A.T. Robertson Commentary John 8:22

"The Jews therefore said, Will he kill himself, that he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come?" — John 8:22 (ASV)

Will he kill himself? (μητ αποκτενε εαυτον; ). Negative answer formally expected, but there is a manifest sneer in the query. "The mockery in these words is alike subtle and bitter" (Vincent). It was a different group of Jews in 7:31 who cynically suggested that he was going to work among the Greeks in the Dispersion. Here they infer that Jesus refers to the next world. They suggest the depths of Gehenna for him as the abode of suicides (Josephus, War III. viii. 5). Of course the rabbis could not join Jesus there! Edersheim argues against this view.