Charles Ellicott Commentary John 9:13

"They bring to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind." — John 9:13 (ASV)

They brought to the Pharisees.—More exactly, They bring . . . The present tense describes what they did, as the writer envisions it actually occurring.

Their question in the previous verse, and the fact stated in the following verse, seem to indicate that they did this in a spirit of opposition to our Lord. They may also have been influenced, as the parents were, by the agreement among the Jews to excommunicate anyone who confessed Christ (John 9:22).

The term “the Pharisees” here should not be understood as the Sanhedrin, which did not meet on the Sabbath and which St. John does not simply call “the Pharisees.” Rather, it refers to a group of the leading Pharisees who were Christ’s most bitter foes. These individuals seem at this time to have effectively formed a permanent committee of the Sanhedrin, always ready to plan or act against Him (Compare to the notes on John 7:32; John 7:45; John 7:48).