A second interview with the former blind man: V. 26. Then said they to him again, What did He do to thee? How opened He thine eyes?
V. 27. He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear; wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also be His disciples?
V. 28. Then they reviled him and said, Thou art His disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. V. 29. We know that God spake unto Moses; as for this fellow, we know not from whence He is.
In the effort to shake the firmness of this witness, the Jews again asked him about the manner in which his eyes had been opened.
It is hardly to be wondered at that the matter was getting on the man's nerves and that he answered them rather tartly. He had told them once, and they had evidently not listened very well; why should he repeat the same testimony over and over again? Their silly effort to trick him into some inconsistent statement was a despicable piece of strategy.
But the man's taunt as to their wishing to become disciples of Jesus struck them in a tender place. Angrily they insulted him, charging him with being a disciple of that Man. They placed Jesus in the class of outcasts with whom they wanted nothing to do.
But so far as they were concerned, they were the disciples of Moses, they piously assert. They were sure, in the case of Moses, that God had spoken with him; but in the case of this Man they have nothing definite to base their opinion on, they do not even know His origin. That was partly wilful ignorance, partly blasphemous malice. They had had plenty of opportunity to get the information they desired, if they had only been willing to follow the directions of Jesus, chap. 7, 17.
Note: Unbelievers that attempt to be clever and sarcastic at the same time, throw aspersions upon the virgin birth of Christ, thus also questioning His origin, whereas a simple reading of Scripture would convince them, if they would not consistently resist the Holy Ghost.