Debate

We are currently in the season of the last of the fall feasts of the LORD, as He commanded Israel. It is the Feast of Tabernacles. It is the feast that joyously celebrates the harvest, and recalls the time in the wilderness when God's people dwelled in tents, and God dwelled among them. This feast also includes the promise of God that He will dwell again in the midst of men.
We have an account of this feast, and Jesus' attendance of it, in the New Testament:
"On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."   Jn. 7:37-39
Many in the crowd who heard Jesus that day thought that He surely was the Prophet, and the Messiah. There was, however, a great division among the people because of Him (v. 43). Even at the time of this feast, which was months before the Passover feast during which Jesus would be crucified, the leaders of the Temple had dispatched the Temple officers to arrest Jesus. The officers came back empty handed because they also were divided when they heard Jesus speak. The chief priests and the Pharisees asked them why they had not brought Jesus back with them, and the officers replied, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"
The Pharisees scolded them saying, "Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?"  The leaders also pointed out that the crowd believed Jesus because they were ignorant of scripture (v. 32, 45-48).
Their argument was that if none of the rulers or Torah experts believed in Him, then it couldn't be so, and Jesus must be a charlatan.
The people's own ears and hearts were telling them, "He must be", but the Torah experts were saying, "He couldn't be."
One of the issues that the Torah experts clung to in denying that Jesus was the Messiah, and an issue that also divided the people, was the fact that Jesus was from Galilee. According to their knowledge of scripture, none of the prophets had said that the Messiah was to come from Galilee. Instead, the Messiah was to be from Bethlehem (v. 42, 52).
We know from the Gospels, that Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem as the result of an order from the Roman emperor to take a census of the people. Joseph, as a descendant of David, had to return to the birth town of his family, Bethlehem, in order to be accounted for and registered. He had to bring his very pregnant wife, Mary, with him. Thus Jesus did fulfill that Messianic prophecy, and many others.
As far as Galilee is concerned, the very great prophet Isaiah gave us a subtle hint regarding the mystery of Galilee:
"...In Galilee of the Gentiles...The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined."
And just a handful of verses later, we read:
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace..."    Isa. 9:1-2, 6
The verses around Isaiah's prophecy regarding Galilee is a promise that the yokes of burdens will be broken. The staff and rod of the oppressor will be removed. Though Galilee was held in low esteem in Jesus' day, even the meaning of its name has a connection to the One whom we know as our Messiah, Jesus. In Hebrew, Galilee refers to a circle, or ring shape. Its root meaning includes "to roll (away) a stone". Those who know the details of the resurrection of Christ, will recognize the rolling of the stone away from the opening of the grave in which He had been buried (Mk. 16:1-4).
Though the Torah experts of Jesus' day could not find Him in the scriptures, He is present from Genesis through Revelation. Jesus told those who made scripture their study:
"You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life." 
                                                                                                               Jn. 5:39-40
However, many of those who were unlearned in the scriptures, whom the religious leaders scorned for their ignorance (Jn. 7:49), were able to identify Jesus as the Messiah because of what they heard Him say, and what they witnessed Him do. Their souls identified Him, and knew Him. When the disciples came in contact with Jesus after His resurrection, but did not recognize His form, they realized that Jesus had been with them, and they exclaimed.
"Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the scriptures to us?"   Lk. 24:32
The Messiah is also discerned in the heart.
The Feast of Tabernacles that Jesus attended was a time of division and debate, much like today. God the Son, the Messiah, the Savior, was in tabernacle with them in their midst, but the most scripturally trained could not, or would not discern it.
There's a lesson in that for all of us. As I was reading this account of the Feast of Tabernacles in scripture, and the tragically wrong opinions of those scriptural experts during that great feast, the thought occurred to me that just when we think we know the scriptures, we find out how little we really do know. That's the way it should be, I think.

Our Father fills our hearts, as well as the scriptures, with the knowledge of His Son.