Jesus primarily ministered and taught in Galilee. But He and His disciples would occasionally travel to Jerusalem, most notably for the Jewish pilgrimage feasts. There were three feasts that devout Jewish males would travel to Jerusalem for:

  • Passover (took place in the spring- late March to mid April) Passover was also referred to as the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was at Passover that Jesus was crucified, being the true Passover Lamb.
  • Feast of Weeks (occurred 50 days after Passover). It’s also referred to as Pentecost in the new Testament and was a celebration of the grain harvest. (Interesting that the first 3000 Christians were added to the Church at a “harvest” festival!)
  • Feast of Booths (also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot), Occurred exactly 6 months after Passover. This eight day festival in the Fall came after the harvest of grapes and olives. It is five days after Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) and fifteen days after Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year). It celebrates God’s provision for Israel during the wandering in the wilderness after leaving Egypt.

Our passage (John 7) takes place at the time of the Feast of Booths. This is six months before His crucifixion. If we assume that occurred at Passover in 33 AD, this feast would be October 10-17, 32 A.D.

John 7:1-2 says that Jesus was avoiding Judea because the Pharisees were seeking to kill him, having charged that Jesus blasphemed. This goes back to John 5. Jesus in Jerusalem for another festival (John doesn’t tell us which one) healed a paralytic at the pool of Bethesda. I think this was the only miracle Jesus did in the city of Jerusalem. The problem was that Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath (John 5:9). . . a definite no-no in the eyes of the Pharisees who viewed such as breaking the Mosaic Law in performing work on the Sabbath. To make matters worse, Jesus identified Himself as God. (John 5:17-18).

Jesus is avoiding Jerusalem, and declines going to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths, knowing there is a movement afoot to kill Him. He knows that His purpose is to die, but it will happen in perfect timing, as the Passover lamb for mankind. He is very cognizant of the timing (John 7:6). It’s not that He is avoiding death, he is simply avoiding death at the wrong moment. He declined to go with His brothers, who didn’t believe His claims at the time, and who perhaps had personal agendas. Nor did he want to enter Jerusalem publicly. John 7:10 says he went “in private”. The Greek term, κρυπτός (kruptós – Strong’s #2927) indicates that He snuck into town. He did so in secret, concealed from view.

John 7:14-15 tells us that in the middle of the feast, perhaps day 4, Jesus teaches in the temple, amazing the listeners with His grasp of Scripture, considering that He had “never studied” in one of the rabbinic schools or under the tutelage of rabbi, the normal routes by which one became a rabbi, or teacher. As M.S. Mills puts it, “Jesus was outside their system”1

Jesus responds to their astonishment by stating that His teaching is directly from God (John 7:16-18). He also convicts them of their need – not one of them has kept the Law. Paul reminds us in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We all stand condemned.

1 Mills, M.S. (1999). The Life of Christ: A Study Guide to the Gospel Record.