No prophet to arise from Galilee?

John 7:50-52 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, (51) “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” (52) They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee.”

This was one of the big controversies in the reluctance of the Pharisees to believe in Jesus. Being men of the letter of the law, they had read that the Messiah was to born in Bethlehem of Judea. Now this Jesus was from Nazareth. How could He then be the Messiah? It was not Jesus’ place to tell them or convince then.

Wherever He was born did not matter as long as He had His connection to God and He was able to work amongst the people. It was the duty of the Pharisees to find out more about Jesus. Their spiritual indolence, however, prevented this. Their salvation depended on this and they should have made greater efforts to investigate Jesus. They would have discovered that in fact He was born in Bethlehem. Whether that would have convinced them is open to question in view of their constant request for signs from Jesus.