Luke 22:4

4. C followed by La[372] adds καὶ τοῖς γραμματεῦσι.

[372] La. Lachmann.

4. ἀπελθών. We infer from the combined accounts that he met the priests on two occasions, on one of which the bargain was proposed, and on the other concluded.

συνελάλησεν. ‘Spoke with.’

στρατηγοῖς. Literally, “generals;” some MSS. add the gloss τοῦ ἱεροῦ. The Levitic captains of the Temple who kept order during the Feasts. There was strictly only one who bore the title of “the general of the Temple”—“man of the mountain of the House” (see Nehemiah 3:8; Nehemiah 3:2; Jeremiah 20:1; 2Ma 3:4); but he had guards under him (Jos. B. J. VI. 5, § 3), and the name might be applied to the whole body. One of the bitter complaints against the High Priests of the day was that they made their own sons “generals of the Temple.” St Luke was aware that the special title applied only to one person, as appears from Acts 4:1.

τὸ πῶς. Luke 22:2. The fact had been already determined; the only remaining question was the how. Judas and the priests foresaw the possibility of danger in the attempt.

παραδῷ. ‘Give Him up.’ It is a milder word than προδῷ.