25 before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world knew thee not, but I knew thee;

the verse, in which the clause' what Thou hast given Me' is so remarkably thrown forward, arises from the fact that believers are viewed not so much distributively as in the unity immediately present to the Redeemer's mind. It is the perfect glory of Jesus not only as Son of God but also as Son of man that is spoken of,-His glory shining forth in undimmed brightness in the heavenly world. There is the true home of His being; and hence not I shall be,' but I am,' as in chap. 14: 3. Again, however, we must remember that this glory' is not that of outward estate. It is the spiritual glory of perfect union with the Father, seen and shared in apart from the shadows of earth. Hence the last words of the verse do not contain a statement of the ground upon which Jesus prays for His own, but of the nature of the glory which they are to behold when the ineffable, everlasting love of the Father to the Son is seen by them poured forth on Him who has taken the human nature into perfect union with the Divine. The full, the perfect love of God will then be seen to have embraced humanity in its tenderest outgoings, and the joy of the redeemed in the vision and fruition of that love will be complete (comp. on ver. 22).

Ver. 25. Righteous Father, both [Ka] the world learned not to know thee,-but I learned to know thee,-and [Kai] these learned to know that thou didst send me. Not in the last clause of ver. 24, but now we have the ground upon which Jesus prays that the 'glory' of which He has spoken may be conferred upon His people; and it connects itself not so much with the love as with the righteousness of God. It is just and right that those who have been prepared for the glory to be beheld should at last obtain it. Hence Righteous' (not as in ver. 11, 'Holy') 'Father.' For God as Father is not merely love, but love resting on perfect rectitude,—is One who will see that what befalls His creatures corresponds to what they are. The word 'both' here perplexes commentators, but it is to be explained by what seems to be the usage of this Gospel (comp. 15: 24), in which propositions subordinate to the principal statement are thus introduced; while, at the same time, like a dark background, they bring out the main thought with greater force. In the present instance this thought is contained in the last clause of the verse, and it is made more noteworthy by the fact stated in the first. The intermediate clause, again, but I learned to know Thee,' appears to be designed to lead us up to the main proposition following. It was because Jesus knew the Father that He had been able to communicate that knowledge to His people. Because they had received this knowledge, therefore, it was fitting that the love into which, along with the knowledge, they had entered, should bring to them its full reward, and should shine upon them as it shone upon the Son in whom they had renounced the world and the world's ways. It may, indeed, at

26 and these knew that thou didst send me; and I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them, and I in them.

first sight startle us to find Jesus using such words of Himself as that He learned to know' the Father.' But (1) it has to be borne in mind that learned to know' is not in every respect a perfectly satisfactory translation of the original; it only approaches much more nearly to the truth than 'knew.' The proper meaning would be 'got knowledge,' or 'came to know.' (2) There is nothing more startling in the statement than in that of the Epistle to the Hebrews (chap. 5: 8), ‘Yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.' There, indeed, we have another and a separate word for 'learned; 'but a process, a progress, is also implied in the word of the verse before us. The writer to the Hebrews speaks of an experimental learning of obedience by One who was possessed of a truly human, as well as of a Divine nature,-not the will to obey becoming more perfect, but actual obedience being practically more and more learned in the varying duties and trials of life. So here, He who was human as well as Divine, 'learned' practically and experimentally, to know' the Father; and it was because He so learned that He was able to communicate that knowledge-His own knowledge-to His people. Knowledge such as that spoken of can be acquired by us in no other way; and we have repeatedly seen, in considering this prayer, that what Jesus bestows upon His disciples is first His own.

Ver. 26. The thought of ver. 25 is now more fully expressed, and, with it, the result to which the knowledge spoken of conducts all believers is summed up in the one word inclusive of every blessing, both for time and for eternity,--love. How exhaustive is the mode in which Jesus teaches the 'name' of God, the revelation of the Father in the Son,-'I made it known to them; they know; I shall make it known to them!' It is the expression of complete revelation, similar -so far as in such a matter we may speak of similarity-to 'Which was, and is, and is to come.' Therefore there naturally follows to all who embrace this revelation a perfect entering into that of which it tells, into that love which unites the Father and the Son, and which shall be in them, as Jesus Himself shall be in them, the unbroken rest of peace' after the toils, the eternal sunshine of 'joy' after the sorrows of the world. Thus the third section of the prayer closes, its main burden having been that the whole Church of God, believers of every age and country, may be so brought to and kept in the unity of the Father and the Son that the glory of the Son in the Father may be theirs. For then, the conflicts of this world ended they shall be partakers of the fulness of that love of the Father which shall encompass them as it encompassed the Son before the foundation of the world, pure, undimmed, undisturbed by the presence of either sin

1

CHAPTER 18: 1-11.

The Betrayal by Judas.

When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth or sorrow, the Father in the Son and the Son in them, all in perfect holiness and blessedness consummated in One. Thus, too, shall the end of all be attained, the glorifying of Him 'of whom and through whom and to whom are all things.'

The Betrayal by Judas, vers. 1-11.

CONTENTS.-With the beginning of this chapter we enter upon a new section of the Gospel, extending to the close of chap. 19. The section contains the final assault of the devil and the world upon Jesus. But the struggle is of a kind entirely different from that contained in the fourth or leading section of the Gospel, chaps. 5-12. There Jesus contended with His foes. Here He submits Himself into their hands, and they appear to be the conquerors. Yet they are not really so. God Himself takes up the cause of His Son, and so bears witness to Him, that all the suffering which He endures is but a 'lifting on high,' and that the death upon the cross is victory. The first paragraph of this section records the betrayal by Judas, and the seizure of Jesus by the officers of the chief priests and Pharisees accompanied by the Roman soldiers.

Ver. 1. When Jesus had spoken these things, he went forth with his disciples over the winter-torrent Kidron. The last discourse of Jesus to His disciples and His intercessory prayer to His Father have been spoken; and, from the upper room in which this took place, Jesus now went forth' to meet the fate that had been prepared for Him. More than this seems, however, to be expressed by the word 'went forth' [¿§ñλe]. It is the solemn word by which the Evangelist would express the free surrender of Himself by Jesus to His approaching fate (comp. its use in ver. 4). It is the continuation of His going forth from the Father (chap. 8: 42). Descending the steep slope then which here leads from the temple-mount into the valley bounding Jerusalem on the east, Jesus first crossed the brook which flowed down the valley, although in a course at that date much nearer the temple walls than is indicated by its present channel. Some doubt exists as to the precise meaning of the name given to the brook. The Greek words may signify either 'The Kidron' or The Cedars,' there being evidence to show that a tree of dark foliage, probably a species of cedar, is known in the Talmud by the name Cedruu. The first signification seems, however, to be the more probable, and the apparently plural termination of the original may be easily explained: it is the Grecising of the Aramaic name ending in on,' as non, Kishon, Arnon. The context compels us to ask whether the name is used only in its geographical force, or whether it is associated in the Evangelist's mind with any of those deeper ideas so often connected by him with names. The epithet affixed to it guides us to a solution

with his disciples over the 'brook Kidron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, himself and 2 his disciples. Now Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus oft-times resorted thither

1 Or, ravine. Gr. winter-torrent.

2 Or, of the cedars.

of this question. It is the only occasion on which in the New Testament the term winter torrent' is applied to the Kidron, a term derived from that word 'winter' which we have already found used in this Gospel with a reference deeper than to the season of the year (chap. 10: 22); while in the Old Testament it is the symbol of tribulation, trial, and judgment (Ps. 18: 4; 110: 7; 124: 4; Jer. 47: 2). The Hebrew name Kidron again is derived from a verb signifying to be black or dirty, hence to mourn or be distressed, mourners being wont to cover themselves with sackcloth and ashes (Ps. 35: 13, 14; 38: 6; 42: 9; 43: 2). Putting these considerations together, we cannot doubt that the Evangelist sees in the Kidron the stream of trouble, the winter-torrent' of sorrow and affliction. If we may suppose that the stream took its name from the dark color given to its waters by the blood of the sacrifices drained off into its course from the temple-mount, the meaning involved in the language before us will be still more striking. It was over this brook that David passed in the darkest hour of his history, that in which he fled from Absalom (2 Sam. 15: 23). When, accordingly, we observe that the quotation in John 13: 18 is from a Psalm (Ps. 41), in which the events of that sad day are commemorated, and that the quotation is made in illustration of these last scenes of the life of Jesus, it seems clear that we are invited to behold in this crossing of the black mountain-torrent the crossing of the true David, 'the King of Israel' (12: 13), in the hour of a still deeper anguish than that in which His great prototype had been involved. Where was a garden, into which he entered, himself and his disciples. The garden is that of Gethsemane: not so much a garden in our sense of the word as an orchard, a garden with trees, and these, as appears from the derivation of its Hebrew name, olives Peculiar attention is drawn to the leading person of the scene by the addition of the word Himself.'

Ver. 2. And Judas also, who betrayed him, knew the place for Jesus oft-times assembled thither with his disciples. The oft-times' must refer to many previous visits to the garden, and not to those connected with the present brief sojourn in Jerusalem. The omission at this point of all mention of the Agony' in the garden has often occasioned great surprise, and been even used as an argument against the fidelity of the narrative of the Fourth Gospel. Yet it may be observed―(1) That, while the supplementary theory (see Introduction) cannot, as a whole, be received in explanation of the structure of our Gospel, it is quite natural that the Evan

3 with his disciples. Judas then, having received the 1band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and 4 torches and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all

1 Or, cohort.

gelist felt himself justified in the omission of particular scenes, which were already known, through his predecessors, to the Church. (2) That his relation of the similar mental conflict and prayer in chap. 12 -a relation in which he stands alone-made it both more possible and more natural for him to omit this section here. (3) That his object being now to bring prominently forward the calm majesty with which Jesus met His final sufferings, he was led to select those parts of His actions and words which peculiarly illustrate this, and to say nothing of other parts by which the picture might seem to be disturbed. Such a proceeding is consistent with the most perfect faithfulness. It was not the aim of any one of the Evangelists to present us with a complete narrative of all the life of Jesus, or of all the aspects of His character and work. Each drew rather out of His infinite fulness what was peculiarly appropriate to the design which he had himself in view, or to the range in which he felt himself called upon to work. What we have to ask is not that each shall tell us all, but that the several narratives shall not be inconsistent with each other. No such inconsistency can be urged here. The Agony is the illustration of the words: O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:' the narrative before us is the illustration of the words: Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt;' and we know that both these sentences were uttered at the same moment by the lips of Jesus (Matt. 26: 39).

Ver. 3. The circumstances here mentioned are in contrast with those of ver. 1. The general situation is set before us from its two different sides: the first consisting of (1) Jesus, (2) His disciples; the second, of (1) Judas, (2) the band of soldiers, etc. The mention

of the band' has been made an object of ridicule, as if it could only mean half a Roman army.' The ridicule is groundless, for-(1) Even if we allow that the band was of its full strength, it was after all only the same as the 'cohort,' the tenth part of a legion. [The strength of the cohorts varied from 1,000 to 300 men.] (2) The Romans in all probability did not think of one man only to be made prisoner, but of the danger of a popular tumult. (3) In Acts 23: 23 we have a remarkable instance of the number of soldiers used upon a similar occasion. The officers' were the servants of the chief priests and PhariThe trees of the garden made 'lanterns and torches' necessary. Although the moon was near the full, the Jews would imagine that Jesus would hide Himself in the covert and so escape.

sees.

Ver. 4.

It is in the full knowledge of all that was about to happen