Luke 22:47

And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(47-49) And while he yet spake.—See Notes on Matthew 26:47-50; Mark 14:43-46.

Went before them.—The tense implies, not that Judas then left those with whom he had walked before, but that he was seen walking, as he had been all along, in advance of the others. He was “guide to them that took Jesus” (Acts 1:16).

Benson Commentary

Luke 22:47-48. And while he yet spake, behold, a multitude had entered the garden, consisting of persons of very different stations and offices in life; and Judas went before them — To lead them to the place, and show them the man they wanted, by kissing him. See on Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-49. Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss? — Dost thou make my condescending kindness the occasion of thy base treachery, and use that as the signal of it, which, among men, is the usual token either of love or homage? And dost thou thus betray him who is thy Lord and Master, and whom thou canst not but know to be the Messiah, entitled in the Scriptures, the Son of man? And dost thou think that he can be imposed upon by this poor artifice? or that God, who has promised him so glorious and triumphant a kingdom, will not punish such baseness and cruelty to him? “There is great reason to believe,” says Dr. Doddridge, “that our Lord uses this phrase of the Son of man to Judas on this occasion, (as he had done the same evening at supper, twice in a breath,) in the sense here given. And it adds a spirit to these words that has not often been observed, which the attentive reader will discern to be attended with much greater strength and beauty, than if our Lord had only said, Dost thou betray me with a kiss?”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:47-53 Nothing can be a greater affront or grief to the Lord Jesus, than to be betrayed by those who profess to be his followers, and say that they love him. Many instances there are, of Christ's being betrayed by those who, under the form of godliness, fight against the power of it. Jesus here gave an illustrious example of his own rule of doing good to those that hate us, as afterwards he did of praying for those that despitefully use us. Corrupt nature warps our conduct to extremes; we should seek for the Lord's direction before we act in difficult circumstances. Christ was willing to wait for his triumphs till his warfare was accomplished, and we must be so too. But the hour and the power of darkness were short, and such the triumphs of the wicked always will be.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this explained in Matthew 26:48-56.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Lu 22:47-54. Betrayal and Apprehension of Jesus—Flight of His Disciples.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 47,48. See Poole on "Matthew 26:47", and following verses to Matthew 26:49. See Poole on "Mark 14:43", and following verses to Mark 14:45.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And while he yet spake,.... The above words to his disciples,

behold a multitude. The Persic version adds, "of Jews, with arrows, swords, and spears"; but the multitude consisted partly of Roman soldiers, and partly of the officers of the chief priests:

and he that was called Judas: and sometimes Iscariot, to distinguish him from another Judas, who also was of the number of the apostles:

one of the twelve; disciples of Christ, whom he had chosen, called, and ordained:

went before them; as their guide, to show them where Jesus was, and to point him out unto them; see Acts 1:16

and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him; that being the signal he had given them, by which they should know him. The Syriac version here adds, "for this sign he had given to them, whomsoever I shall kiss, the same is he": and so likewise the Persic and Ethiopic versions, adding also this, "lay hold upon him"; but the whole seems to be transcribed from Matthew 26:48.

Geneva Study Bible

{16} And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him.

(16) Christ is willingly betrayed and taken so that by his obedience he might deliver us who were guilty of betraying God's glory.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Luke 22:47-53. See on Matthew 26:47-56, Mark 14:43-52, in both of which the linking on of what follows by means of ἔτι αὐτοῦ λαλ. is better suited to the sense. Luke in this part uses in general less original sources.

ὁ λεγόμ. Ἰούδ.] who is called Judas. Comp. Luke 22:1; Matthew 2:23; Matthew 26:3; Matthew 26:14; Matthew 27:33, and elsewhere.

εἷς τῶν δώδεκα] as Luke 22:3.

προήρχετο αὐτούς] See on Mark 6:33Luke 22:48. φιλήματι] placed first for emphasis; φίλου ἀσπασμῷ ἐχθροῦ ἔργον τὴν προδοσίαν μιγνύεις; Theophylact. That the kiss was concerted with the enemies (Mark 14:44) Luke leaves to be gathered only mediately from the words of Jesus.

Luke 22:49.[258] εἰ πατάξομεν κ.τ.λ.] whether we shall smite by means of the sword? Comp. Luke 13:23; Acts 1:6, and elsewhere. See on Matthew 12:10 and on Luke 13:23. Grotius says rightly: “Dubii inter id, quod natura dictabat, et saepe inculcata patientiae praecepta dominum quid faciendum sit rogant. At Petrus non expectato Domini responso ad vim vi arcendam accingitur.”

Luke 22:50. τὸ δεξιόν] as also John 18:10 has it.

Luke 22:51. ἐᾶτε ἕως τούτου] is a prohibitory summons to the disciples: sinite usque huc (Vulg.), which Augustine, de cons. ev. iii. 5, aptly explains: “permittendi sunt hucusque progredi.” Let them go so far as even to take me prisoner! Comp. Luther, Maldonatus, and others; recently also Hofmann, Schriftbew. II. 2, p. 437, and Schegg. Grotius, Bengel, Wetstein, Kuinoel, Olshausen, Bleek, and others have explained: cease (comp. Acts 5:38; Hom. Il. xxi. 221, al.)! so far! (not farther! comp. Leviticus 26:18; Job 38:11). To this it stands opposed that herein is found no disapproval of the blow with the sword, but only the prohibition to go any further; and, moreover, this not at all negatively expressed, as it would have most obviously occurred by means of some such expression as μὴ ποῤῥωτέρω or the like. Others take the words as an address to those who were taking Him prisoner, and thus τούτου either as neuter and temporal: “missum facite me usque ad id tempus, quo vulnus illius hominis sanavero” (Bornemann, so also Hammond, Kypke, de Wette, Lange, II. 3, p. 1461, III. p. 512), or τούτου as neuter, indeed, but local: let me go thither where the wounded man is (Paulus), or τούτου as masculine: let me go to this man in order to heal him (Stolz, Baumgarten-Crusius). Against these views the objection is that the context in the word ἀποκριθείς shows nothing else than a reply to the disciples, as Jesus does not turn to His enemies till Luke 22:52.

καὶ ἁψάμ. κ.τ.λ.] On account of ἀφεῖλεν, Luke 22:50, this is to be referred to the place and the remains of the ear that had been cut off; and ἰάσατο αὐτόν to the healing of the wound (not: replacing of the ear). With desperate arbitrariness Paulus says that He touched the wound in order to examine it, and told the man what he must do to heal it! Luke alone records the healing; and it can the less be cleared of the suspicion of being a legendary accretion (comp. Strauss, II. p. 461; Baumgarten-Crusius, Holtzmann, and others), like Luke 22:43-44, that even John, who narrates the blow with the sword so circumstantially, says nothing about it.

Luke 22:52. πρὸς τοὺς παραγενομ. κ.τ.λ.] These chief priests, etc., were therefore, according to Luke, associated with that ὄχλος, Luke 22:47. Inappropriate in itself, and in opposition to the rest of the evangelists. An error on the part of tradition, probably through confusion with John 18:20 f. Comp. on Matthew 26:47; Matthew 26:55. Ebrard, p. 532, is in error when he says that Luke is speaking of those who had just then newly approached. So also Lange. Opposed to this is the aorist participle.

Luke 22:53. ἀλλʼ αὕτη κ.τ.λ.] informs us of the reason that they had not laid hands on Him sooner in spite of His daily association with them: But this (the present hour) is your (that which is ordained for you for the execution of your work, according to divine decree) hour, and (this, this power in which ye now are acting) the power of darkness, i.e. the power which is given to darkness (in the ethical sense, the power opposed to the divine ἀλήθεια, opposed to φῶς). Observe the great emphasis on the ὑμῶν by being placed so near the beginning of the clause. The expression τοῦ σκότους, not τῆς ἁμαρτίας (so Kuinoel and Olshausen explain it), not τοῦ διαβόλου (so Euthymius Zigabenus, Calvin, Grotius, Bengel, Baumgarten-Crusius, and others), is chosen in reference to the actual night, which it was at this time; but it is not the actual darkness of night that is meant (“only the darkness gives you courage and power to lay hold of me,” de Wette, comp. Neander, Bleek, and older commentators), for this quite commonplace thought would declare nothing on the destiny of that hour and power.

[258] Vv. 49–51, as also already at vv. 35–38, was objectionable to Marcion, and was omitted in his gospel. See Volkmar, p. 69 f. Hilgenfeld decides otherwise in the Theol. Jahrb. 1853, p. 240 f., where he, indeed, likewise concedes the genuineness, but supposes that the deletion may have happened in the Romish Church even before Marcion.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 22:47-53. The apprehension (Matthew 26:47-56, Mark 14:43-52).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

47-53. The Traitor’s Kiss. The Arrest. Malchus.

47. behold a multitude] Composed of Levitical guards under their ‘general;’ a Roman Chiliarch (‘tribune’), with some soldiers, part of a maniple or cohort (σπεῖρα) from the Fort of Antonia (John 18:12); and some priests and elders.

one of the twelve] It seems as if in narrating the scene the Evangelists unconsciously add the circumstance which to their mind branded the deed with its worst horror. For the terror which seized the multitude, the precipitate entrance of Judas into the garden, and our Lord’s first words to him, see John 18:3-9.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 22:47. Προήρχετο αὐτοὺς) Some read προήρχετο αὐτῶν. But the same phrase occurs in Mark 6:33, προῆλθον αὐτοὺς they outwent them: by comparing this passage with the present, it is evident that the traitor reached our Lord more quickly than the band which accompanied him.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 47-53. - The arrest of the Redeemer. All the four evangelists tell the story of the last hours, in the main the same, though the language is often quite different, and fresh and important details appear in each memoir. The general effect on the thoughtful reader is that the Crucifixion and the events leading up to it were very far from being the result of the counsels of the Jewish leaders, the outcome of their relentless enmity. The death and all the attendant circumstances took place in their solemn order, then, when the public teaching of the Redeemer was finished, because it had been determined by some higher and grander power than was possessed by Jerusalem Sanhedrin or Roman Senate. So St. Matthew, in his account, twice (Matthew 26:54, 56) gives the ground for the arrest, "That the Scriptures might be fulfilled." And the Scriptures were but the echoes of that other and grander power. Verse 47. - And while he yet spake, behold a multitude. Different to his disciples, their Master, who had prayed and received as an answer to his prayer the angel's visit, was now, when the hour of mortal danger struck, in possession of the profoundest calm. No. thing disturbed his serenity any more. With calm majesty he advanced to meet the traitor as he guided his Master's deadly enemies into the garden. From this hour Jesus welcomes the cross, from which for a brief moment he had seemed to shrink. The corn-pony who was thus guided to Gethsemane to effect the arrest in the dead of the night was composed of Roman legionaries detailed for this duty from a cohort on guard in the Antonia Fort by the temple, and of Levitical guards belonging to the temple - an armed force of police, part of the temple watch at the disposal of the priests. He that was called Judas, one of the twelve. Each of the evangelists mention the presence of the traitor. It was evidently a strange and startling detail for the writers of these memoirs that one of the chosen twelve should have been the betrayer! And drew near unto Jesus to kiss him. This was the sign agreed upon between Judas and his employers. They knew that it would be night, and that Gethsemane was shaded with olives, and that therefore some conspicuous sign would be necessary to indicate to the guards which of the company of twelve was the Master whom they were to seize. But the signal was superfluous, for, as St. John tells us, Jesus of his own accord advanced before the others, telling those who came for him who he was. Because of this kiss the early Christian Church discontinued the customary brotherly kiss on Good Friday. Luke 22:47

Vincent's Word Studies

Multitude - one of the twelve

See on Matthew 26:47

To kiss

See on Matthew 26:49.