Rivers of Living Water
But this crowd that does not know the law—they are under a curse.” John 7:49 · Berean Standard Bible
The Pharisees insult the common people, calling them ignorant of the Law and cursed. Their arrogance reveals more about themselves than about the crowd.
Religious pride can be the ugliest form of pride. The leaders are supposed to be shepherds of these people, but instead they despise them.
The Pharisees show their contempt for ordinary people who believe in Jesus.
When leaders look down on the people they are supposed to serve, something has gone very wrong. The Pharisees cared more about control than about the sheep. Jesus would soon call Himself the Good Shepherd, and the contrast is stunning.
The Pharisees dismiss the common people as ho ochlos houtos ho mē ginōskōn ton nomon (this crowd that does not know the law), declaring them eparatoi (accursed/under a curse), revealing deep social and religious contempt.
The term am ha-aretz (people of the land) described common Jews whom the Pharisees considered ignorant of Torah. This dismissal reveals the class prejudice that masked itself as religious devotion.
The Pharisees express contempt for the common people who are responding to Jesus, cursing them as ignorant of the Law.
The leaders' true colors emerge. Their opposition to Jesus is not about protecting the people but about despising them. They curse the very crowd they are supposed to serve as religious shepherds.
47“Have you also been deceived?” replied the Pharisees.
48“Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him?
49But this crowd that does not know the law—they are under a curse.”
50Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who himself was one of them, asked,
51“Does our law convict a man without first hearing from him to determine what he has done?”
Read all of John 7 — Jesus appears at the Festival of Tabernacles and divides the crowd. Some say he's a prophet, some say he's the Messiah, and some want him arrested.
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