Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary John 7:19

"Did not Moses give you the law, and [yet] none of you doeth the law? Why seek ye to kill me?" — John 7:19 (ASV)

Jesus accepted the fact that Moses transmitted the Law to Israel and acknowledged the authority of that Law. He accused his opponents, who claimed to be champions of the Law, of failing to keep it. His charge that they were plotting to kill him should be interpreted in the light of Jesus’ own teaching on the sixth commandment that the sin of hatred and anger is essentially murder (Matthew 5:21–22; cf. Jn 7:44-45).