23. — [And when Re had thus spohen, etc.'] This verse mentions an event which John alone has recorded. One of the attendants standing by rudely interrupts our Lord by striking Him, and coarsely taxing Him with impertinence and disrespect in so speaking, as He had spoken to the high priest.
The Greek words literally rendered, mean " gave a blow on the face ;" but whether with the palm of the hand, or with a stick, cannot be determined. The marginal reading renders it quite uncertain. Some see in the action a fulfilment of the prophecy, " They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek." (Micah v. 1.)
Stier remarks that this was the first blow which the holy body of Jesus received from the hands of sinners.
We may learn from this circumstance what a low, degraded, and disorderly condition the Jewish courts of Ecclesiastical law must have been in at this period, when such a thing as publicly striking a prisoner could take place, and when violence could be shown to a prisoner in a full court of justice for answering boldly for himself. It supplies strong evidence of the miser- ably fallen state of the whole Jewish nation, when such an act could be done under the very eyes of a judge. Nothing is a surer index of the real condition of a nation than the conduct of its courts of justice, and its just or unjust treatment of prisoners. The sceptre had clearly fallen from Judah, and rottenness was at the core of the nation, when the thing mentioned in this verse could happen. Our Lord's assailant evidently held that a prisoner must never reply to his judge, however unjust or corrupt the judge might be.
Theophylact suggests that the man who struck our Lord waa one who had heard our Lord preach, and was now anxious to free himself from the suspicion of being one of His friends.
There is a striking resemblance between the treatment our Lord received here, and the treatment which Latimer, Ridley, Rogers, and other English martyrs, received at their examina- tion before the Popish bishops.
Hutcheson remarks, "Corrupt masters have generally corrupt {servants."
23. — [Jesus answered Mm, etc.] Our Lord's reply to him who smote is a calm and dignified reproof. " If I have spoken wickedly, bear witness in a just and orderly way becoming a court of law; but do not strike Me. If on the contrary I have spoken well, what reasonable cause canst thou allege for strik- ing Me either here or out of court ? "
Let us note that our Lord's conduct at this point teaches that His maxim, " If any one smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also" (Matt. v. 39), is a maxim which must be taken with reserve, and is not of unlimited application. There