Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
Howbeit (alla). Clearly adversative here.
This man (touton). Possibly contemptuous use of outov as may be true in John 7:25-26.
Whence he is (poqen estin). The Galilean Jews knew the family of Jesus (John 6:42), but they knew Jesus only as from Nazareth, not as born in Bethlehem (verse John 7:42).
When the Christ cometh (o Xristov otan erxhtai). Prolepsis of o Xristov and indefinite temporal clause with otan and the present middle subjunctive erxhtai rather than the more usual second aorist active elqh as in verse John 7:31, a trifle more picturesque. This is a piece of popular theology. "Three things come wholly unexpected--Messiah, a godsend, and a scorpion" (Sanhedrin 97a). The rulers knew the birthplace to be Bethlehem (John 7:42; Matthew 2:5 f.), but some even expected the Messiah to drop suddenly from the skies as Satan proposed to Jesus to fall down from the pinnacle of the temple. The Jews generally expected a sudden emergence of the Messiah from concealment with an anointing by Elijah (Apoc. of Bar. XXIX. 3; 2Esdr. 7:28; 13:32; Justin Martyr, Tryph. 110).
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Matthew 16:1
John 7:31
John 9:29
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