John 18:2 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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John 18:2

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So then Judas was on his way; he knew the garden. The King James has the word, band. Strictly this is a cohort, a detachment of Roman troops. A cohort literally was 600 men. Everyone doubts whether the detachment was that big. It could also be loosely used for a much smaller detachment. They would have come from the Antonia Fortress next to the Temple, part of the Temple precinct. There was the Jerusalem garrison based there. How many were stationed there? Well the other Gospels say a multitude, so there are quite a lot of them. It is only a guess – a hundred, two hundred Roman soldiers with their centurions in the plural, a band of men and officers.Whatever did they think? Why did they need so many? Well they were after Christ and his disciples, I think. And they thought of them as criminals, and in their foolishness they thought that when they found them outside the city they may scatter and run. So they needed enough men to search the countryside. This was Roman efficiency.The chief priests and the Pharisees came as well, with the Levitical police no doubt, and they are all armed with swords: the Roman armed with short swords, cudgels probably, and the Levitical police. They come seeking a criminal, and they have got lanterns and torches.

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Why did they bring so many? Well, they were worried too because only a few days before Christ had made this triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and the whole population seemed to be on his side and they were alarmed. Supposing it isn’t done successfully at night, the whole thing isn’t wrapped up in the space of an hour or two and the crowds get to hear about it and people begin to turn out to defend him? We will have such commotion in the city and then we will have all the trouble of the Roman power down on us. But also it shows their fury and their hatred of him. They so hated him they had to seal this up with a great multitude and make certain of it. Well, they also wanted to show Christ humbled and bound. He knew it was going to happen. They reasoned, no doubt, that if only this miracle worker could be seen to be safely imprisoned, bound hand and foot, humbled before their gaze, well, then the crowds would soon no longer be in awe of him, and their support would just melt away.

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John 18:2 Commentary and Bible Study