John 18:1-3

The arrival of the band. “ After having said these things, Jesus went out with his disciples beyond the brook Cedron, where there was a garden, into which he entered as well as his disciples. 2. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew this place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3. Judas, then, having taken the cohort, with officers sent by the chief priests and Pharisees, comes thither with lanterns, torches and weapons. ”

The verb ἐξῆλθε, he went out, is ordinarily referred to the departure from the supper room See on John 14:31. In our view, this verb, being directly connected, as it is, with the limiting phrase πέραν τοῦ χειμάῤῥου, beyond the brook, designates a time farther removed, and signifies rather: “He went out from the city to pass across the brook.” This is acknowledged by de Wette, even though he holds, with so many others, that the discourses of chs. 13-17 were pronounced in the supper room.

The received reading, which is that of the Vatican MS. and of most of the Mjj. and Mnn., and of Origen, is τῶν Κέδρων, and would signify “the brook of the cedars; ” there would be evidently an error of John here, for the name Cedron comes from א (Kidron), black (black water). In Josephus also the name Κέδρων is a nominative singular (for example, χείμαῤῥος Κεδρῶνος, Antiq. 8.1, 5).

The reading of the Sinaitic and Cambridge MSS. is τοῦ Κέδρου, of the cedar. It is evident that these two readings are the work of copyists, some of whom conformed the substantive to the article (by substituting Κέδρου for Κέδρων), others the article to the substantive (substituting τῶν for τοῦ), and that the true reading apparently very improbable is that of the Alexandrian MS. and of the Sangallensis, τοῦ Κέδρων, which alone easily explains the two others. Westcott, in honor of the Vatican, maintains the reading τῶν Κέδρων, by appealing to a legend of the Jerusalem Talmud, according to which there were some cedars on the Mount of Olives; Tischendorf, out of regard for the Sinaitic MS., reads τοῦ Κέδρου. Behold what prepossession can effect! The same variety of readings is found again in several MSS. of the Old Testament (LXX); see 2Sa 15:23 and 1 Kings 15:13.

The brook Cedron has its source half a league to the north of Jerusalem, and falls into the Dead Sea at the southward after a course of six or seven leagues. It is ordinarily dry during nine months of the year; for more than twenty years, as we were told in Jerusalem, not a sign of water had been seen in it. Its bed is at the bottom of the valley of Jehoshaphat, between the temple hill and the Mount of Olives. After having passed the little bridge by which this dried-up bed is crossed, one finds on the right a plot of ground planted with ancient olive trees, which is asserted to be the garden of Gethsemane. There is no valid reason, whatever Keim may say, against the truth of this tradition. The word πολλάκις, often, in John 18:2, might apply only to the preceding days; but it is more probable that it refers also to the earlier sojourns of Jesus in Jerusalem. This garden undoubtedly belonged to friends of Jesus. It ordinarily served as a place of meeting for the Lord and His disciples (συνήχθη, the aorist: he met with), when they returned from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives and to Bethany, and wished to avoid passing all together through the streets of the city. Comp. Luke 21:37; Luke 22:39.

The term σπεῖρα always designates, in the New Testament (Matthew 27:27, Acts 21:31), and in Josephus, the Roman legion or a part of the legion which occupied the citadel of Antonia, at the north-eastern angle of the temple. A detachment of Roman soldiers had seemed necessary to support the servants of the Sanhedrim. For Mark 14:2 proves that a rising in favor of Jesus was feared; and for this reason it had been necessary to ask for orders from the governor. This detachment was commanded by the tribune himself, the chiliarch, mentioned in John 18:12. The article ἡ, “ the cohort,” designates the well-known cohort; and, if it seems to indicate the presence of this entire body of soldiers (600 men), we must find here either a popular expression or a manner of speaking which is justified by the presence of the commander-in-chief.

The Synoptics do not speak of this escort. The message of Pilate's wife, however, which is related by Matthew, proves that, since the preceding evening, the governor had been occupied with this matter; and this circumstance confirms the fact of the participation of the Roman soldiery in the arrest. Keim turns this narrative into ridicule, by speaking ironically of “ half an army; ” this wretched piece of pleasantry is quite gratuitous. Baumlein and others have contended against the application of the term σπεῖρα to the Roman garrison, and have thought that the question was only of the guard of the temple. But the constant meaning of this word does not allow this explanation.

The ὑπηρέται, officers, are, as in John 7:32; John 7:45, the sergeants of the temple. They were the persons who had properly the task of arresting Jesus. The Roman cohort was only to give them aid in case of resistance. John 18:10 shows that servants belonging to the houses of the chief priests had also joined the band.

The meaning of the words φανοί and λαμπάδες is questionable. The first seems to us rather to designate lanterns; the second, resin torches. All this apparatus: “Lanterns and torches and weapons” (the two καί, and, are to be noticed), by its very uselessness casts a kind of ridicule upon this scene. It is feared that Jesus may hide Himself, and yet He surrenders Himself voluntarily (John 18:4), or that He may defend Himself;...but what purpose would these weapons have served, if He had wished to make use of His power (John 18:6)?