These hearers wanted to stop others from listening to Jesus. They could not accept His claims, so they dismissed Him as demon-possessed and mad. Gill explains that "It was a notion of the Jews, that madness or distraction was from the devil, and therefore these two are here joined together." Their question is not a real question. It means "Stop listening to him." Matthew Henry notes how "Satan ruins many, by putting them out of conceit with the word and ordinances."

Others in the crowd pushed back: "These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?" (John 10:21). They pointed to both His words and His works. The division was not settled, and later, at the feast of the dedication, the Jews pressed Jesus to say plainly whether He was the Christ (John 10:22-24).

"Mad" translates mainetai, which the interlinear glosses "is insane." Barnes explains it as "Is deranged, or a maniac." This was not the first time Jesus heard this charge. The people had said, "Thou hast a devil" (John 7:20), and the Jews had said, "Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?" (John 8:48).

Jesus' words always force a choice. Barnes observes that "The preaching of Jesus always produced effect," and the effect here was division (John 10:19), as it had been before (John 7:43; John 9:16). The same words that made some call Him mad made others defend Him.

The charge itself shows how far unbelief will go to avoid the truth. Rather than weigh what Jesus said, they called Him insane. Yet the very sayings they mocked were about a shepherd who gives His life for the sheep (John 10:11).