John 13:30

He then having received the sop Better, He therefore having received the morsel. The pronoun here and in John 13:27 (ekeinos) indicates that Judas is an alien. Comp. John 7:11; John 9:12; John 9:28. The last two verses are a parenthetical remark of the Evangelist; he now returns to the narrative, repeating with solemnity the incident which formed the last crisis in the career of Judas.

went immediately out This is no evidence as to the meal not being 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. "When Satan entered into him, he went out from the presence of Christ, as Cain went out from the presence of the Lord."

and it was night 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 (1Jn 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). 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. -Jesus wept" (John 11:35); -He saith to them, I am He" (John 18:5); -Now Barabbas was a robber" (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.