Therefore they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus was hidden, and went out of the temple, having gone through their midst, and so passed by.
59. Then they took up stones. There is reason to believe that they did this, as if Christ ought to be stoned according to the injunction of the Law, (Leviticus 24:16.) Hence we infer how great is the madness of inconsiderate zeal; for they have no ears to know the cause, but they have hands ready to commit murder.
Amid the blazing golden lamps of the treasury at tabernacles, when all Jerusalem danced in joy, Christ proclaims in the most absolute sense: I am the Light of the World. The Baptist was a burning lamp sent to witness to that Light; but He alone is the true Light that lightens every man coming into the world, the Messiah promised of old.
AI summary
Commenting on John 8:12-59
In these verses we have, I. The doctrine of the immortality of believers laid down, Joh 8:51. It is ushered in with the usual solemn preface, Verily, verily, I say unto you, which commands both attention and assent, and this is what he says, If a man keep my sayings, he shall never see death. Here we have, 1.
Commenting on John 8:51-59