Some in the crowd said, "Of a truth this is the Prophet," and others said, "This is the Christ" (John 7:40-41). This question pushed back. They knew Jesus as a man from Galilee, and they knew the Scriptures said the Christ would come from Bethlehem (John 7:42). To them, that settled it. Matthew Henry calls this "A laudable knowledge of the scripture" joined to "A culpable ignorance of our Lord Jesus." They knew the right verse but did not know the facts about Jesus.

The speakers answered their own question from Scripture: "Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?" (John 7:42). No one in the crowd is recorded correcting them. Instead, "there was a division among the people because of him" (John 7:43). Some wanted to take Him, "but no man laid hands on him" (John 7:44). The Pharisees later used the same argument against Nicodemus: "out of Galilee ariseth no prophet" (John 7:52).

Jesus grew up in Nazareth, a town in Galilee, and was known as "Jesus of Nazareth" (John 1:45). But He was born in Bethlehem of Judea, because Joseph "was of the house and lineage of David" (Luke 2:4; Matthew 2:1). Barnes points to Matthew 2:4-6, where the chief priests and scribes told Herod the Christ would be born "In Bethlehem of Judaea."

Gill adds an irony from Jewish writings he quotes, the Zohar: "the King Messiah shall be revealed in the land of Galilee." The crowd assumed Galilee ruled Jesus out, yet some of their own teachers expected the Messiah to be revealed there. As for "the Prophet" (John 7:40), Barnes understands this as a prophet some expected to come before the Messiah, and he refers to Matthew 16:14.

This question shows how people can use true Scripture to reach a false conclusion. The Christ was to come from Bethlehem, and He did (Luke 2:4-7). The problem was not the Bible but what they assumed about Jesus. Matthew Henry says they "might have known that he was the Son of David, and a native of Bethlehem."

Jesus did not stop to argue His birthplace. He had just offered living water to anyone who was thirsty (John 7:37-38). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary observes, "As the wisdom of God often chooses things which men despise, so the folly of men commonly despises those whom God has chosen." God was fulfilling His promises in ways the crowd did not stop to look into.