75 " do you then hope that they would believe in you (in faith), and a
party among them indeed used to hear the word of allah,
then perverted it after they had understood it,
and they know (this) ? "
76. " and when they meet those who have faith, they say : ` we believe ',
but when they are alone with one another, they say :
` do you speak to them of what allah has revealed to you,
that they may thereby dispute with you about this before your lord ?
have you then no sense ? ' "
77. " what ! do they not know that allah knows what they hide and
what they make known ? " 

occasion of revelation :
upon the occasion of the revelation of these first two verses,
some of the commentators have narrated from imam baqir (a.s.) who
has said: "a group of the jews, who had not enmity with the truth,
when they met the muslims they would tell them of what had been
mentioned in the turah about the specialties of prophet muhammad
(p.b.u.h.). the leaders of the jews understood the matter and told them
to avoid informing muslims of what was cited in the turah about the
epithets of prophet muhammad(p.b.u.h.) lest they would argue with the
jews about it before their lord. then this verse was revealed." 1

commentary :
a futile expectation !
as noted from these verses, the qur'an has discontinued the story
of the israelites and, with an instructive conclusion, has turned to the
muslim believers, saying : " do you then hope that they would believe in
you (in faith), and a party among them indeed used to hear the word of
allah, then perverted it after they had understood it, and they know (this)?"
therefore, when you see that they reject the inspiring words of
the qur'an and the miracles of the holy prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.), you
should not be annoyed. they are the children of the same people who,
as the elected members of the tribe, went to mount sinai, heard the
words of allah, and understood his instructions, but when they
returned they altered them.

it is perceived from the phrase : `... and a party among them
indeed...", that not all of them but a party, who probably formed the
majority in them, were of those who perverted allah's words.

it is cited in ` asbab-un-nuzul ' that when some of the jews
returned from mount sinai, they told their people : " we heard that
allah ordered moses, ` whenever you can do my instructions do them, but
when you cannot, leave them ", and this was the first perversion.

however, at the advent of the prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.), it was
expected that the jews would accept this religion before others
embraced it, because they were the followers of the book, whereas the
pagans were not. besides that, they had learnt the epithets of the
prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.) from their own books. but the holy qur'an
says that, considering their previous bad reputation, your hope is of no
avail. the reason is that some deviated characteristics which dominated
the spirits of this group, caused them to separate from truth, though it

was well within the realm of their ability to embrace it.
the next verse uncovers another bitter fact about this deceitful
hypocritical group. it says :

" and when they meet those who have faith, they say: ` we believe',..."
"... but when they are alone with one another, they say:
` do you speak to them oe what allah has revealed to you, ..."
"... that they may thereby dispute with you about this
before your lord ? have you then no sense ? ' "

in commenting on this very verse, this probability also exists that
the initial words of the verse are about the hypocritical jews who
pretended to be believers in the presence of the muslims but in their
absence they denied it. they even scorned those pure-hearted jews
who had conveyed the secrets of the turah to the muslims.

at any rate, this is a confirmation to what was said in the previous
verse that a group with such attributes governing their spirits should not
be expected to become faithful.

the phrase : / fatahallahu `alaykum / ` what allah has revealed to
you ' may mean : ` the divine command which was in the authority of
the children of israel '. or, the phrase may refer to the idea that
allah had opened the doors of the divine secrets and the prophecies
about the coming religion unto them.

it is noteworthy that this verse clearly shows that the faith of this
hypocritical group in allah was so weak and hollow that they
considered him as an ordinary person and imagined that if they could
conceal a fact from the muslims, it would be concealed from allah,too.

* * * *

then, in the next verse, it frankly says : " what ! do they not know
that allah knows what they hide and what they make known ? " 

1 majma`-ul-bayan, vol. 1, p. 142