Verse 52
Nicodemus’ colleagues did not reply rationally but emotionally. They had already decided Jesus’ case without hearing Him. They did not want to listen to any information that might prove that He was who He claimed to be. They replied to Nicodemus’ challenge with contempt and accused him of being a despised Galilean himself since he sought to defend a Galilean. Unable to refute the logic of Nicodemus’ argument they attacked his person, an old debating tactic designed to win an argument but not necessarily to arrive at the truth.
It is unclear if they meant that no prophet ever came from Galilee or that the Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15) would not come from there. Obviously Jonah and Nahum had come from Galilee, so it seems unlikely that they meant that. Moses did not predict where the Prophet would come from. As mentioned above, the Jews of Jesus’ day seem to have regarded the Prophet and Messiah as two different individuals. The messianic Son of David would come from Bethlehem, but where would the Prophet come from? If the Sanhedrin had taken the trouble to investigate Jesus’ origins thoroughly, they would have discovered than He had not come from Galilee originally.
People still let prejudice (prejudging) and superficial evaluation blind them to the truth.
Be the first to react on this!
