The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?”
11. The Jews therefore sought him. Here we ought to consider what was the condition of the Church. For the Jews, at that time, gaped for the promised redemption like hungry men; yet, when Christ appears to them, they remain in suspense. Hence arose that murmuring and that variety of opinions. That they whisper secretly is an indication of the tyranny which the priests and scribes exercised over them.
We have here, I. The reason given why Christ spent more of his time in Galilee than in Judea (Joh 7:1): because the Jews, the people in Judea and Jerusalem, sought to kill him, for curing the impotent man on the sabbath day, Joh 5:16.
Commenting on John 7:1-13
And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him,.... There was a general whisper, and a private controversy and contention among the people about him, upon inquiry being made after him: for some said he is a good man; a man of a good principle, of a good life and conversation; and who is good, kind, and beneficent, both to the bodies and souls...