Mark 14:43

The Betrayal

43. And immediately while He yet spake, the garden was filled with armed men, and flashed with the light of numerous lanterns and torches, though the Paschal moon was at the full, for "in the rocky ravine of the Kidron there would fall great deep shadows from the declivity of the mountains and projecting rocks, and there were caverns and grottoes in which a fugitive might retreat." Lange, Life of Christ, iv. 292.

cometh Judas During the two hours that had elapsed since he had gone forth from the Upper Room he had not been idle. He had reported to the ruling powers that the favourable moment had come, and had doubtless mentioned "the Garden" whither his Master was wont to resort. He now returned, but not alone, for

with him a great multitude with swords and staves These consisted partly (a) of the regular Levitical guards of the Temple, the apparitors of the Sanhedrim, and partly (b) of the detachment from the Roman cohort quartered in the Tower of Antonia under the "chiliarch" or tribune in command of the garrison (John 18:3; John 18:12). The high-priest, we may believe, had communicated with Pilate, and represented that the force was needed for the arrest of a false Messiah, dangerous to the Roman power.