47—55-
ἐπὶ τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν, καὶ ἐκράτησαν αὐτόν.
Ἰησοῦ, ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα, " ἀπέσπασε τὴν µάχαιραν αὐτοῦ, καὶ *
πατάξας τὸν δοῦλον τοῦ ἀρχιερέως
, >A 52. τότε λέγει αὐτῷ 6
ἀπολοῦνται.
ησοῦς, “"᾽Απόστρεψόν σου τὴν µάχαιραν 1 cis τὸν τόπον αὐτῆς: πάντες γὰρ ot λαβόντες µάχαιραν ἐν µαχαίρα 53. Ἠ δοκεῖς ὅτι οὗ δύναμαι ἄρτιΖ παρακαλέσαι τὸν
τη
51. Καὶ ἰδού, ets τῶν μετὰ
here only in same sense. (Mk. sim- ple verb). ος Lk. XXii. 41. Acts zx. 30; xxi. 1. Mk. xiv.
ἀφεῖλεν αὐτοῦ τὸ 7 dtiov.
να Ἡ πατέρα µου, καὶ παραστήσει por πλείους ἢδ δώδεκα λεγεῶνας᾽ 47 (T-R).
ἀγγέλων;
2 35 γενέσθαι ;
55. Ev ἐκείνη τῇ ὥρα εἶπεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς τοῖς ὄχλοις, "Os λῃστὴν ἐξήλθετε μετὰ μαχαιρῶν καὶ ξύλων *ouhdaPetv µε;
1 gov after την µαχαιραν in NBDL. ἔαρτι after παραστησει por in NBL 33 ὅ For πλειους η SBD have πλειω.
54. πῶς οὖν πληρωθῶσιν at ypadai, ὅτι οὕτω δεῖ στ.
k. xxii.
John XViii. 1ο (T. Ε.). >. Z parall. επι Actsi. 16; 3 χι, 33 καθ Xxiil. 27.
al, (Tisch., W.H.).
The reading in T. R. is a grammatical
correction, uncalled for as the construction in whew 8. λεγεωνας is good Greek.
knew. Fritzsche’s suggestion is in- genious, and puts a worthy thought into Christ’s mouth. Perhaps the best solu- tion is to take the words as a question in effect, though not in form. Disciple, for which, or as which you are present ? Comrade, and as a comrade here? So Judas pretended, and by the laconic phrase Jesus at once states and exposes the pretence, possibly pointing to the crowd behind in proof of the contrary. So in effect Beng.: ‘‘hoccine illud est cujus causa ades?”’; also Schanz. The point is that the Master gives the false disciple to understand that He does not believe in his paraded affection.
Vv. 51-54. Blood drawn.—i8ov, intro- ducing a second scene connected with the apprehension (cf. ver. 47) ; the use of a weapon by one of Christ’s disciples. A quite likely occurrence if any of them happened to have weapons in their hands, though we may wonder at that. It might be a large knife used in connec- tion with the Paschal feast. Who used the weapon is not said by the Synop. Did they know? The article before µάχαιραν might suggest that the whole party were armed, each disciple having his sword. The fear that they might be explains the largeness of the band fol- lowing Judas.—Ver. 52. ἀπόστρεψον : Jesus could not encourage the use of arms by His disciples, and the order to sheathe the weapon He was sure to give. The accompanying word, containing a general legal maxim: draw the sword, perish with the sword (the subsequent history of the Jewish people a tragic
exemplification of its truth), suitably en- forces the order. Weiss thinks that this word recorded here was spoken by Jesus at some other time, if at all, for it appears to be only a free reproduction of Rev. xiii. 10 (Meyer, ed. Weiss). This and the next two verses are wanting in Mk. and Lk.—Ver. 53 gives another reason for not using the sword: if it were God’s will that His Son should be rescued it could be done in a different way. The way suggested is described in military language, the verbs παρακαλεῖν and παριστάναι being both used in classics in connection with military matters, and the word λεγεῶνας suggesting the battalions of the Roman ΑτΠΙΥ.- δώδεκα, twelve legions, one for each of the twelve dis- ciples.—mwdetw, even more than that vast number, Divine resources boundless. The free play of imagination displayed in this conception of a great army of angels evinces the elasticity of Christ’s spirit and His perfect self-possession at a criti- cal moment.—Ver. 54. πῶς οὖν: refers to both forms of aid, that of the sword and that of angels (Grotius, Fritzsche) ; rescue in any form inconsistent with the predicted destiny of Messiah to be a sufferer.—6r. οὕτω, etc., the purport of all prophetic scripture is that thus it should be: apprehension and all that is to follow.