Albert Barnes Commentary John 11:48

"If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." — John 11:48 (ASV)

All men. That is, all men among the Jews. The whole nation.

And the Romans shall come. They were then subject to the Romans—tributary and dependent. Whatever privileges they had, they held at the will of the Roman emperor.

They believed, or feigned to believe, that Jesus was intending to set up a temporal kingdom. As he claimed to be the Messiah, they supposed, of course, that he designed to be a temporal prince. They professed to believe that this claim was, in fact, hostility to the Roman emperor.

They supposed that it would involve the nation in war if he was not arrested, and that the effect would be that they would be vanquished and destroyed. It was on this charge that they at last arraigned him before Pilate (Luke 23:2–3).

Will take away. This expression means to destroy, to ruin, to overthrow (Luke 8:12; Acts 6:13–14).

Our place. This probably refers to the temple (Acts 6:13–14). It was called "the place" preeminently, as being the chief or principal place on earth—the seat of the distinctive worship of God.

This place was utterly destroyed by the Romans (Matthew 24:1 and following).

And nation. The nation or people of the Jews.