Jesus turns from defending His teaching to exposing His hearers. His first question presses a fact they gladly admitted. Barnes says, "This they admitted, and on this they prided themselves." Yet none of them kept the law. Gill says they "boasted of it as a singular privilege, and rested in it."

The second question names the proof. They accused Jesus of breaking the law by healing on the Sabbath (John 5:16, 18), yet they themselves were plotting to kill Him. Barnes ties the two together: "None of you Jews. They had sought to kill him," calling it "a pointed and severe charge." Gill adds that Jesus reasons with them as "an harmless and innocent man."

The people deny the charge and insult Him: "Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?" (John 7:20). Jesus does not answer the insult. He returns to the "one work" behind their anger, His healing on the Sabbath, and asks them to "judge righteous judgment" (John 7:21-24). The rest of the chapter proves His words true. Some of Jerusalem ask, "Is not this he, whom they seek to kill?" (John 7:25), and the Pharisees and chief priests send officers to take Him (John 7:32).

The plot began after Jesus healed a man at the pool of Bethesda who had been sick "thirty and eight years" (John 5:5). Because it was the Sabbath, the Jews "sought to slay him," and they sought it "the more" when He called God His Father (John 5:16, 18). That is why Jesus stayed out of Judea until this feast (John 7:1).

The law came "by Moses" (John 1:17), and the Jews honored him as their lawgiver. Earlier Jesus had told the same opponents, "had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me" (John 5:46).

Jesus sees what is hidden. The crowd denied that anyone sought to kill Him (John 7:20), yet Jesus named the plot to their faces. Barnes says the charge "shows the great faithfulness with which he was accustomed to proclaim the truth."

The question also shows how God's law exposes the heart. The people were proud to have received the law, but having it is not the same as keeping it. Jesus calls them to righteous judgment: "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24).