‘So the cohort and the Chiliarch and the officers of the Judaisers seized Jesus and bound him.'

The Roman soldiers now immediately stepped in. They had watched the chaos among the Temple police at Jesus' approach and had now seen a sword drawn in anger. This was why they were there. So they arrested Him and bound Him. Peter's resistance had not been good for Jesus and only Jesus' words and actions had saved Peter from arrest.

John deliberately brings out the strength of the force that was required to seize Him, and shares the blame equally between the Jews and the Romans. The Chiliarch was a technical term meaning ‘leader of a thousand' and was used of the Tribune who commanded the cohort. Thus he had come himself with a section of his cohort rather than send a deputy. Given that Jesus did not resist only two or three people would actually have needed to touch Him, but they did not take any chances, for they ‘bound him' in spite of his non-resistance.

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