Has not Moses given you the law?Moses is traditionally regarded as the lawgiver of Israel, having received the Law from God on Mount Sinai. This reference underscores the authority and reverence the Jewish people held for the Mosaic Law, which includes the Ten Commandments and other legal, moral, and ceremonial regulations found in the first five books of the Old Testament. The Law was central to Jewish identity and religious practice, serving as a covenant between God and His people. Jesus' question highlights the irony that those who claim to uphold the Law are failing to live by its true intent.
Yet not one of you keeps it.
This statement points to the hypocrisy of the religious leaders and the people who prided themselves on their adherence to the Law. Despite their outward observance, they failed to fulfill its deeper moral and spiritual requirements. This echoes the prophetic critiques found in the Old Testament, such as inIsaiah 29:13, where God condemns those who honor Him with their lips while their hearts are far from Him. Jesus often criticized the Pharisees and scribes for their legalism and lack of genuine righteousness (Matthew 23:23-28).
Why are you trying to kill Me?”
This question reveals the growing hostility towards Jesus from the Jewish leaders, who saw Him as a threat to their authority and traditions. The plot to kill Jesus is a recurring theme in the Gospels, reflecting the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies about the suffering Messiah, such asIsaiah 53. Jesus' awareness of their intentions demonstrates His divine knowledge and foreshadows His eventual crucifixion. This also highlights the spiritual blindness of the leaders, who, despite their knowledge of the Law and the Prophets, failed to recognize Jesus as the promised Messiah.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
MosesA central figure in the Old Testament, Moses is the lawgiver who received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai. He represents the Law, which is foundational to Jewish religious life.
2.
The LawRefers to the Mosaic Law, which includes the commandments and regulations given to the Israelites. It is a covenant between God and His people, meant to guide their moral and spiritual conduct.
3.
JesusThe speaker of this verse, Jesus is addressing the Jewish leaders and the crowd. He is the Messiah, the fulfillment of the Law, and the one who exposes the hypocrisy of those who claim to uphold the Law.
4.
Jewish LeadersThe religious authorities who are responsible for teaching and enforcing the Law. They are often depicted in the Gospels as opposing Jesus and His teachings.
5.
The CrowdThe people gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, a significant Jewish festival. They are witnesses to the tension between Jesus and the religious leaders.
Teaching Points
The Purpose of the LawThe Law was given to guide God's people and reveal His standards of holiness. It serves as a mirror to show humanity's need for a Savior.
Human Inability to Keep the LawJesus highlights the inability of the people to keep the Law perfectly, pointing to the need for grace and redemption through Him.
Hypocrisy and True RighteousnessJesus exposes the hypocrisy of the religious leaders who claim to uphold the Law but fail to live by its principles. True righteousness comes from a heart aligned with God's will.
The Fulfillment of the Law in ChristJesus is the fulfillment of the Law, embodying its principles and offering a new covenant through His life, death, and resurrection.
The Danger of LegalismFocusing solely on the letter of the Law without understanding its spirit leads to legalism, which can blind individuals to the truth of the Gospel.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of John 7:19?
2.How does John 7:19 challenge us to uphold God's law in daily life?
3.Why did Jesus question their adherence to the law in John 7:19?
4.How does John 7:19 connect to the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20?
5.What personal actions can prevent hypocrisy as highlighted in John 7:19?
6.How can we ensure our actions align with God's commands in John 7:19?
7.Why did Jesus accuse the Jews of not keeping the law in John 7:19?
8.How does John 7:19 challenge the belief in the Jews' adherence to Mosaic Law?
9.What historical evidence supports Jesus' claim in John 7:19 about the Jews' lawkeeping?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from John 7?
11.Who was Nicodemus in the Bible?
12.What did Jesus write in the dirt?
13.Who is the author of Leviticus?
14.Who is the author of Leviticus?What Does John 7:19 Mean
Has not Moses given you the law?“Has not Moses given you the Law?” (John 7:19a).
• Jesus reminds His Jewish listeners that the Law was a gift delivered through Moses (Exodus 20:1–17;Deuteronomy 5:1).
• By pointing to Moses, He affirms the divine authority of the entire Mosaic covenant (John 1:17;Luke 16:29).
• The statement recalls Israel’s covenant responsibility: the people pledged to obey every command (Exodus 24:7).
• Jesus speaks as the Law’s Author, underscoring that He and the Father are one (John 5:46-47).
Yet not one of you keeps it.“Yet not one of you keeps it” (John 7:19b).
• The crowd prided itself on possessing the Law, but Jesus exposes universal failure (Romans 3:10-12).
• Even breaking one command brings guilt for all (James 2:10); therefore every heart stands condemned apart from grace.
• Their inability highlights the Law’s purpose: to reveal sin and lead people to Christ (Galatians 3:24).
• Self-righteous confidence crumbles when measured against perfect holiness (Isaiah 64:6).
Why are you trying to kill Me?“Why are you trying to kill Me?” (John 7:19c).
• Plotting murder violates the sixth commandment (Exodus 20:13). The crowd’s intent proves Jesus’ earlier charge.
• Religious leaders had already sought His death after He healed on the Sabbath (John 5:16-18).
• Their hostility fulfills prophecy of the rejected Messiah (Isaiah 53:3;Acts 2:23).
• By confronting them openly (John 8:37, 40), Jesus exposes hearts hardened by unbelief while still inviting repentance.
summaryJohn 7:19 confronts a religious audience that reveres Moses yet fails to live the Law they claim to honor. Jesus, the Lawgiver in flesh, reveals that possession of Scripture without obedience leads to hypocrisy. Their murder plot against the sinless Son shows humanity’s desperate need for the grace He alone provides.
(19)
Did not Moses. . .?--The note of interrogation should be placed at the end of the first clause. The verse would then read,
Did not Moses give you the Law? and none of you doeth the Law. Why seek ye to kill Me? So far from the will to do God's will, without which they could not know His teaching, they had the Law, which they all professed to accept, and yet no one kept it (
John 5:45-47). This thought follows naturally on
John 7:17-18, and, like the whole of this teaching, grows out of the truths of John 5; but it may be that this reference to Moses and the Law has a special fitness, as suggested by the feast. Moses had commanded that the Law should be read in every Sabbatical year at this very festival (
Deuteronomy 31:10); and there is good reason for believing that the current year was a Sabbatical year. The first portion of the Law which it was customary to read was
Deuteronomy 1:1 to
Deuteronomy 6:3. Within this section (
John 5:17) came the command, "Thou shalt not kill." They were, then, in their persecution of Him (
John 5:18), breaking the Law, of which their presence at the feast was a professed obedience. . . .
Verse 19. - Jesus was not unaware that serious charges were brought against his interpretation of the sabbatic law; that the Jews sought to kill him for his identification of his own mind and working with the Father's mind and working. On this account for a considerable time he had confined his ministry to Galilee. The old story of the sabbath healing was now rife once more, doubtless augmented with the rumors of the healing of the man with the withered hand, and other actions profoundly in harmony with the deep meaning of the sabbath rest. To the mind of the fourth evangelist; the explanation given by Christ to the authorities in Jerusalem was of prime significance in the whole sabbatic controversy; and he has recorded the defence Jesus made of his doctrine which placed him at once on the platform of the men with whom he was now beginning a life-and-death conflict. He used their methods, and, so far as the adequate grounds of connection were concerned, he was triumphant,
DidnotMoses giveyou the Law? - the whole revealed Law of God concerning moral conduct and daily ritual, a violation of the real spirit of which would be
ἀδικία, and of which you accuse me -
and (yet)
none of you doeth the Law? Does he here call attention to the universal disobedience of mankind? Is he forestalling the declaration that "all have sinned, and come short;" that "in many things all offend"? Certainly not. He is about to show at greater length that the charge of
ἀδικία stands equally against the justifiable transposition of the letter of the lower law by the incidence of a higher law. They must all know the innumerable occasions in which the letter of the law of the sabbath gave way to the law of mercy, to the law of hunger, to the exigencies of the temple services. "None of you doeth the Law,"
i.e. in the sense in which you are (from other motives) expecting me to do it. He said enough to strike their consciences and charge home their cherished if secret purpose.
Why do ye seek to kill me? With what right, since this is the case, do ye vent your malice against
me? Meyer and Godet here differ as to the emphasis laid upon the "me
." The position of the enclitic
με before
ζητεῖτε gives it a prominence not to be overlooked. The interpretation of many - that the intention or desire to kill Jesus is the inward proof that the conscience of the Jews would admit that they were not keeping the Law which said, "Thou shalt not kill" - is very far-fetched, and weak in its force, although, according to the entire old covenant, there was much killing which was not murder. Such a reference would not correspond with the profoundly Hebrew response made by our Lord. Calvin here makes this reply of Christ a text on which to denounce, in his own day, the corruption of the papal court.
Parallel Commentaries ...
Greek
{Has} notΟὐ(Ou)Adverb
Strong's 3756:No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.MosesΜωϋσῆς(Mōusēs)Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3475:Or Moses, or Mouses of Hebrew origin; Moseus, Moses, or Mouses, the Hebrew lawgiver.givenδέδωκεν(dedōken)Verb - Perfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1325:To offer, give; I put, place. A prolonged form of a primary verb; to give.youὑμῖν(hymin)Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771:You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.theτὸν(ton)Article - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588:The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.Law?νόμον(nomon)Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3551:From a primary nemo; law, genitive case, specially, (including the volume); also of the Gospel), or figuratively.Yetκαὶ(kai)Conjunction
Strong's 2532:And, even, also, namely.not oneοὐδεὶς(oudeis)Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3762:No one, none, nothing.ofἐξ(ex)Preposition
Strong's 1537:From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out.youὑμῶν(hymōn)Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771:You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.keepsποιεῖ(poiei)Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 4160:(a) I make, manufacture, construct, (b) I do, act, cause. Apparently a prolonged form of an obsolete primary; to make or do.[it].νόμον(nomon)Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3551:From a primary nemo; law, genitive case, specially, (including the volume); also of the Gospel), or figuratively.Whyτί(ti)Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 5101:Who, which, what, why. Probably emphatic of tis; an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what.are you tryingζητεῖτε(zēteite)Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 2212:To seek, search for, desire, require, demand. Of uncertain affinity; to seek; specially, to worship, or to plot.to killἀποκτεῖναι(apokteinai)Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active
Strong's 615:To put to death, kill; fig: I abolish. From apo and kteino; to kill outright; figuratively, to destroy.Me?”με(me)Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473:I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.
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NT Gospels: John 7:19 Didn't Moses give you the law (Jhn Jo Jn) 
