Third section the judgment upon the church itself second picture of judgment

Footnotes:

FN#51 - Matthew 26:33.—Εἰ (καὶ) πάντες σκανδαλισθήσονται ἐν σοί. Καί is omitted in A, B, C, D, etc, Lachmann, and Tischendorf.

FN#52 - Matthew 26:35.—Codd. A, E, G, al, read the somewhat milder subj. ἀπαρνήσ ω μαι [for ἀπαρνήσ ο μαι]. Probably a gloss.

FN#64 - But implies here an extenuation of the guilt of Peter, as much as to say, Peter made these professions, but we all did the same, and have nothing to boast of. But Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Alford omit it—P. S.]

FN#54 - Matthew 26:37.—[Lange: zu trauern (schaudern) und zu bangen (beben) Doddridge complains that “the words which our translators use here, are very flat, and fall short of the emphasis of those terms in which the Evangelists describe this awful scene.” The verb ἀδημονεῖν is derived by some from δῆμος, people, and the alpha privativum, hence, to feel lonely, solitary; expression of a sorrow that makes man unfit for company and shunning it, and pressing like a weight of lead upon the soul. F. H. Scrivener (A Supplement to the Authorized English Version of the N. T., London, 1845, vol. i. p304) thinks that no single Greek word can be more expressive of deep dejection than ἀδημονεῖν, and renders it: “to be overwhelmed with anguish.” Tyndale and Coverdale: grievously troubled. Conant less forcibly: troubled. Meyer teems to agree with Suidas’ definition of ἀδημ.=λίαν λυπεῖσθαι, and adds: “Es bezeichnet die unheimliche Beunruhigung der Angst und Verlegenheit.” I regret, that the scholarly work of Scrivener, just alluded to, has not sooner come to hand. It would have been of considerable assistance to me in the Critical Notes on the English Version.—P. S.]

FN#55 - Matthew 26:39.—The reading προσελθών [for προελθών] is probably a writing error. [Cod. Sinait. likewise reads προσελθών.]

FN#56 - Matthew 26:40.—[What! is an interpolation and, as Conant remarks, “violates the tone of feeling and manner of the Saviour.” The οὕτως can best be rendered by then. Lange: So also.— P. S.]

FN#57 - Matthew 26:42.—Many Codd, A, B, C, etc, [also Cod. Sinait.], read here only τοῦτο without ποτήριον, which seems to be supplemented from Matthew 26:39, and is omitted by Lachmann, Tischendorf, [and Alford].

FN#58 - Matthew 26:42.—Codd. B, D, etc, [also Cod. Sinait], omit the words: ἀπ̓ ἐμοῦ from me. [Lange puts them in brackets.]

FN#59 - Matthew 26:43.—Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Tregelles, Alford], read with the best authorities, [including Cod. Sinait.] πάλιν εὗρεν (again found) αὐτούς [instead of εὑρίσκει αὐτοὺς πάλιν finds them again].

FN#60 - Matthew 26:44.—A, D, K, omit ἐκ τρίου. Lachmann puts it in brackets, Tischendorf omits it. [In the large ed of1859 Tischondorf retains the words in the text, but Alford omits them. Cod. Sinait. has them, but between τὸν αὐτόν and λόγον, instead of before τὸν αὐτόν.—P. S.]

FN#61 - The quotation is verbatim after the Alexandrian MS. of the LXX, except that the imperative πάταξον, strike, is changed into the future πατάξω, I will strike, God who commands the striking into God who strikes Himself.— P. S.]

FN#62 - Comp. here Stier, Reden Jesu, vi176 sqq, who goes at length into the meaning of this prophecy, and especially the word עֲמִיתִי, “my fellow,” “my equal,” i.e, the Messiah. Also Nast ad loc.—P. S.]

FN#63 - The difficulty derived from the Mishna, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests everywhere, were forbidden to keep fowls, because they scratched up unclean worms, is easily removed, first, in view of the inconsistency of the Talmud on this point (see Lightfoot), and secondly, by the consideration that such a prohibition could in no case affect the Roman residents, over whom the Jews had no power. The scarcity of cocks in Jerusalem Isaiah, however, intimated by the absence of the definite article before ἀλέκτωρ in all the four Gospels. Hence it should be omitted in the English Version, Matthew 26:34; Matthew 26:74-75; Mark 14:30; Mark 14:68; Mark 14:72; Luke 22:34; Luke 22:60-61; John 13:38; John 18:27. At any rate the whole history of Peter’s denial is evidently drawn from real life, and presents one of the strongest evidences for the originality and truthfulness of the Gospel records.—P. S.]

FN#64 - Dr. Wordsworth, following the ancient fathers and the older Protestant commentators, sees a providential and prophetical adaptation of the names of Scripture localities generally, and of Gethsemane in particular, to the events which occurred there. In this oil press, in which the olives were crashed and braised, Christ was bruised for oar sins, that oil might flow from His wounds to heal our souls. Comp. Matthew Henry: “There He trod the wine-press of His Father’s wrath, and trod it alone.” In like manner Wordsworth allegorizes on Bethlehem, the house of bread, where the bread of life was born; Nazareth, where He grew up as a branch; Bethsaida, the house of fishing, where He called the apostles; Capernaum, the house of consolation, where He dwelt; Bethany, the place of palm-dates, which speaks of the palms and hosannahs of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem; Bethphage, the house of figs, which is a memento of the withering of the barren fig-tree; the Mount of Olives, whence Christ ascended to heaven, to hold forth the olive branch of peace between God and man.—P. S.]

FN#65 - The Edinb. transl. has insignificance.—P. S.]

FN#66 - Not: passions, as in the Edinb. transl.—P. S.]

FN#67 - The Edinb. edition altogether misunderstand this passage, and translates: “The issue (as if Ausfall was the same with Ausgang!) of this event ... are illustrated by John in his own way.” John does not illustrate these events at all, but passes them by in complete silence. But Lange illustrates this silence in his Leben Jesu, to which he here al ludes.—P. S.]

FN#68 - Origen explains the words: “My soul is sorrowful unto death. Sorrow is begun in me, but not to endure forever, but only till the hour of death; when I shall die for sin, I shall die also for all sorrow, whose beginnings only are in me.”—P. S.]

FN#69 - In German: körperliche Abspannung, which is just the reverse of “corporeal intensity of feeling,” as the Edinb, edition renders it.—P. S.]

FN#70 - Renan, in his Life of Jesus, Matthew 23, adds the sad memory of “the clear fountains of Galilee, where He might have refreshed Himself; the vineyard and fig-tree, under which He might have been seated; and (hear, hear!) the young maidens who might perhaps have consented to love Him!” Only a French novel-writer would profane this sacred scene by such erotic sentimentalism. Renan places the agony in Gethsemane several days before the night of the Passion, contrary to the unanimous testimony of the Synoptists as well as the inherent probability of the case. But his opinions on such subjects are worth nothing at all.—P. S.]

FN#71 - In German: Gemüthserschütterung. Gemüth is here, like the Greek θυμός (from θύω, to rush on, to storm; to burn in sacrifice), the inmost soul, as the principle of life, feeling, and thought, especially as the seat of strong feeling and passion. The Edinb edition obliterates the meaning of the original by turning it into: unrest and amazement which is no translation at all. The next sentences are still more diluted and mutilated, or entirely omitted.—P. S.]

FN#72 - In German: Die starken Zusagen und die kläglichen Absagen,—a paronomasia which I cannot imitate in English.—P. S.]

Verses 47-56

FIFTH SECTION

JESUS ON THE NIGHT OF HIS BETRAYAL: JESUS AND THE TRAITOR; JESUS AND THE DEFENDER; JESUS AND THE MULTITUDE; JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES GENERALLY; OR THE GLORY OF JESUS IN THE NIGHTLY ASSAULT AND THE CONFUSION OF THE IMPRISONMENT.^[FN73]

26:47–56

( Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:1-11)

47And while he yet spake [was yet speaking, ἔτι αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος], lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves [clubs, ξύλων],^[FN74] from the chief priests and elders of the people 48 Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever [Whom, ὅν] I shall kiss, that same is he; hold him fast 49 And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail [χᾶρε], Master [Rabbi];^[FN75] and kissed him 50 And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? [do that for which thou art here!]^[FN76] Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him [held him fast, as in Matthew 26:48]. 51And, behold, one of them which [that] were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a [the] servant^[FN77] of the high-priest, and smote off his ear 52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all 53 they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.^[FN78] [Or, ἤ] Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently^[FN79] give me [place beside me, παραστήσει μοι]^[FN80] more than twelve legions of angels? 54But how then [How then, πῶς οὖν]^[FN81] shall [can] the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? [fulfilled? For thus it mustbe.] 55In that same hour [in that hour, ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ] said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief [robber, λῃστήν]^[FN82] with swords and staves [clubs] for^[FN83] to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me 56 But all this was done, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples [the disciples all]^[FN84] forsook him, and fled.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Matthew 26:47. Then came Judas.—He knew the spot, as being the place where Jesus often met His disciples, John 18:2. During the completion of the meal, the final discourses of Jesus, and His agony in Gethsemane, Judas went out into the night, and consummated the work of his villany. His impetuosity induced the Sanhedrin to rescind their resolution of not taking Jesus at the feast. This it was first necessary that they should decide upon, and then summon the temple-guard; after which the permission of the Roman governor was to be obtained, and the requisite military protection. Judas had reckoned upon all this delay, and had calculated that time enough would be allowed for Jesus to hare reached Gethsemane. But that the preparation which the high-priests in league with Judas appointed, was exaggerated and excessive, all the Evangelists agree. According to John, Judas brought the Roman cohort (σπεῖρα). Even if we do not understand this literally—as the one Roman cohort which was stationed in the Castle Antonia consisted of500 men—yet we may assume that the disposable portion of that force, representing the cohort, was there. To these must be added, according to Luke, the temple-watch. Such a watch belonged to the temple, and was commanded by a στρατηγός, Acts 4:1. The plural στρατηγοί ( Luke 22:52), refers to the presence of other and subordinate officers. The torches also betray the excess of the preparation; although even the paschal full moon would not render these needless, when searching among the shady caverns of the gloomy valley of the Kedron.

One of the twelve.—The significance of this expression here rests upon this, that Judas no longer comes in the train of the disciples as a follower of Jesus, but at the head of the hostile multitude.

With him a great multitude.—The swords^[FN85] indicate that the Roman cohort ( John 18:3) was the centre of this multitude: while the clubs, and so forth, indicate that the Jewish temple-watch, and other miscellaneous fanatics, were there also. According to Luke 22:52, there were also fanatical priests and elders who mingled in the procession,—a circumstance which Meyer refers to a later and incorrect enlargement of the tradition. But Luke appears to regard representatives of the Sanhedrin as requisite for such a religious capture as this was (see Acts 4:1); and Meyer under-estimates the fanatical impulses of Jewish fanaticism.

With swords and olubs, from the high-priests.—Here we see the mingled religious and political relations. The Sanhedrin had the decision in all matters of spiritual jurisdiction. Thus it was for them to settle the question whether any one was a false prophet, and therefore worthy of stoning,—the appointed punishment of that crime. That question they had already settled in the affirmative some time before, having determined to put Jesus to death ( John 11:47); although they found themselves wanting in grounds of action, which therefore they endeavored by cunning to obtain from Himself, but failed. The right of putting offenders to death had been taken from them by the Roman government ( John 18:31); hence the Roman crucifixion was afterward substituted for the Jewish stoning. Thus their undertaking was, on the whole, a daring experiment of wickedness. They were as yet without false witnesses and without grounds of accusation; they had not the thorough consent of Pilate; and they must silence and win over, by some sudden stimulant, the common people. On this account they aimed to give the capture, in which the Roman soldiers were at their disposal, a spurious character of importance; their excessive preparation would have the effect of creating the presumption that Jesus must be a very great criminal.

Matthew 26:48. Gave them a sign.—Meyer: “The ἔδωκεν is commonly, but improperly, regarded as having a pluperfect sense. The Vulgate has it right, dedit. As he came he gave them a sign.” [So also Alford].—Whom I shall kiss.—The kiss was among the ancients a sign of affectionate and cordial intimacy, and particularly a token of fidelity, Genesis 29:11. More commonly, the teachers kissed their pupils; but examples of the converse are not wanting. Lightfoot, Horœ, p484. It is doubtful whether the kiss of reverent submission ( Psalm 2:12) was impressed on the lips: probably on the hands or the feet.

Hold Him fast, seize Him.—We take the κρατήσατ εαὐ τόν as emphatic. Possibly there was a touch of irony in the language of the archtraitor, who expected that Jesus might in a magical manner elude them after all. For the darkened mind of Judas had now come to regard Him as a magician.

Matthew 26:49. And forthwith he came.—Excited, but also dissembling. He pretended that he did not belong to the procession of enemies, that he would precede them, point out the danger, and separate from his Master with sorrow.—Kissed Him.—The κατεφίλησεν must be understood in all its emphasis, to kiss very tenderly, to caress. Comp. Xenoph Mem. 2:6, 33; Luke 7:38; Luke 7:45; Acts 20:37. Meyer: “The sign was the simple kissing; but the performance was more emphatic, a caressing, corresponding with the purpose of Judas to make sure, and with the excitement of his feelings.” The kiss of Joab, 2 Samuel 20:9 (comp. 2 Samuel 3:27). “The early Christians, who kissed each other at the Lord’s Supper, did it as appropriate to the time when the sufferings of Christ were remembered; they did not thereby intend to express their abhorrence of Judas’ kiss.” Heubner.

Mat 26:50. Friend, ἑταῖρε.—Comp. Mat 20:13 [and Crit. Note No. 4, p. 352.]

[Why did the Lord call Judas friend—a term of civility, though not necessarily of friendship—and not a villain, or a traitor, and why did He not turn away, in holy indignation, from this Judas-kiss, the vilest, the most abominable piece of hypocrisy known in history, which the infernal inspirer of treason alone could invent? To give us an example of the utmost meekness and gentleness under the greatest provocation, surpassing even the standard which He holds up for His disciples, Matthew 5:39. If the face of the Saviour was not disgraced by the traitor’s kiss, no amount of injury and insult heaped upon His followers by the enemies of religion can really dishonor the former, but falls back with double effect upon the latter. At the same time the words ἐφ ̓ ὄ πάρει, whether they be taken as a question, or as an exclamation, or as an elliptical assertion or command—together with the question recorded by Luke: “Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?” conveyed a most stinging rebuke to Judas, whose force was doubled by the use of the word friend, and the deep emotion and holy sadness with which they were uttered. The effect appears from the subsequent despair of Judas.—P. S.]

Do that for which thou art here!^[FN86] [Authorized Version: Wherefore art thou come?—Meyer: “Since the relative ὅς (ἐφ̓ ὅ πάρει) is never used in direct question, but only in indirect, the common acceptation of this as a question is not correct; and it is quite groundless (Winer, 192) to assume a corruption in the declining Greek in relation to ὅς. Fritzsche explains it as an appeal ad qualem rem perpetrandam ades! But the Greek would require this also to take the form of a question. The words are broken off with an aposiopesis: Friend, that for which thou art here come—do! Jesus thereby denounces the traitorous kiss.”—Ewald: “I need not thy kiss; I know that thou meanest it in hypocrisy; do rather that which is thy business.” Similarly Euthym. Zigab. This would certainly accord with the declining of the kiss in Luke: Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss? But, in this case, it is better to assume that it is a concise form only: τοῦτο πρᾶττε, ἐφ̓ δ̀ πάρει. Or: παρέστω, ἐφ̓ ὅ πάρει. By the Lord’s going out to meet the watch, the hypocritical play of Judas was interrupted. John alone relates the falling to the ground on the part of the multitude. But Jesus hastened to meet the multitude, in order to protect, not only the three, but also the other disciples on the outside of the garden.

Matthew 26:51. And, behold, one of them.—When the evangelical tradition first assumed shape and form, prudence required that the name of Peter should not be publicly mentioned. Hence the indefinite expression in the Synoptists. But this necessity did not exist when John wrote his Gospel: therefore he gives the name. The same remark applies to the omission of the raising of Lazarus in Bethany, which the Synoptists may have had good reasons for ignoring, but not John who wrote so much later.

Drew his sword.—When he saw that they laid sands on the Lord. According to Luke, the question was first asked from among the disciples, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? (On the two swords, compare Luke.) Immediately thereupon followed the blow of Peter’s sword; and it struck the servant of the high-priest, called Malchus, according to John. He had cut off his right ear: Matthew and Mark, τὸ ὠτίον; but Luke, τὸ οὖς, the ear itself, and not merely the lobe. It seemed that he would have split his head. The separation of the ear must have been not quite perfect; and Jesus healed the servant, according to the narrative of Luke the physician. Meyer, following Strauss, attributes this healing to a later tradition. The other Evangelists, however, appear to have regarded this healing as self-understood; as, otherwise, Peter would have remained a criminal, and the mutilation of Malchus would have furnished good ground of an accusation, which, however, was not preferred.

Matthew 26:52. Put up again thy sword into its place.—The sheath, John 18:11. Peter, therefore, still stood there with his drawn and brandished sword in his hand.—For all they that take the sword.—This is a judicial sentence, but also a threatening warning. In the former light, it rests upon an absolutely universal principle. The sword is visited by the sword in war; the sword of retribution opposes the arbitrary sword of rebellious sedition; and the sword taken up unspiritually in a spiritual cause, is avenged by the certain, though perhaps long-delayed, sword of historical vengeance. Peter was, in all these three aspects, in a bad position, and the representative of wrong. The warrior exposed himself to the superior force of the legions of Rome, the rebel to the order of the magistrate, and the abuse of the sword in the service of religion provoked, and seemed to justify, the same abuse on the part of the world. Peter had really forfeited his life to the sword; but the Lord rectified his wounded position by the correcting word which He spoke, by the miraculous healing of the ear, and by the voluntary surrender of Himself to the authorities. But Peter had not only with wilful folly entered on the domain of this world, he had also brought his Master’s cause into suspicion. Indeed, he sought to bring his fellow-disciples, and his Lord Himself, into this wrong position, and to make his own Christ a Mohammed. Therefore the Lord so solemnly denounced his Acts, pronounced an ideal sentence of death upon his head, which, however, was graciously repealed. The Lord’s word from that hour became a maxim of Christianity (comp. Revelation 13:10); and it was probably spoken to Peter with a typical significance. Even the Church of Rome says: ecclesia non sitit sanguinem, but only to have recourse to the stake and faggot, of which certainly the letter of this passage says nothing.

[Shall perish.—Alford: “ἐν μαχαίρῃ ἀπολῦται is a command; not merely a future, but an imperative future; a repetition by the Lord in this solemn moment of Genesis 9:6. See the parallel in Revelation 13:10 : δεῖ αὐτὸν ἐν μαχ. ἀποκτανθῆναι. This should be thought of by those well-meaning but shallow per sons, who seek to abolish the punishment of death in Christian states.” Comp. also Romans 13:4. Thus the passage justifies capital punishment as a measure of just retribution for murder in the hands of the civil magistrate, but condemns at the same time the resort to all carnal and violent measures on the part of the Church, which is a spiritual body, and should only use spiritual weapons. Comp. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4. Rome agrees in theory (Ecclesia non sitit sanguinem), but violates it in practice by handing the heretics, wherever she has the power, to the state for execution, and thus using the civil magistrate as an instrument. Quod quis per alium facit, id ipse fecisse dicitur.—P. S.]

Matthew 26:53. Or thinkest thou?—If Christ had refused to take the way of the passion, He might have adopted quite another way than that of wilful and violent opposition to the world: the way, namely, of coming to judgment upon it. Thinkest thou not that, if I did not desire to be a long-suffering Redeemer, I might at once appear to the whole world as its supreme Judges, rather than enter upon thy hypocritical way of half-spirituality and half-worldliness, half-patience and half-violence, of civilization with a sword in its hand? For, the twelve legions of angels which He might have prayed for, doubtless signified that multitude of angels which will actually attend Him when He returns to judgment ( Matthew 25:31). If the Church of the Middle Ages had not the courage to achieve the evangelization of the world in the way of Christ’s passion, she should have had faith to supplicate for the last day to come; but she did wrong to make Christ another Mohammed, and to continue His work by a hypocritical mixture of religious preaching and carnal violence. Meyer: “The number twelve corresponds to the number of the Apostles, because it was one of those who had just endeavored to defend Him.” But it is also and always the number of the developed perfection of life. The legion is the symbol of a great fighting host. Schaaf, Alterthumskunde: “By legio (a legendo) was originally understood the aggregate of the Roman military collected for war. When that force increased, it became a great division of the host, which contained, at various times, from2400 to beyond6000 infantry, and from300 to400 horsemen. Since the time of Marius, the legion had reached more than6000.”—It is well worthy of notice that Christ here numbers the angels by legions, as the counterpart of the Roman power, now leagued against Him with His enemies.

Matthew 26:54. How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled? for, etc.—Meyer: “We must not supply λέγουσαι before ὅτι (Beza, Maldonatus, and others); but there must be a question after γραφαί, and ὅτι is for. For thus (in no other way) must it (that which now befalls Me) be.” Thus there are two reasons: 1. The fulfilment of the Scripture concerning the suffering Messiah: Psalm 22; Isaiah 53; Daniel 9:26 Zechariah 13:7. 2. The counsel of God Himself for the salvation of a sinful world, which is the foundation of all the prophetical Scriptures.

Matthew 26:55. In that hour said Jesus to the multitudes.—According to Luke, especially to the rulers and the guard of the temple, which Meyer vainly seeks to set aside.—Starke: “Jesus did not say this before he had been seized and bound. He would give no indication that He was not willing to be taken; and therefore not till after they had done their will did He rebuke their injustice.”—In the temple;—that Isaiah, in the forecourt of the temple. In this space the Rabbins placed a synagogue (comp. Luke 2:46). Here also was to be sought Solomon’s porch ( John 10:23; Acts 3:11), with other halls—the region of teaching and preaching.—And ye laid no hold on Me.—Certainly, because they durst not; but that exhibits their surprise by night as the work of evil conscience and malignity.

Matthew 26:56. But all this is done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.—Luke: “But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” The one supplements the other. Of this hour of darkness, and of the seeming triumph of evil, all the prophets prophesied: Isaiah 53; Daniel 9:26, etc. The supposition of Erasmus, de Wette, and others, that this last word in Matthew was a remark of the Evangelist, takes off the point of our Lord’s address, as Meyer rightly observes. It was this last word which indicated His settled purpose to take the path of death. Hence it also gave occasion for the flight of the disciples. Their courage now failed them, and they fled. The flight, however, was not absolute, as appears from the narrative of the young man in Mark 14:51, and the conduct of Peter and John, according to John 18:15. They followed Him, but afar off. In reality, the scattering and flight was complete. [But while the eleven forsook the Lord, other disciples, as Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathea, took a more decided stand for Him. The Church can never fail; new Christians always take the place of the old ones. Comp. Lange’s notes on Mark 14:51-52.—P. S.]