trees. And in a deep valley tliere would be many dark and shady places.
The " weapons " most probably apply to the Jewish servants of the priests. It is unreasonable to suppose that Roman sol- diers would ever move without their arms. For fear of resist- ance the Jewish portion of the party took arms also.
Burkitt remarks on the activity and energy of wicked men, " At the very time when Peter, James, and John were sleeping in the garden, Judas and his bloody followers were gathering, marching, and planning a murder."
The confidence of Judas that our Lord would be in the garden, shows plainly how familiar he was with our Lord's habits on the occasion of his visits to Jerusalem.
4. — [Jesus. ..knoioing... come iipon Him.] This sentence shows our Lord's perfect foreknowledge of everything that was about to happen to Him. Never was there a more willing, deliberate, and voluntary suflferer than our Lord. The words " things that should come" would be more literally rendered "the things coming," in the present tense.
The best of martyrs, like Ridley and Latimer, did not know for certain, up to the moment of their deaths, that something might not occur to alter the mind of their persecutors and save their lives. Our Lord knew perfectly well that His death was sure, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,
Ford quotes a saying of Pinart, that " what rendered Christ's suflFerings most terrible was the perfect foreknowledge He had of the torments He should endure. From the first moment of His life He had present to His mind the scourge, the thorns, the cross, and the agonizing death which awaited Him. Saw He a lamb in the meadow or a victim in the temple, the sight reminded Him that He was the lamb of God, and that He was to be offered up a sacrifice."
[Wejit forth.] This must mean that our Lord came forward from that part of the garden where He was, and did not wait for the party of Judas to find Him. On the contrary he sud- denly showed Himself, and met them face to face. The effect of this action alone must have been startling to the soldiers. They would feel at once that they had to do with no common person.
Henry remarks, " When the people would have forced Him to take a crown and wished to make Him a king he withdrew and hid Himself. (John vi. 15.) Bat when they came to force Him to His cross He offered Himself. He came to this world to suffer, and went to the other world to reign."
Lampe remarks that the first Adam hid himself in the gar- den. The second Adam went forth to meet His enemies. The first felt guilty, the second innocent.