John 18:1

1. τῶν Κέδρων (א3BCLX Origen) is to be preferred to τοῦ Κέδρου (א1D) or Κεδρών (ASΔ). Both τῶν Κέδρων and τοῦ Κεδρών occur in LXX. as various readings (2 Samuel 15:23; 1 Kings 2:37; 1 Kings 15:13; 2 Kings 23:6; 2 Kings 23:12): Josephus uses Κεδρῶνος as the genitive of Κεδρών (A. J. VIII. i. 5). We infer that both names were current, the Hebrew having given birth to a Greek name of different meaning but similar sound.

1. ἐξῆλθεν. From the upper room. The word is used of leaving the room, Matthew 22:39; Mark 14:26; Luke 22:39. Those who suppose that the room is left at John 14:31 (perhaps for the Temple), interpret this of the departure from the city.

τῶν Κέδρων. Of the Cedars, rather than τοῦ Κεδρών, of the Kedron. Kedron or Kidron=‘black,’ and is commonly referred to the dark colour of the water or to the gloom of the ravine. But it might refer to the black green of the cedars, and thus both names would be united. χειμαρροῦς or φάραγξ (Josephus uses both words) indicates the ravine rather than the water: even in winter the stream is small. This detail of Jesus crossing the ‘Wady’ of the Kidron is given by S. John only; but he gives no hint of a reference to the flight of David from Absalom and Ahithophel (2 Samuel 15:23). If we are to seek a reason for his noting the fact, we may find it in his characteristic symbolism: ἐκ χειμάρρου ἐν ὁδῷ πίεται (Psalms 110:7); χείμαρρου διῆλθεν ἡ ψυχή (Psalms 124:4). This gloomy ravine with its dusky waters is a figure of the affliction through which the Messiah is passing. See on John 3:2; John 10:22; John 13:30.

κῆπος. Garden or orchard. Gethsemane means ‘oil-press,’ and olives probably abounded there. The very ancient olive-trees still existing on the traditional site were probably put there by pilgrims who replanted the spot after its devastation at the siege of Jerusalem. S. John gives no hint of a comparison between the two gardens, Eden and Gethsemane, which commentators from Cyril to Isaac Williams have traced. See on Mark 1:13 for another comparison.