John 7 Bible study: If anyone is thirsty

The chapter opens, "After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he wouldn’t walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him" (7:1). In chapter 5, in Jerusalem, "the Jews sought all the more to kill him" (5:18). At the feast, "The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, “Where is he?”" (7:11). In the temple Jesus asks, "Why do you seek to kill me?" (7:19), and "The multitude answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?”" (7:20). A few verses on, "They sought therefore to take him" (7:30). Then Jesus says, "You will seek me and won’t find me. You can’t come where I am" (7:34). Here is what almost everyone misses: every seek, seeks and sought in this chapter is one Greek verb, eleven times in ten verses (tap seek). It is in the brothers' "while he seeks to be known openly" (7:4), and twice in Jesus's words on glory: "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true" (7:18). These notes quote "the Jews" as each verse names them, and apply none of it to any people today.

Leviticus 12:3→leads toJohn 7:22-23

The law says, "In the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised" (12:3). Jesus spoke of it to those who were angry with him for healing on the Sabbath: "Moses has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a boy" (John 7:22). "If a boy receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath?" (John 7:23). Jesus doesn't quote 12:3; he speaks of circumcision given by Moses, the law this verse sets down, and says it was first "of the fathers" (John 7:22). Genesis gives it to Abraham (Genesis 17:10-12).

ζητέωzeteosay dzay-TEH-o

Strong's: "to seek (literally or figuratively)", and "(in a bad sense) to plot (against life)". Thayer: "to seek in order to find". Every seek, seeks and sought in the WEB's John 7 is this verb, eleven times in ten verses (counted in RP2018). "the Jews sought to kill him" (7:1); "The Jews therefore sought him at the feast" (7:11); "Why do you seek to kill me?" (7:19); "Who seeks to kill you?" (7:20); "Isn’t this he whom they seek to kill?" (7:25); "They sought therefore to take him" (7:30). It is in the brothers' "while he seeks to be known openly" (7:4), and twice in "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true" (7:18). And Jesus says, "You will seek me and won’t find me" (7:34), words the Jews repeat among themselves (7:35-36). John's Greek has the verb 35 times, more than any other book of the New Testament (counted in RP2018). In chapter 5, "the Jews sought all the more to kill him" (5:18); later Jesus says to his disciples, "You will seek me" (13:33).