_THE RULERS CONSPIRE AGAINST CHRIST. THE WOMAN ANOINTETH HIS HEAD. JUDAS SELLETH HIM. CHRIST EATETH THE PASSOVER: INSTITUTETH HIS HOLY SUPPER: PRAYETH IN THE GARDEN: AND BEING BETRAYED WITH A KISS, IS CARRIED TO CAIAPHAS, AND DENIED BY PETER._ _Anno Domini 33._... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN JESUS HAD FINISHED, &C.— See Luke 21:37. When our Lord sat down on the mount of Olives to foretel the destruction of the city, and to deliver the parables which represent the method of the general judgment, he was far on his way to Bethany. After the parables were pronounced, and before he depa... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO WAS CALLED CAIAPHAS— See John 11:49. Joseph Caiaphas was made high-priest by Valerius Gratus, as we learn from Josephus, Antiq. b. 18. 100: 3 and afterwards deposed by Vitellius, ch. 6. We may infer from Acts 5:17 that Caiaphas was of the sect of the Sadducees.... [ Continue Reading ]
BY SUBTILTY— _Surprise._ Prussian Testament. See Luke 22:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT ON THE FAST-DAY— 'Εορτη, the _feast;_ that is to say, the whole time of the solemnity, which lasted seven days. All this interval was favourable to uproars and seditions, on account of the vast concourse of people. It is very remarkable, that the Jews in this instance receded from their usual cu... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW WHEN JESUS WAS IN BETHANY— Or, _Now Jesus being in Bethany._ It is not to be thought that Simon was now a _leper;_ for in this case he would not have been suffered to live in a town, nor would the Jews have come to an entertainment at his house; but either he was once a leper, and had been cured... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHEN HIS DISCIPLES SAW IT— It appears from John 12:4 that none but Judas found fault with what this woman had done. St. Matthew has probably put the _disciples_ in general, for one of the disciples; as he says elsewhere, with St. Mark, that the _thieves_ reviled Christ, though it appears from St... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY TROUBLE YE THE WOMAN, &C.— The vindication of the woman suggests the reason why Jesus permitted so expensive a compliment to be paid to him. He told them, that God had ordered it for the exercise and improvement of charity, that there should always be poor in the land to whom they might do good... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY COVENANTED WITH HIM FOR THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER— Judas Iscariot, _one of the twelve,_ (a circumstance of such high aggravation, that each of the evangelists has marked it out in this view) having been more forward than the rest in condemning the woman, or, most probably, the only one who did so... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW, THE FIRST DAY OF THE FEAST, &C.— We learn from Mark 14:12 and Luke 22:7 that this was done the very day on which the paschal lamb was killed; for, though the feast of unleavened bread did not, properly speaking, begin till the 15th of the first month, as it is termedin Leviticus 23:5. Numbers 2... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW WHEN THE EVEN WAS COME— When the Jews celebrated the passover, they assembled together from ten to twenty in number, at some private house, or more properly speaking, laid down, and ate the lamb with unleavened bread. After this repast was finished, they washed again, and, lying down the second... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT DIPPETH HIS HAND WITH ME, &C.— Grotius and others think this implies, that Judas had placed himself so near his Master, as to eat out of the same dish with him; but their way of lying on couches at meat, must have made it inconvenient for two or more persons to eat in that manner. It is more... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SON OF MAN GOETH— _Is going indeed,_ that is to say, is departing, or near his death. Heylin.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST SAID— This expression is equivalent to a positive assertion, both in sacred and prophane authors. Compare Matthew 26:64. The first time our Lord discovered that he should be betrayed, he only told it in John's ear, that _Judas_ was to be the author of that atrocious villany. John told it t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AS THEY WERE EATING, JESUS TOOK BREAD— After they _had done eating,_ &c. Our Lord instituted the holy communion after the paschal feast. See Luke 22:20 and 1 Corinthians 11:25. This passage might otherwise be rendered, _as they were yet eating._ The loaves of the Jews were round, flat, thin, and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE TOOK THE CUP— We learn from Jewish writers, that the wine was mixed with water on these occasions; and from the first fathers, that the primitive Christians adopted this custom. He blessed the cup, according to the usual method mentioned in the note on Matthew 26:20. Hence the cup itself is n... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I SAY UNTO YOU— Or, _moreover, I say,_ &c. In Luke 22:18 our Lord made the same declaration concerning the passover cup. Hence we gather his meaning, upon the whole, to have been this; that he would not partake of any joy, till he rejoiced with them in the communications of the Holy Spirit, whic... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY HAD SUNG AN HYMN— This is thought by some to have been one of the Psalms used at the paschal feast, (see on Matthew 26:20.) though Grotius and others are of opinion, that it possibly was some other hymn more closely adapted to the celebration of the eucharist. The mount of Olives stood... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL YE SHALL BE OFFENDED, &C.— That is "You shall lose all sense of your dutyas disciples, and, seeing me in a condition inconsistent with the vulgar idea of the Messiah, shall leave me to the cruelties of my enemies." This was a remarkable completion of Zechariah 13:7. See the note. Our Lord might... [ Continue Reading ]
PETER ANSWERED, &C.— St. Peter, no doubt, was sincere in this protestation which he made; nevertheless he was greatly to blame for not payinga due attention to his Master's repeated predictions concerning his fall, (see Luke 22:34 and John 13:38.) for the preference which he gave himself above his b... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO A PLACE CALLED GETHSEMANE— Reland thinks _Gethsemane_ was a particular spot in the mount of Olives. But its situation, like that of some other places mentioned in the Gospel, has been settled by considering the description of a particularEvangelistonly,withoutcomparingtheiraccountstogether.From... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TOOK WITH HIM PETER, &C.— These disciples were admitted to the most striking circumstances of our Lord's conduct: they were present when he raised Jairus's daughter; they were present at his transfiguration; and were now made witnesses of his agony, the rest of his disciples being leftat the entr... [ Continue Reading ]
MY SOUL IS EXCEEDING SORROWFUL— The words used here, and in the latter part of Matthew 26:37 by our translators, are very flat, and fall extremely short of the emphasis of those terms in which the Evangelist describes this aweful scene; for λυπεισθαι, rendered, _to be sorrowful,_ signifies _to be pe... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FELL ON HIS FACE— The human nature of our Lord being now burdened beyond measure, he found it necessary to retire, and to pray that if it was possible, or consistent with the salvation of the world, he might be delivered from the sufferings which were then lying on him; for, that it was not the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE COMETH, &C.— It was now very late in the evening; for after supper Christ had made his disciples a long discourse, from John, John 14-17. and besides they were oppressed and stupified with sorrow. See Luke 22:45. Our Lord speaks to Peter in particular, who was so forward to boast that he woul... [ Continue Reading ]
SAYING THE SAME WORDS— It is plain, by comparing Matthew 26:39; Matthew 26:42 that the words were not entirely the same; and it is certain that λογος often signifies _matter;_ so that no more appears to be intended than that he prayed to the same purpose as before. The reader by referring to Luke 22... [ Continue Reading ]
SLEEP ON NOW, &C.— Some read this interrogatively, _Do you sleep on still and take repose?_ See Luke 22:46. This is a reproof which very well agrees with Matthew 26:40 and the words following that passage. _Into the hands of sinners,_ means of the Gentiles, according to the stile of the Hebrews, (se... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT BETRAYED HIM, GAVE THEM A SIGN— The soldiers having perhaps never seen Jesus before, and it being now night, and there being twelve persons together, probably dressed much alike, Judas found it necessary to point him out to them by some such sign as this. It was a Jewish custom, after a long... [ Continue Reading ]
FRIEND, WHEREFORE ART THOU COME?— The heroic behaviour of the blessed Jesus, in the whole period or his sufferings, will be observed by every attentive eye, and felt by every pious heart; although the sacred historians, according to their usual but wonderful simplicity, make no encomiums upon it. Wi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BEHOLD, ONE OF THEM—DREW HIS SWORD— None of the evangelists but John (John 18:10.) mentions the name of the high-priest's servant on this occasion, which perhaps the others omitted, lest it should expose them to any prosecution. But John, writing long after our Saviour's death, needed no such pr... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT ALL THIS WAS DONE— Or, _Is done._ This was a consideration, which, if dulyapplied,mighthavepreventedhisdisciplesfrombeingoffended at his sufferings; and it strongly intimates that he still kept up the claim which he had formerly made of being the Messiah, and that what he was now to go through,... [ Continue Reading ]
LED HIM AWAY TO CAIAPHAS— It appears from John 18:13 that Jesus was first led to Annas, because he wasfather-in-law of Caiaphas; besides, that having been himself a high-priest, and very much concerned in this whole matter, it was but natural that he should have this honour done him. St. Matthew mak... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW—THE COUNCIL SOUGHT FALSE WITNESS— When the council found that Jesus declined answering the question whereby they would have drawn from him an acknowledgment of his being the Messiah, (see John 18:19; John 18:40.) they examined many witnesses to prove his having assumed that character: for by wha... [ Continue Reading ]
AT THE LAST CAME TWO FALSE WITNESSES, &C.— St. Mark, Mark 14:58 tells us, that these false witnesses alleged, that our Lord had said, _I will destroy this temple that is made with hands._ Now it is in the addition of these last words that their false testimony consists, because it restrains to the t... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HIGH-PRIEST AROSE, &C.— When the high-priest found that Jesus took little notice of the things which the witnesses said against him, he fell into a passion, supposing that Christ intended to put an affront upon the council. For he arose from his seat, which judges seldom do, unless when in some... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS SAITH UNTO HIM, THOU HAST SAID— Our Lord would not vouchsafe to give an answer to so frivolous an accusation as was that brought against him, Matthew 26:61. But when he is called upon to acknowledge so important a truth as that contained in this verse, a truth which he came to reveal to the wo... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE HIGH-PRIEST RENT HIS CLOTHES— Though the high-priest was forbidden to rend his clothes in some cases, when others were allowed to do it, (Leviticus 10:6; Leviticus 21:10.) yet in case of blasphemy or any public calamity it was thought allowable. Caiaphas therefore, by this action, expressed... [ Continue Reading ]
HE IS GUILTY OF DEATH.— Or _he deserves_ or _is worthy of death._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN DID THEY SPIT IN HIS FACE— _Spitting in the face_ was the greatest contempt and disgrace which could possibly be shewn. See Numbers 12:14. _Buffeting_ or striking with the fist on the temples, was esteemed one of the most disgraceful punishments by the Greeks, from whom the Romans might have ad... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW PETER SAT WITHOUT— Our Lord's trial in the high-priest's palace, and Peter's denying him, being contemporary events, might be related the one before the other, according to the historian's pleasure. St. Matthew and St. Mark describe the trial first, because it is a principal fact. But St. Luke b... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE WAS GONE OUT INTO THE PORCH— St. Matthew and St. Mark say it was a _woman_ that attacked Peter in the porch; St. Luke says it was a man; and Grotius, to reconcile the evangelists, has shewn that the Greek word Ανθρωπος signifies both _man_ and _woman,_ as _homo_ does in the Latin. But withou... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AGAIN HE DENIED WITH AN OATH— To his denial he now added perjury. Jesus was so public a person, and so well known to thousands, not at all in his interest, that this additional falsehood, _I do not know the man,_ was most unnecessary; and—as it frequently happens, when people allow themselves to... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AFTER A WHILE CAME, &C.— The words of Malchus's kinsman, (see John 18:26.) bringing to Peter's remembrance what he had done to that slave, threw him into such a panic, that when those who stood by repeated the charge, he impudently denied it.When the servants at the fire heard Peter deny the cha... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PETER REMEMBERED THE WORDS OF JESUS WHICH SAID, &C.— Or, _Who had said,_ &c. See Luke 22:61 where the remarkably beautiful circumstance of Christ's _turning and looking upon Peter_ is recorded: see also Mark 14:72. Hence we learn that St. Peter denied his Master three different times, and with o... [ Continue Reading ]