Then they took up stones to cast at him,.... Supposing that he had spoken blasphemy; for they well understood that he, by so saying, made himself to be the eternal God, the unchangeable Jehovah. Should it be asked how they came by their stones in the temple?
it may be replied, the temple was still building, Joh 2:20, and stones, or pieces of stones, might lie about, with which they furnished themselves, in order to have destroyed Christ: and this they attempted, though it was on the sabbath day, as appears from Joh 9:1; and with them, tbvb hlyqo, "stoning on the sabbath day" was allowed in some cases.
But Jesus hid himself, not in any corner of the temple, or behind a pillar; but he withdrew himself from them directly, and made himself invisible to them, by holding their eyes, or casting a mist before them, that they could not see him:and went out of the temple; by one of the gates of it:going through the midst of them; not of the persons that took up stones to stone him; but the rest of the people, who were there in great multitudes to hear his doctrine, and see his miracles: and so passed by, and escaped out of their hands; the last words, going through the midst of them,and so passed by, are not in Beza's most ancient copy, and in the Vulgate Latin version.
T. Hieros. Yom Tob, fol. 63. 2.