John 13:18

John 13:18. I speak not of you ail. At this point Jesus again turns to the thought of Judas, yet not with the view of simply repeating what He had said at John 13:10. It is contemplation of the blessedness first spoken of that fills His mind, and pity for that disciple who was not only to separate himself from the others, but, in doing so, to lose their blessedness.

I know whom I chose. The choosing refers to election to the apostleship, not to eternal life (comp. John 6:70; John 6:16; John 6:19). The precise object of the statement is more difficult to determine. The most probable explanation seems to be that our Lord would anticipate what could not fail to be afterwards a source of perplexity to the disciples. It will seem strange to them that a traitor should have been chosen to be one of their number; and they may even be tempted to think that, had Jesus known what He was doing, no such choice would have been made. Therefore, with much emphasis on the ‘I,' he says, ‘I know whom I chose. You may imagine that I have been deceived, but it is not so; I knew well what was to happen, and that it was a part of the purposes of God,' but, that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth my bread lifted up his heel against me. The words are from Psalms 41:9. As originally used they refer to the suffering righteous man, but the Psalmist is led to employ words which have their full meaning only as applied to the ideal righteous one, that is, to Jesus; and Jesus now speaks them directly in His own person. As found here they are not a reproduction of the Septuagint, but are an original translation of the Hebrew. The figure may be taken from the tripping up of a runner in a race, or from the thought of kicking. The latter allusion is the more probable. The peculiar offensiveness of the conduct spoken of lies in the fact that the person guilty of it has ‘eaten the bread' of him whom he injures, and has thus violated those laws of hospitality and friendship than which the East knew none more sacred.