14:43 {12} And immediately, while he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
(12) As men willingly robbed God their creator of his praise in forsaking and betraying him: so Christ, willingly going about to make satisfaction for this ruin, is forsaken by his own, and betrayed by one of his familiar acquaintances as a thief, so that the punishment might be in agreement with the sin, and that we who are ourselves traitors, forsakers and those committing sacrilege, might be delivered out of the devil's snare.
14:43-52 While he yet spake, cometh Judas. For the Betrayal and Arrest, see notes on Mt 26:47-56. Compare Lu 22:47-53 Joh 18:1-12. See notes on John.
14:43 Mt 26:47; Lu 22:47; John 18:2.
14:43-52 Because Christ appeared not as a temporal prince, but preached repentance, reformation, and a holy life, and directed men's thoughts, and affections, and aims to another world, therefore the Jewish rulers sought to destroy him. Peter wounded one of the band. It is easier to fight for Christ than to die for him. But there is a great difference between faulty disciples and hypocrites. The latter rashly and without thought call Christ Master, and express great affection for him, yet betray him to his enemies. Thus they hasten their own destruction.
