John 18:12 Commentary and Bible Study

Christ was taken by the band – the cohort in the Greek – and the captain who was a chiliarch, translated here captain, though the garrison was not as big as a thousand. They bound him: the Lord of Heaven and earth, God of all power, Creator of all things, allows himself to be bound by sinful men.They led him first of all to Annas and John explains he was father-in-law to Caiaphas. Annas was an older man. He had been high priest for ten years, then others had been given that office by the Romans, and then Caiaphas his son-in-law. Now probably the high priest’s palace, a very large and splendid place, would have been built around a central courtyard, and so they would first proceed into that courtyard which was open to the sky. In all probability there was a wing of the palace occupied by Caiaphas and another wing occupied by Annas the former high priest, the elder statesman of the two. So they went through the courtyard to Annas first. That had obviously been arranged among themselves.Annas is known historically to have been a man of great wealth, a greedy man and an extortioner. Possibly a large amount of his fortune was made by the horrendous over-charging for sacrificial animals in the Temple or the exploitation that went on by those senior priests. He was a very proud man, a very superior individual, a very unjust man. Their plan seems to be that Annas would break him. Annas would secure a most forthright claim that he was the Son of God. Well he had said it anyway, publicly. But they wanted something that they could take into court, and so they begin this first hearing, as John records. It is night. They are usually asleep, but they are up, they are functioning. It is a proud, hostile, unjust environment. It is quite obvious that Annas is just seeking incriminating information. Christ is bound as a criminal and at this point the eleven flee, they run. We know that from the other Gospels and we also know it from John 16.32 where Christ predicts that they will do just that.