NOTES for Joh 7:25-26
Messianic ideas in Gospel times were quite developed; there was even a distinctive "messianic" theology describing everything connected with the Messiah, with His ministry, His appearance, and how and from where He should come. All the events that, according to the corresponding concepts, were to happen before the Messiah's appearance and immediately after His appearance were also described and explained, including those signs and miracles that the Messiah had to demonstrate publicly or privately to those who were supposed to see them, as proof of His messiahship. Such signs, it was assumed, were necessary: without them it was impossible to recognize the true Messiah, impossible to distinguish Him from the false messiahs constantly appearing then in Judea.
At the same time, one of the signs of the true Messiah was His acceptance as such, in particular by the temple leadership headed by the high priest and by the authoritative spiritual leaders of the Synagogue. Such acceptance was considered necessary because the Messiah was viewed then first of all as an earthly King after all, though not an entirely ordinary one. His reign would be accompanied by extraordinary signs and miracles connected with such a measure of God's presence as the world had never known before, but the Kingdom itself, as people thought, would still exist on earth, though according to the laws of the Torah given by God. It was impossible to build such a Kingdom without the participation of the Temple and the priesthood, just as it was impossible to build it without the participation of the believing people. Therefore the Messiah would necessarily need the support of both the high priest and the leaders of the Synagogue.
And now the people are watching: how do the priesthood and the authoritative people in the Synagogue, whom the people call "the rulers," relate to this unusual Man? If they do not hinder Him, perhaps He really is that very Messiah whom everyone is awaiting? The gathered people did not think that both the high priesthood and the elders of the Synagogue were simply at a loss, not knowing what to do, and they took this confusion for readiness to acknowledge Jesus' messiahship. Very soon it will become clear that those who thought this way were mistaken, but for the moment the silence of the temple and synagogue leadership could be understood in two ways.