20. The people answered, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?—This was said by the multitude, who as yet had no bad feeling to Jesus, and were not in the secret of the plot hatching, as our Lord knew, against Him.

     48-51. Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?—What intense and virulent scorn! (See Heb 12:3). The "say we not well" refers to Joh 7:20. "A Samaritan" means more than "no Israelite at all"; it means one who pretended, but had no manner of claim to the title—retorting perhaps, this denial of their true descent from Abraham.