Charles Ellicott Commentary John 7:22

"Moses hath given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers); and on the sabbath ye circumcise a man." — John 7:22 (ASV)

Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision.—Some manuscripts, and many editors, place the “therefore,” or, on this account, at the close of the last verse, reading, “Ye all marvel on this account,” and then the present verse, “Moses gave unto you circumcision...”

The reading of our version is, however, better supported and agrees better with the writer’s style: “On this account hath Moses given you circumcision, not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers.”

The argument is: “You circumcise on the Sabbath day because circumcision is part of the Mosaic law; but Moses gave you circumcision because he had a prior and higher authority for it, and in practice you recognize this and make it override the Sabbath.”

But if circumcision is allowed, why not a deed of mercy? This is the practice and precept of your rulers. But if a patriarchal rite is greater than the Mosaic Sabbath, because the fathers were prior to Moses, how much more an act of love, which is prior to all time.

A man.—Used here, and in the next verse, as equivalent to a male child, as in John 16:21.