The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken like this!” The Pharisees then answered them, “Have you also been led astray? Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.” Nicodemus (he who came to Him before), being one of them, said to them, “Does our Law judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing?” They answered him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.” Everyone went to his home.
John 7:40-44
Introduction
After the people generally scoffed at Jesus’ message, questioning His authenticity based on His ministry beginning in Galilee, the chief priests and Pharisees wanted their turn. But it was too late. Jesus already left. They were furious at the officials who failed to bring Jesus to them to be examined according to their unfair and unjust standards.
The Pharisees in particular make it a point of mockery to believe Jesus’ words with their claim that none of the rulers of the Pharisees believe. They do this in the form of a rhetorical question to which the answer is assumed to be “no.” But there is a ruler of the Pharisees who believes. Nicodemus had come to Jesus in the middle of the night as recorded in John 3. And while he was taken aback by the things Jesus taught him that evening, some time had passed since then. Still not yet ready to fully come out as a disciple of the Lord, Nicodemus comes just short of a full commitment before his fellow Pharisees.
In defense of Jesus, Nicodemus appeals to the Law of Moses, that a man accused of anything must first be given a fair trial. Of course, his cohort do not actually submit themselves to the Law and instead covet power. They take his sober message and hiss back, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.”
More shock over Galilee!
Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before Me.” Yet Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, and paid its fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh.
Jonah 1:1-3
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered and said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Matthew 12:38-41
The prophet Jonah was sent into a hostile city to bring them a message of repentance. As one of the few named types, Jesus compares Himself to Jonah in a few ways: He, like Jonah, would spend three days in death before being given life again; He, like Jonah, brought redemption to a rebellious people; and He, like Jonah, came from Galilee.
The Pharisees, despite all the great study of scriptures they claim to undergo, have overlooked a critical detail. Jonah is not only mentioned in the book that bears his name. 2 Kings 14:23-25 tells us this:
In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel became king in Samaria and reigned forty-one years. And he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin. He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Yahweh, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher.
You see right there Jonah the prophet was “of Gath-hepher.” Gath-hepher is located in the region of Galilee, surprisingly close to Nazareth. The Pharisees missing this embarrassing detail serves to strengthen the comparison Jesus made of Himself to the prophet in Matthew. And it should strengthen the faith of the doubting that those who seek to discredit the Lord as Lord consistently find themselves trapped by their own arguments.
Storming off
Whether the Pharisees recognized this or not, they took the opportunity to storm off. Immediately after blowing up at Nicodemus, “everyone went to his home.” They had nothing left to discuss. Their plans to take Jesus unjustly had been thwarted because it was not yet His time. That would not come until later, with His third Passover in Jerusalem during His ministry.
Do not be surprised if, after arguing their point, a non-believer declares himself victorious and refuses to engage in further discussion. There is a recognition on the deepest level of God the creator (Romans 1:18-25). Even while suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, the sting of that truth has its way of boring out. Such an experience is uncomfortable and even unbearable for most. That is why the Pharisees leave. They have nothing left to say. They have been humiliated by their own words, and even if they do not recognize it, they know it.
When someone with a hardened heart hears the truth of the gospel, it offends him. Scripture even says that we are like the odor of death to one who is dying (2 Corinthians 2:16). Do not let yourself be offended or dismayed when such a person cannot stand to be around you. Just continue to faithfully bring the gospel everywhere you go.
May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.
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