Note 2 at Jn. 7:19: These Jews prided themselves on their observance of the law, but they were keeping the letter of the law and missing its true intent. The greatest of all the Old Testament laws was to love God and then to love your neighbor as yourself. (Lev. 19:18; Dt. 10:12; Mt. 22:36-40). These Jews were violating these laws by having hatred in their hearts toward Jesus and wanting to kill Him. They denied that they desired to kill Him, but the scriptures declare that they had already plotted or tried to kill Him three times (1st--Lk. 4:28-29; 2nd--Jn. 5:16; 3rd--Mt. 12:14; Mk. 3:6; Lk. 6:11).

It was probably the instance where the Jews sought to slay Jesus over the healing of the man on the Sabbath day at the pool of Bethesda to which Jesus was referring (see note 3 at Jn. 7:21, below). Some of the crowd that was present there knew that the Jewish rulers were plotting to kill Him (v. 25). These Jews were so deceived that later they would refuse to enter Pilate's judgment hall lest they should be defiled while at the same time they were condemning the sinless Son of God (Jn. 18:28).