John 18:6

As soon then as he had said Better, when therefore (see on John 18:3) He said. The Evangelist intimates that what followed was the immediate consequence of Christ's words.

went backward, and fell Whether this 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 - legionsof angels" may have reference to the fragment of a legion that had come to superintend His capture.