Charles Ellicott Commentary John 1:19

"And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent unto him from Jerusalem priests and Levites to ask him, Who art thou?" — John 1:19 (ASV)

The narrative is connected with the prologue by the record of John, which is common to both (John 1:15), and therefore opens with “And.”

The Jews.—This term, originally applied to the members of the tribe of Judah, was extended after the Captivity to the whole nation of which that tribe was the chief part. Used by St. John more than seventy times, it is generally to be understood as referring to the representatives of the nation and the inhabitants of Judea, particularly those opposed to the teaching and work of Christ.

He himself was a Jew, but the true idea of Judaism had led him to the Messiah; for him, the old name is merely as the husk that had burst in the growth of life. It remains for those to whom the name was everything, and who, by trying to confine life within rigid forms, had crushed out its power.

Priests and Levites.—The word “Levite” occurs only twice elsewhere in the New Testament—in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:32), and in the description of Joses (Acts 4:36). It is clear from such passages as 2 Chronicles 17:7–9, 2 Chronicles 35:3, and Nehemiah 8:7, that part of the function of the Levites was to give instruction in the Law, and it is probable that the “scribes” were often identical with them. Here, then, we find two divisions of the Sanhedrin, just as we find two in the frequent phrase of the other Evangelists, “scribes” and “elders.” The scribes (Levites) were common to both, and the three divisions were priests, Levites (scribes), and elders (notables). (Compare John 1:24 and the note on Matthew 5:20.)

From Jerusalem is to be taken with “sent,” not with “priests and Levites.” Emphasis is placed upon the fact that the work of John had excited so much attention that the Sanhedrin sent from Jerusalem to make an official inquiry. The judgment of the case of a false prophet is specially named in the Mishna as belonging to the Council of Seventy-one. (Compare Luke 13:33.)