ὡς οὖν εἶπεν. When therefore He said; intimating that what followed was the immediate consequence of His words. They fell backwards, recoiling from the majesty of goodness, not forwards in adoration of it. Whether their falling was the natural effect of guilt meeting with absolute innocence, or a supernatural effect wrought by Christ’s will, is a question which we have not the means of determining. Moreover, the distinction may be an unreal one. Is it not His will that guilt should quail before innocence? The result in this case proved both to the disciples and to His foes that His surrender was entirely voluntary (John 10:18). Once before, the majesty of His words had overwhelmed those who had come to arrest Him (John 7:46); and it would have been so now, had not He willed to be taken. Comp. Matthew 26:53, where the expression ‘legions of angels’ may have reference to the fragment of a legion that had come to superintend His capture.

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Old Testament