Betrayal and Arrest

Betrayal and Arrest
Matt. 26:47

47 And [kai] while [eti] he [autos] yet [eti] spake [laleo] , lo [idou] , Judas [Ioudas] , one [heis] of the twelve [dodeka] , came [erchomai] , and [kai] with [meta] him [autos] a great [polus] multitude [ochlos] with [meta] swords [machaira] and [kai] staves [xulon] , from [apo] the chief priests [archiereus] and [kai] elders [presbuteros] of the people [laos] . KJV-Interlinear

47 And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up, accompanied by a great multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and elders of the people. NASB

There are several parallel passages which you might wish to review at your convenience, Mk. 14:43-45, Lk. 22:47-53, Jn. 18:2-9

Judas is called 'one of the twelve' by all of the writers of scripture. He isn't called traitor or scum, or any other derogatory name. He was with the apostles and Jesus during the last three years. He heard and saw and knew all that they knew. Yet his indifference was overpowered by his own greed, and sense of opportunity. He saw Jesus as an opportunity because of His 'tricks.' A chance to make some money and have the easy life. But opposition against Jesus by the establishment made Judas think that getting out was a good idea.

The crowd accompanying Judas was there to arrest Jesus and anyone with Him. Judas obviously would escape this predicament. Jesus, however, will request they let the others go, Jn. 18:8, which they will, and the apostles will vanish in the night.

There is quite a large crowd entering the garden. Not only were the chief priests and elder there, but there was a cohort of soldiers (approximately 600 Roman soldiers), Jn. 18:3. Having the soldiers would mean that prior arrangements with Pilate would have been necessary for the spontaneous availability of the soldiers.

Judas left the dinner and knowing where Jesus would be, Jn. 18:2, went to the chief priests and told them of the opportunity that night. Remember that it is Passover eve. Everyone would be celebrating their dinner and then reclining to whatever they do in the evening of a feast holiday.

But here comes Judas, and the time is now.

We can just see the flurry of activity. Those who went to the garden were a select group with respect to the priests, elders and scribes. We have already studied how some of the priests believed in Christ. Those we presume were not present in this arrest. Cowards that they were, they wouldn't get involved in anything confrontational.

There are the Temple police, the chief priests, the elders, and also the Pharisees, Jn. 18:3, the Sadducees and the entire Sanhedrin, Mk. 15:1. With all present, or representatives of these groups present, the number in the crowd probably numbered 1000 men with arms of swords or clubs, as mentioned in Matthew, our passage. All for just twelve men who were really a peaceful lot.

They hadn't broken any laws, they were guilty only of ruffling the feelings of the leadership of Judea. And as we have previously studied, the apostles had two swords among them. Peter has one, and he will use it in a few minutes. The other swords whereabouts is unknown. It is never used.

The large and mixed multitude, represents the mindless and evil attitude of negative mankind against God. Instead of coming out to welcome the Son of God, they come out in the night to arrest Him, tie Him up and haul Him off to the first of six trials. Remember that the number six is representative of man. And these six trials are representative of mans inability, to identify truth and administer justice.

No doubt many in the crowd did not even know what they were there for. The Roman soldiers were just called out to go somewhere. They just followed in columns, and stood ready to draw and use their swords if ordered to do so. The select few, those of the leadership of Judea were really the ones who were driving the forces of this injustice in an effort to get rid of Jesus. Pilate too knew of the attitude against Jesus and obviously made the soldiers available too assist in any way. He would just as soon get rid of another potential rebellion leader and His band of followers. That would just make life easier for Pilate.

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