Vv. 55, 56. Fesus complains of the manner of His apprehension.—év ἐκ. τ. ὥρᾳ, connects with ἐκράτησαν αὐτόν in ver. 50. Having said what was necessary to the bellicose disciple, Jesus turns to the party which had come to arrest Him,
ἡμέραν πρὸς Spas! ἐκαθεζόμην διδάσκων ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, καὶ οὐκ
ἐκρατήσατέ µε. γραφαὶ τῶν προφητῶν.” ἔφυγον.
56. τοῦτο δὲ ὅλον Ὑέγονεν, ἵνα πληρωθῶσιν at Τότε οἱ μαθηταὶ Σ πάντες ἀφέντες αὐτὸν
57- ΟΙ δὲ κρατήσαντες τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν ἀπήγαγον πρὸς Καϊάφαν τὸν ἀρχιερέα, ὅπου οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ πρεσβύτεροι συνήχθησαν, 58. Ὁ δὲ Πέτρος ἠκολούθει αὐτῷ ἀπὸ ά µακρόθεν, ἕως τῆς αὑλῆς τοῦ ἀρχιερέως: καὶ εἰσελθὼν ἔσω ἐκάθητο μετὰ τῶν ὑπηρετῶν, ἰδεῖν
2 BL 33 omit προς υμας (Tisch., W.H.). Σεν τω ἱερω before εκαθεζοµην in NBL 33 (Tisch., W.H.). 3B has αυτον after µαθηται (W.-H. in margin).
4 BD have απο (W.H. in brackets).
here called τοῖς ὄχλοις.- as ἐπὶ λῃστὴν, etc. : the words may be taken either asa question or as a statement of fact. In either case Jesus complains that they have arrested Him as if He were a robber or other criminal. A robber as distinct from a thief (vide Trench, Synonyms) is one who uses violence to possess himself of others’ property, and Christ’s complaint is in the first place that they have treated Him as one who meant to offer resistance. But the reference to His past habit in the sequel seems to show that He has another com- plaint in His mind, viz., that they have regarded Him as one hiding from justice. The allusion is to the invasion of His privacy in the garden, and the implied suggestion that they have put a false construction on His presence there. They think He has been seeking escape from His fate when in fact He has been bracing Himself up for it! To what misconstruction the holiest and noblest actions are liable, and how humiliating to the heroic soul! It was thoroughly characteristic of Jesus that He should feel the humiliation, and that He should at once give expression to the feeling. This against Brandt (p. 6), who thinks this utterance in no respect appropriate to the situation.—xaé’ ἡμέραν, etc. : Jesus asks in effect why they did not apprehend Him while, for several days in succession, He sat in the temple pre- cincts teaching. To this it might be replied that that was easier said than done, in midst of a miscellaneous crowd containing not a few friends of the ob- noxious teacher (so Brandt). But what Jesus is concerned to point out is, not the practicability of arrest in the temple, but that His behaviour had been fear-
S$CLA omit (Tisch.).
less. How could they imagine that a man who spoke His mind so openly could slink away into hiding-places like an evil-doer? Brandt remarks that the complaint is addressed to the wrong persons: to the underlings rather than to the hierarchs. It is addressed to those who actually apprehended Jesus, whoever they were. Who composed that crowd it would not be easy in the dark to know.—Ver. 56. τοῦτο δὲ, etc. : a formula of the evangelist, introducing another reference by Jesus to the pro- phecies in these terms, ἵνα πληρωθῶσιν, etc. Jesus reconciles Himself to the in- dignity in the manner of His arrest, as to the arrest itself, and all that it in- volved, by the thought that it was in His ‘‘cup” as described by the prophets. The prophetic picture of Messiah’s ex- perience acted as a sedative to His spirit.—véte, then, when the appre- hension had been effected, and meekly submitted to by ]εσις.--πάντες, Peter included.—égvyov, fled, to save them- selves, since their Master could not be saved. This another bitter drop in the cup: absolute loneliness.
Vv. 57-68. Before Caiaphas (Mk. xiv. 53-65; Lk. xxii. 54, 66-71).—mpos Καιά- φαν, to Caiaphas, who sent them forth, and who expects their return with their victim.—déaov, where, {.ε., in the palace of Caiaphas.—yp. καὶ πρ.: scribes and presbyters, priests and presbyters in ver. 3. Mk. names all the three; doubtless true to the {αοῖι.- συνήχθησαν, were assembled, waiting for the arrival of the party sent out to arrest Jesus, In Mk. the coming together of the Sanhedrim appears to be synchronous with the arrival of Jesus. This meeting happens when the world is asleep, and when