus’ death and resurrection (13.31).

40
–42
: These verses reflect one set of speculations, according to which the messiah was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea, not in Galilee (cf. Mic 5.2; Mt 2.1; Lk 2.1–7), and descended from King David (on the basis of the promise in 2 Sam 7.16 that David’s throne would stand forever).
Bethlehem
, David’s home town (1 Sam 17.12).

49
:
Crowd … does not know the law
, that is, ordinary Jews are not experts in legal matters.

50
:
Nicodemus
(see 3.1n.).

51
:
A hearing
, Deut 19.15–21 mandates taking testimony from accusers and witnesses to assess the truth of an accusation. Nicodemus’s defense of Jesus may point to his growing belief in Jesus as the Messiah.

7.53
–8.11: The adulterous woman.
This episode is an interpolation and therefore not part of the original Gospel. It appears in Mss of other Gospels, particularly after Lk 21.38, where it fits the narrative much better. Here the conclusion of the incident, in v. 11, does not lead into the following v. 12; in addition,
scribes and Pharisees
is not a phrase in John’s Gospel (John uses the term “Pharisees,” but not “scribes”), but is frequent in Luke.

1
:
Mount of Olives
, a ridge overlooking the Jerusalem Temple.

3
: The sole reference to
the scribes
in John’s Gospel; in the Synoptics they are closely associated with the chief priests (e.g., Mt 2.4; Mk 8.31; Lk 20.19) and the Pharisees (Mt 23.2; Mk 2.16; Lk 6.7).

5
: Lev 20.10; Deut 22.23–24. Roman law did not permit execution for adultery. Jesus’ opponents may have been trying to test his faithfulness to the law.

6
: What Jesus wrote in the sand is not known, though it may be an allusion to Jer 17.13, which declares that those who depart from God shall be written in the earth (“underworld” in NRSV). Perhaps it is simply the fact that he is writing—thereby evoking the written Torah?—that is important.

8.12
–59: Confrontation with the Jews. 12
:
Again
, apparently following 7.52.
Light of the world
, recalls 1.5,8,9.

13
:
Testimony is not valid
, see 5.31–47n.

15
:
Human standards
, i.e., by appearances, not as God (and Jesus as associated with God) would judge.

17
:
Your law
, here Jesus dissociates himself from the Jewish law (cf. also 10.34). This, along with the near absence of the connection of the term “Jew” with Jesus, is part of the rhetorical strategy whereby the Gospel encourages its readership to distance themselves from “the Jews.” Deut 19.15 requires the testimony of
two witnesses
for capital cases.

18
: The two witnesses are Jesus and God (v. 16).
The Father
(God) and Jesus (the human being) are separate; the later development in Christian thought of the doctrine of the Trinity (three persons in one God) is not the issue here.

19
: More misunderstanding; the Jews inquire as to Jesus’ paternity, whereas Jesus claims God as his father.

20
:
Treasury
, not a strongroom but apparently (see Mk 12.41) the publicly available receptacles into which offerings could be placed. Both men and women had access to these, and therefore this is a reference to a public place in the Temple precincts to which anyone could have access. Jesus later refers (18.20) to the fact that he has taught publicly.

21
:
Going away
, i.e., to death and then to eternal life with the Father.

22
:
Kill himself
…, as in ch 7, the Jews misunderstand: Jesus is not committing suicide but willingly moving toward his own death (cf. 3.16).

23
: Jesus and the Jews occupy opposite ends of the spiritual pole.

24
: Continuation of the trial motif; Jesus judges the Jews and condemns them for their refusal to believe.

25
:
Why do I speak to you at all?
, another rendering, making more sense in the context, is given in translators’ note
d
, “[I am] what I have told you from the beginning.”

28
:
I am he
, a divine claim, alluding to the theophany of Ex 3.14.
Lifted up
, i.e., in the crucifixion (see 12.32); for this Gospel, crucifixion is transformed from a shameful form of death to Jesus’ exaltation and glorification, which in turn are seen as essential to the completion of God’s work and Jesus’ resurrection.