Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

John 13:30

ἐκεῖνος. Here and in John 13:27 the pronoun marks Judas as an alien (comp. John 7:11; John 9:12; John 9:28). John 13:28-29 are parenthetical: the Evangelist now returns to the narrative, repeating with solemnity the incident which formed the last crisis in the career of Judas. Ἐξῆλθεν εὐθύς is no evidence that the meal was not a Paschal one. The rule that ‘none should go out at the door of his house until the morning’ (Exodus 12:22) had, like standing at the Passover, long since been abrogated. Judas goes out from the presence of the Christ like Cain from the presence of the Lord. Dum vult esse praedo, fit praeda.

ἧν δὲ νύξ. Comp. 1 Samuel 28:8. The tragic brevity of this has often been remarked, and will never cease to lay hold of the imagination. It can scarcely be meant merely to tell us that at the time when Judas went out night had begun. In the Gospel in which the Messiah so often appears as the Light of the World (John 1:4-9; John 3:19-21; John 8:12; John 9:5; John 12:35-36; John 12:46), and in which darkness almost invariably means moral darkness (John 1:5; John 8:12; John 12:35; John 12:46), a use peculiar to S. John (1 John 1:5; 1 John 2:8-9; 1 John 2:11),—we shall hardly be wrong in understanding also that Judas went forth from the Light of the World into the night in which a man cannot but stumble ‘because there is no light in him’ (John 11:10): see on John 3:2; John 10:22; John 18:1. Thus also Christ Himself said some two hours later, ‘This is your hour, and the power of darkness’ (Luke 22:53). For other remarks of telling brevity and abruptness comp. χειμὼν ἦν (John 10:22); ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς (John 11:35); λέγει αὐτοῖς Ἐγώ εἰμι (John 18:5); ἦν δὲ ὁ Βαραββᾶς λῃστής (John 18:40).

These remarks shew the impropriety of joining this sentence to the next verse; ‘and it was night, therefore, when he had gone out;’ a combination which is clumsy in itself and quite spoils the effect.

John 13:31 to John 15:27. CHRIST’S LOVE IN KEEPING HIS OWN

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

John 13:30

Old Testament

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