γενομένης δὲ ἡμέρας. St Mark (Mark 1:35) uses the expression ‘rising up exceedingly early in the morning, while it was yet dark.’ It was His object to escape into silence, and solitude, and prayer, without being observed by the multitudes.

εἰς ἔρημον τόπον. Densely as the district was populated, such a place might be found in such hill ravines as the Vale of Doves at no great distance.

ἐπεζήτουν αὐτόν. ‘Were earnestly seeking for Him.’ It is characteristic of the eager impetuosity of St Peter, that (as St Mark tells us, Luke 1:36) he, with his friends, on this occasion (literally) ‘hunted Him down’ (κατεδίωξαν).

ἦλθον ἕως αὐτοῦ. ‘They came up to (like ‘as far as’) Him.’ The preposition is rarely used of persons (Acts 9:38) but generally of places, as in Luke 6:29, and of time in the sense of ‘until’ (Luke 16:16; Luke 23:44). Some unrecorded circumstance is perhaps implied in the word as compared with Mark 1:36.

κατεῖχον αὐτόν. ‘Tried’ or wished ‘to detain Him.’ It is the tentative imperfect. See note on Luke 1:59.

τοῦ μὴ πορεύεσθαι. The genitive is governed by κατεῖχον. Comp. Spenser, “Could save the son of Thetis from to die.”

Continues after advertising
Continues after advertising

Old Testament