John 5:10

“The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, etc.] When they saw him, either at the place, or as he walked through the streets, with his bed on his back: it is the sabbath day: do not you know it? surely you forget yourself, or you would never be guilty of such an action as this; it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. It was forbid by the law, to carry any burden on the sabbath day; (see <161315>Nehemiah 13:15,19) (<241722>Jeremiah 17:22); for “carrying out and bringing in anything, from one place to another, is said f236 to be work, and one of the principal works;” and therefore forbid by the law, which says, “thou shall not do any work”; and one of the traditions of the elders is…”

“The Jews--that is, those in authority. (See on Joh 1:19.) it is not lawful to carry thy bed--a glorious testimony to the cure, as instantaneous and complete, from the lips of the most prejudiced! (And what a contrast does it, as all our Lord's miracles, present to the bungling miracles of the Church of Rome!) In ordinary circumstances, the rulers had the law on their side (Neh 13:15; Jer 17:21). But when the man referred them to "Him that had made him whole" (Joh 5:11) as his authority, the argument was resistless. Yet they ingeniously parried the thrust, asking him, not who had "made him whole"--that would have condemned themselves and defeated their purpose--but who had bidden him "take up…”

“Not lawful - It was forbidden, they supposed, in the Old Testament. The Jews were very strenuous in the observation of the external duties of religion. return to 'Top of Page'”

“it is not: Exo 20:8-11, Exo 31:12-17; Neh 13:15-21; Isa 58:13; Jer 17:21, Jer 17:27; Mat 12:2-8; Mar 2:24, Mar 3:4; Luk 6:2, Luk 13:14, Luk 23:56 John 5:11”