[Over the hrook Cedron.l The Cedron here mentioned, is the game as the Kidron named more than once in the Old Testa- ment. The word " brook " means, literally, a " winter torrent," and this, according to all travellers, is precisely what the Kid- ron is. Excepting in winter, or after rains, it is merely the dry bed of a water-course. It lies on the east side of Jerusalem, between the city and the Mount of Olives. It is the same Kid- ron which David passed over weeping, when obliged to flee from Jerusalem by the rebellion of Absalom. (2 Sam. xv. 2o.) It is the same Kidron by the aide of which Asa burnt the idol of his mother Maachah (2 Chron. xv. 16), and into which Josiah cast the dust of the idolatrous altars which he destroyed. (2 Kings xxiii. 12.)
Lampe says that the way by which our Lord left the city, was the way by which the scape-goat, Azazel, was annually sent out into the wilderness on the great day of atonement.
Bishop Andrews says that " the first breach made by the Ko- mans, when Titus took Jerusaltm, was at the brook Cedron, where they took Christ,"
[Where was a garden. ..disciples.] There can be little doubt that this garden is the same as the " place called Gethsemane." What kind of a garden it was we know not, unless a garden of olive trees. Probably it was neither a garden of flowers nor of herbs, but simply a place enclosed, where trees were sheltered and encouraged to grow, in order to provide a quiet shady re- tirement away from the bustle of the city. Whether it was a public garden, or private property, we know not. Hengsten- berg conjectures that" the owner of the place must have stood in some special relation to Jesus," and that this accounts for His frequent and free resort to the place. He also conjectures that the '* young man" named in Mark xiv. 51, 52, must have belonged to the family of the owner. This however, is pure conjecture.
Almost all commentators notice the curious fact that the fall of Adam and Eve took place in a garden, and Christ's passion also began in a garden, and the sepulchre where Christ was laid was in a garden, and the place where He was crucified was in a garden. (John xix. 41.)
Augustine remarks, " It was fitting that the blood of the Physician should there be poured out, where the disease of the Bick man first commenced,"
Gualter remarks that the first Adam had everything that was pleasant in the Grarden of Eden, and yet fell. The second Adam had everything that was painful and trying in the Garden of Gethsemane, but was a glorious conqueror.
The agony in Gethsemane, we may observe, is entirely passed over by John in His Gospel ; and for wise reasons, we need not doubt. But it is evident that it took place at this point