Commentari biblici

CHAPTER 18

John 18:1. The Recepta τῶν κέδρων has the preponderance of testimony, Griesb. Scholz, Lachm., following A. S. Δ. Verss. Hier. Ambr. have τοῦ κεδρών; Tisch., following D. א. 2 Cod. of It. Sah. Copt.: τοῦ κέδρου. The reading τοῦ κεδρών is to be preferred, since we cannot suppose that John somehow connected the name קדרון with κέδρος or κέδριν, as was done in 2 Samuel 15:23 and 1 Kings 15:13, LXX.

John 18:4. ἐξελθὼν εἶπεν] B. C.* D. Curss. Verss. Or. Syr. Chrys. Aug.: ἐξῆλθεν καὶ λέγει. So Lachm. and Tisch. Rightly; the Recepta is an alteration after John 18:1, which was made, because what was intended by ἐξῆλθεν was not distinguished from that expressed by it in John 18:1.

John 18:6. ὅτι] which, though deleted by Lachm. and Tisch., has very important witnesses for and against it; yet how readily would it come to be omitted after John 18:5!

John 18:10. ὠτίον] Tisch.: ὠτάριον, after B. C.* L. X. א., which (comp. also on Mark 14:47) is all the more to be preferred, that the better known ὠτίον is found in Matt.

John 18:11. After μάχαιρ. Elz. has σου, against decisive witnesses, from Matthew 26:52.

John 18:13. αὐτόν] has against it witnesses of such importance, that Lachm. has bracketed, Tisch. deleted it. But, unnecessary in itself, how readily might it be passed over after the similar final sound of the preceding word!

John 18:14. ἀπολέσθαι] Lachm. Tisch.: ἀποθανεῖν. The witnesses are very much divided. ἀποθ. is from John 11:50.

John 18:15. ἄλλος] Elz. Griesb. Scholz, Tisch.: ὁ ἄλλος. The article is wanting in A. B. D. א. Curss., but retains, notwithstanding, a great weight of testimony, and might readily come to be omitted, since it appeared to have no reference here.

John 18:20. Instead of the first ἐλάλησα, λελάληκα (Lachm. Tisch.) is so decisively attested, that the Aor. appears to have been introduced in conformity with the following aorists.

The article before συναγ is decidedly condemned by the evidence (against Elz.).

Instead of the second πάντοτε, Griesb. Lachm. Tisch. have πάντες, which is to be preferred, on account of preponderant testimony, and because πάντοτε might readily be mechanically repeated from the preceding πάντοτε; πάντοθεν (Elz.) rests on conjecture (Beza) and Curss.

John 18:21. ἐπερωτ.; ἐπερώτ.] The simple forms (Lachm. Tisch.) are preponderantly attested. The compound forms were readily introduced through the concurrence of the two E’s (μΕΕρωτ.), in recollection of John 18:7.

John 18:22. Read with Lachm. Tisch., according to B. א. It. Vulg. Cyr. εἷς παρεστ τῶν ὑπ. Various transpositions in the Codd.

John 18:24. After ἀπέστ., Elz. Lachm. Tisch. have οὖν, which has important witnesses for and against it. Since, however, other Codd. read δέ, and several Verss. express καί, any particle is to he regarded as a later connective addition.

The same various connective particles are found inserted in Codd. and Verss., after ἠρνήσατο, John 18:25.

John 18:28. πρωΐ] Elz. Scholz: πρωΐα, against decisive testimony. But how readily might the quite unnecessary ἵνα disappear!

John 18:29. After Πιλάτος Lachm. and Tisch. have ἔξω (B. C.* L. X. א. Curss. Verss.), which other witnesses first place after αὐτούς. This different position, and the importance of the omitting witnesses, show it to be an interpolation, with a view to greater definiteness of designation.

κατά] is deleted by Tisch., according to B. א.* alone. Being unnecessary, it was passed over.

John 18:34. αὐτῷ after ἀπεκρ. in Elz. is decisively condemned by the witnesses.

John 18:37. ἐγώ. ʼΕγώ] The omission of one ἐγώ (Lachm. has bracketed the second, Tisch. has deleted the first) is not sufficiently justified by B. D. L. Y. א. Curss. Verss. Fathers, since the omission was so readily suggested in copying, if the weight of the repeated ἐγώ was not observed.

John 18:1-2. ʼΕξῆλθε] from Jerusalem, where the meal, John 13:2, had been held. The ἄγωμεν ἐντεῦθεν, John 16:31, was now first carried out; see in loc.: πέραν νοῦ χειμ,. then expresses: whither He went; see on John 6:1.

τοῦ Κεδρών] Genit. of apposition (2 Peter 2:6, comp. πόλις ʼΑθηνῶν and the like). On this torrent dry in summer (χείμαῤῥος, Hom. Il. xi. 493; Soph. Ant. 708; Plat. Legg. v. p. 736 A; Joseph. Antt. viii. 1. 5), קִדְרוֹן, i.e. niger, black stream, flowing eastward from the city through the valley of the same name, see Robinson, II. p. 31 ff.; Ritter, Erdk. XV. 1, p. 598 ff. As to the name, comp. the very frequent Greek name of rivers Μέλας (Herod. vii. 58. 198; Strabo, viii. p. 386, et al.).

κῆπος] According to Matthew 26:36, a garden of the estate of Gethsemane. The owner must be conceived as being friendly to Jesus.

ὅτι πολλάκις, κ.τ.λ.] points back to earlier festal visits, and is a more exact statement of detail, of which John has many in the history of the passion. We see from the contents that Jesus offered Himself with conscious freedom to the final crisis. Comp. John 18:4.

Typological references (Luthardt, after older expositors: to David, who, when betrayed by Ahithophel, had gone the same way, 2 Samuel 15:23; Lampe, Hengstenberg, following the Fathers: to Adam, who in the garden incurred the penalty of death) are without any indication in the text.

John 18:3. The σπεῖρα is the Roman cohort (see Matthew 27:27; Acts 21:31; Polyb. xi. 23, i. 6, xiv. 3 ff.; Valckenaer, Schol. I. p. 458 f.), designated by the article as the well-known band, namely, because serving as the garrison of the fort Antonia, distinguished by what follows from the company of officers of justice appointed on the part of the Sanhedrim, and not to be explained of the Levitical temple-watch (Michaelis, Kuinoel, Gurlitt, Lect. in N. T. Spec. IV. 1805, B. Crusius, Baeumlein). That Judas arrived with the whole σπεῖρα is, as being disproportionate to the immediate object (against Hengstenberg), not probable; but a division, ordered for the present service, especially as the chiliarch himself was there (John 18:12), represented the cohort.[207] Of this co-operation of the Roman military, for which the Sanhedrim had made requisition, the Synoptics say nothing, although Hengstenberg takes pains to find indications of it in their narrative. John’s account is more complete.

φανῶν κ. λαμπ.] with torches and lamps (the latter in lanterns; Matthew 25:1 ff.). Comp. Dion. H. xi. 40. Extreme precaution renders this preparation conceivable even at the time of full moon. The arms are understood to have been, as a matter of course, carried by the soldiers, but not by the ὑπηρέται, and are mentioned as helping to complete the representation.

The καί’s are not accumulated (Luthardt), not one of them is unnecessary.

[207] This is quite sufficient for the inexactness of popular information. We have hence neither to understand a manipulus (i.e. the third part of the cohort), for which an appeal is erroneously made to Polyb. xi. 23. 1, nor, generally, a band, a detachment of soldiers (2Ma 8:23; 2Ma 12:22; Jdt 14:11). The latter, not because it is Roman military that are spoken of; the former, not because although Polybius elsewhere employs σπεῖρα as equivalent to manipulus (see Schweighäuser, Lex. p. 559), yet a whole maniple (some 200 men) would here be too many.

John 18:4-5. This advance of Judas occasioned (οὖν) Jesus to come forth, since He knew all that was about to come upon Him, and consequently was far removed from any intention of withdrawing Himself from His destiny, of which He was fully and clearly conscious.

ἔρχεσθαι, of destinies, happy (Matthew 10:13) and unhappy (Matthew 23:35; Aesch. Pers. 436, 439; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. I. p. 686 f.), in the classics more frequently with the dative (Thuc. viii. 96. 1) than with ἐπί.

ἐξῆλθεν (see the critical notes): from the garden, John 18:1, Nonnus: κῆπον ἐάσας. The context yields no other meaning, and John 18:26 is not opposed to it. Hence not: from the garden-house (Rosenmüller, Ewald), or from the depth of the garden (Tholuck, Maier, De Wette, Luthardt), or from the circle of disciples (Schweizer, Lange, Hengstenberg).

εἱστήκει δὲ καὶ Ἰούδας, κ.τ.λ.] Tragic moment in the descriptive picture of this scene, without any further special purpose in view. Tholuck arbitrarily remarks: John wished to indicate the effrontery of Judas; and Hengstenberg: he wished to guard against the false opinion that the ἐγώ εἰμι was intended to convey to the officers something unknown to them. This he could surely have been able to express in few words.

The kiss of Judas (Matthew 26:47 ff.), instead of which John gives the above personal statement (as Strauss indeed thinks: in order to the glorification of Jesus), is not thereby excluded, is too characteristic and too well attested to be ascribed to tradition, and cannot have followed (Ewald) the question of Jesus (John 18:4), but, inasmuch as the immediate effect of the ἐγώ εἰμι did not permit of the interruption of the kiss, must have preceded, so that immediately on the exit of Jesus from the garden, Judas stepped forward, kissed Him, and then again fell back to the band. Accordingly, John, after the one factor of the betrayal, namely the kiss, had been already generally disseminated in tradition, brings into prominence the other also, the personal statement; hence this latter is not to be ascribed merely to the Johannean Jesus (Hilgenfeld, Scholten).

John 18:6. They gave way,—drew back (see on John 6:66), and fell to the earth (χαμαί = χαμᾶζε, very frequently in the classics also); this was regarded, first by Oeder in his Miscell. sacr. p. 503 ff., and recently by most expositors (including Lücke, Tholuck, Olshausen, De Wette, B. Crusius, Ewald, Baeumlein), as a natural consequence of terror and of sudden awe, in support of which reference is made to the (weaker) analogies from the history of M. Antonius (Val. Max. viii. 9. 2), and of Marius (Velleius Paterc. ii. 19. 3), even of Coligny; whilst Brückner would conceive of the effect at least as “scarcely as purely human.” Lange, however, likewise deduces it from terror of conscience, and finds the miracle only in the fact that it was not unexpected by the Lord, and not undesigned by Him. But, presumptively, the falling to the ground of itself, and the circumstance that the text designates those who fell down generally and without an exception, so that even the Roman soldiers are to be understood along with the rest, justifies the view of the ancient commentators, also adopted by Strauss (who, however, as also Scholten, views the matter as unhistorical), Ebrard, Maier, Luthardt, Hengstenberg, Godet, that it was a miraculous result of the power of Christ (Nonnus: οἰστρηθέντες ἀτευχέϊ λαίλαπι φωνῆς). Christ wished, before His surrender, to make known His might over His foes, and thus to show the voluntariness of His surrender. He could remain free, but He is willing to surrender Himself, because He knows His hour is come, John 17:1.

John 18:8-9. Jesus was apprehensive of the seizure at the same time of the disciples. That hands had already been laid on them (Bengel, B. Crusius, and several others), the text does not say. He should and would suffer alone.

ἵνα πληρ., κ.τ.λ.] Divinely-determined object of ἀπεκρίθη, in reference to the words εἰ οὖν, κ.τ.λ. John discovers in the saying, John 17:12 (the quoting of which, without verbal exactness, should be noted as an instance of the free mode of citation in the N. T.), a prophetic reference to the preservation of the disciples from their being also taken prisoners along with Him, so far, that is, as the Lord, in virtue of this protection, brought none of them into destruction, namely, by occasioning the apostasy into which many a one would have fallen had he also been taken prisoner. This prophetic reference (against Schweizer’s and Scholten’s severe judgment) is justified by the fact that Jesus, in John 17:12, delivers a closing avowal of His activity on the disciples’ behalf; consequently, that which is still further to be done on their behalf must be conformable to that saying, and appear as the fulfilment, as the actual completion of what was therein expressed.

John 18:10-11. Comp. Matthew 26:51 ff., and parall.

οὖν] In consequence of this danger, which he now saw for Jesus. On its position between Σίμ. and Πέτρ., comp. John 21:7.

Only John here names Peter, and also Malchus.[208] Personal considerations, which may have kept the names so far away from the earliest tradition, that they are not adduced even by Luke, could now no longer have influence.

δοῦλον] slave, therefore none of the officials of the court of justice, John 18:3, but also not the guide of the temple-watch (Ewald). The slave had accompanied the rest, and had pressed forward.

τὸ ὠτάριον] not purposely (Hengstenberg), but the blow which was aimed at the head missed.

Cast the sword into the sheath! certainly more original than the calmer and more circumstantial words in Matt. On θήκη, sheath, see Poll. x. 144. In the classics, κολεός. Comp. Hom. Od. x. 333: κολεῷ μὲν ἄορ θέο.

τὸ ποτήρ.] Comp. Matthew 20:22; Matthew 26:39. The suffering of death which He must now, after He has become clearly conscious of God’s will and object (John 3:14-15, John 6:51), approach, is the cup to be drunk, which the Father has already given to Him (into His hand), δέδωκε.

αὐτό, as in John 15:2.

[208] A name of frequent occurrence; see Wetstein. In Phot. Bibl. cod. 78, a Sophist is so called. Hengstenberg gives artificial interpretations.

John 18:12-14. Οὖν] Since no further attempt at resistance dared be made. In the complete statement: the cohort and the tribune (ὁ χιλίαρχος τῆς σπείρης, Acts 21:31), and the servants, any special design (Luthardt: the previous occurrence, John 18:6, had for its result that now all helped, in order to secure Him) is not to be supposed, since ἡ σπείρα, κ.τ.λ., is the subject not merely of συνέλαβον and ἔδησαν, but also of ἀπήγαγον. Tholuck’s remark, however, is erroneous: that the soldiers had now first again (?) united with the Jewish watch.

συνέλαβον, κ.τ.λ.] A non-essential variation from Matthew 26:50, where the capture takes place before the attempt at defence made on Peter’s part. For ἔδησαν, see on Matthew 27:2.

On Annas, see on Luke 3:1-2. To him, which circumstance the Synoptics pass over, Jesus was at first (πρῶτον) brought, before He was conducted to the actual high priest, Caiaphas (John 18:24). An extrajudicial preliminary examination had first to be gone through. And Annas had been selected for this purpose because he was father-in-law of the actual high priest (ἦν γὰρ πενθερὸς, κ.τ.λ.); thus they believed it to be most certain that he would act beforehand[209] for his son-in-law, who then had to conduct the proper judicial process in the Sanhedrin, with sufficient care for the object in view. Ewald’s assumption (Gesch. Chr. p. 562), that Annas was at that time invested with the office of superior judicial examiner (דִּין אבי בית), does not correspond to the fundamental statement of John, which merely adduces the relation of father-in-law; and therefore, also, we are not to say with Wieseler and others (see also Lichtenstein, p. 418 f.), that Annas was president, Caiaphas vice-president of the Sanhedrin; or that the former still passed as the proper and legitimate high priest (Lange); or even that John conceived of an annual exchange of office between Annas and Caiaphas (Scholten; comp. on John 11:49). Quite arbitrarily, further, do others suppose: the house of Annas lay near to the gate (Augustine, Grotius, and many), or: Jesus was led, as in triumph, first to Annas (Chrysostom, Theophylact, and several others).

John 18:14 points back to John 11:50, on account of the prophetic nature of the saying, which had now come so near its fulfilment. Hence also the significant τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἐκείνου is repeated.

[209] Comp. Steinmeyer, Leidensgesch. p. 115 f.