{They say nothing unto him} (ouden autoi legousin). But
only make sneering comments about him ( 7:16 ) in spite of his
speaking "openly" (parr(8873)i(8369), for which word see  7:13  18:20 )
before all. lt was sarcasm about the leaders, though an element
of surprise on the part of "these shrewd townsmen" (Bernard) may
have existed also. {Can it be that the rulers indeed know} (m(880a)pote al(8874)h(9373) egn(9373)in hoi archontes). Negative answer expected by
m(8820)pote and yet there is ridicule of the rulers in the form of
the question. See a like use of m(8820)pote in  Lu 3:15 , though
nowhere else in John. Egn(9373)an (second aorist ingressive active
indicative of gin(9373)k(935c)) may refer to the examination of Jesus by
these rulers in  5:19ff.  and means, "Did they come to know or
find out" (and so hold now)? {That this is the Christ} (hoti
houtos estin ho Christos). The Messiah of Jewish hope.