indeed
the Messiah. The thought, however, was brushed aside when they
remembered that all knew whence He came; He was a Galilean, and from
Nazareth, whereas as they had been taught, however wrongly, the advent
of the Christ was to be mysterious so that none would know whence He
came. Strange it was, indeed, that men should reject Him because of a
lack of mystery and miracle in His advent; when, had they known the
truth, they would have seen in His birth a miracle without precedent or
parallel in the annals of time. Jesus directly answered their weak and
faulty reasoning. Crying aloud within the temple courts, He assured them
that while they knew whence He came as one of their number, yet they did
not know that He had come from God, neither did they know God who had
sent Him: "But," He added, "I know him: for I am from him, and he hath
sent me." At this reiterated testimony of His divine origin, the Jews
were the more enraged, and they determined anew to take Him by force;
nevertheless none laid hands upon him "because his hour was not yet
come."

Many of the people believed in their hearts that He was of God, and
ventured to ask among themselves whether Christ would do greater works
than Jesus had done. The Pharisees and chief priests feared a possible
demonstration in favor of Jesus, and forthwith sent officers to arrest
Him and bring him before the Sanhedrin.[842] The presence of the temple
police caused no interruption to the Master's discourse, though we may
reasonably infer that He knew the purpose of their errand. He spoke on,
saying that He would be with the people but a little while; and that
after He had returned to the Father, they would seek Him vainly, for
where He would then be they could not come. This remark evoked more
bitter discussion. Some of the Jews wondered whether He intended to
leave the borders of the land and go among the Gentiles to teach them
and the dispersed Israelites.

As part of the temple service incident to the feast, the people went in
procession to the Pool of Siloam[843] where a priest filled a golden
ewer, which he then carried to the altar and there poured out the water
to the accompaniment of trumpet blasts and the acclamations of the
assembled hosts.[844] According to authorities on Jewish customs, this
feature was omitted on the closing day of the feast. On this last or
"great day," which was marked by ceremonies of unusual solemnity and
rejoicing, Jesus was again in the tem