John 18:3

‘Judas then, having received a cohort, and officers from the Chief Priests and the Pharisees, come there with lanterns and torches and weapons.'

The word ‘cohort' indicates a group of ‘Roman' soldiers. A cohort was nominally a body of six hundred, although could be somewhat less, but in this case it was commanded by a Chiliarch or Tribune, and thus, if it was made up of auxiliaries, would have been larger, possibly double the size. As far as we know only one cohort was stationed in Jerusalem at the time, made up of non-Jewish local auxiliaries, although Pilate, whose centre of authority was Caesarea, may well have brought a further cohort with him for the Passover.

However the number of soldiers taken on this assignment would depend on the officer in charge, the Chiliarch or Tribune, who would not necessarily call on the whole cohort. Many may have been held back in reserve to enjoy their sleep while a contingent was sent which was as large as was deemed necessary. They were there to guard against trouble and to give some kind of official backing to the enterprise rather than to perform the actual arrest.

This would not have been possible without permission from ‘high places', and Matthew 27:18 suggests that Pilate already had prior knowledge of the case. Tension was always high around the time of the Passover and mention of a revolutionary leader who had ridden into Jerusalem with considerable support would be enough for him to be willing to provide a strong force. He was not noted for under-reaction, and we must probably recognise that he was told a slightly exaggerated tale.

That this was in line with his propensities came out later when he took alarm at a gathering of armed men at the foot of Mount Gerizim. It was in fact a pilgrimage in response to the claims of a ‘prophet' that the sacred vessels would be revealed there, but he saw it as a threat and sent in his troops with a resulting massacre. This was what finally resulted in his being removed from his office and sent to Rome to give account.

There were also Temple Police with them, ‘officers of the chief priests and the Pharisees'. Had the ‘Romans' been performing the arrest they would not have allowed the Temple police to take such a prominent part. Thus it is clear that the Temple police were there to make the arrest and the ‘Romans' were there as a precaution against trouble. But the presence of the Romans indicates that the Jewish leaders were trying to implicate the Romans with regard to events. As these Temple police were Jews it is clear how urgent the situation was seen to be, for they had had to leave their families during the Passover meal, but this was something that was permitted under cases of extreme urgency.

John remembers the scene vividly, the dark, the oil lanterns, the flaming torches, the weapons, enough to frighten any small group of religious adherents at night. We should remember that when Judas went out ‘it was night' (John 13:30). Now he comes back and it is still night, and the only light now left to him is the artificial light of oil lanterns and flaming torches. This was his hour and the power of darkness (Luke 22:53). He has deserted the light of the world.

It will be noted that John excludes much of the detail of the time in the garden contained in the other Gospels. This was already known in the churches and he does not wish to repeat it once again. Nor, presumably, did it fit in with his purpose. But John 18:11 demonstrates that he was aware of it.

The ‘Roman' soldiers are not mentioned in the other Gospels so that they clearly kept well to the back. As suggested above this shows that they did not see the arrest as directly their affair. The attention of the other Gospels was concentrated on the Temple Police who headed the action and were more readily noticeable in the gloom. It was John with his inside knowledge who obtained the full details of the arresting party.