John 18:1

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE BETRAYAL (John 18:1-14).

Leaving the Upper Room, Jesus and his disciples went out into the moonlit night, for there was full moon at the Passover, and took their way through the streets out of the eastern gate, across the Kedron, to the garden of Gethsemane, about. half mile from the city walls, near the western base of Mt. Olivet. The Garden, or orchard, takes its name from. word meaning oil press, and doubtless was shaded by the olive trees, from which the hill takes its designation. Still the traveler meets on this slope with giant olives, no doubt the descendants of those under the shade of which Jesus reposed. Here the Lord endured the Agony of the Garden, that wonderful struggle, with its sublime victory, recorded in the words, "Not as. will, but as thou wilt." Immediately after this we may place the appearance of the band led by Judas. How wonderful the events of this night! It is the only night of the life of Jesus that we can trace. We see first, the Passover in the upper room, then the washing of feet, the exposure of Judas, the warning to Peter, the tender discourses to the disciples, the agony at Gethsemane, the betrayal, the arrest, the trial before the Sanhedrim, the trial before Pilate, the scourging, &c., &c.

1. He went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron.

The eleven apostles were with Jesus when he left the Upper Room and departed on this eventful journey, the most eventful in the history of the world. The brook Kedron, which he crossed, flowed through. ravine east of Jerusalem, between the city and the Mount of Olives. The name means the black torrent. It was dry during the dry, but. rushing torrent during the rainy season.

Where was. garden.

John does not give the name, but all the other writers designate it. Gethsemane means "oil-press." It was probably an enclosed olive vineyard, containing. press and garden-tower, perhaps. dwelling-house. It was at the western foot of the Mount of Olives, beyond the Kedron. The spot now pointed out as Gethsemane lies on the right of the path to the Mount of Olives. The wall has been restored. Eight olive trees remain, all of them very old, but scarcely of the time of our Lord, since Titus, during the siege of Jerusalem, had all the trees of the district cut down.-- Schaff.