clxix. He commends his disciples for their faithfulness to him. 283 fied! and, warmly emulous of conforming to so bright an example, SECT. may we ever be maintaining a watchfulness over our own spirits ; correcting the first appearances of irregularity, and washing away every lightest stain which our feet may contract in this various journey! So shall we be great in the sight and favour of our Mas- Luke ter; and, numbering ourselves among the least of his servants, shall be distinguished by peculiar honours, in proportion to the degree in which we think ourselves most unworthy of them. SECT. CLXX. Christ, while they are eating the paschal lamb, declares that one of his apostles should betray him, and at length marks out Judas as the person, who upon this retires with a resentment which confirmed him in that fatal purpose. Mat. XXVI. 21-25. Mark XIV. 18-21. Luke XXII. 21—23, 28–30. John XIII.-2, 18-30. LUXE XXII. 28. YE are they which have continued with me in my temptations: LUKE XXII. 28. xxii. 26 clxx. Luke THEN Jesus went on, as he was eating the SECT. passover, to instruct, admonish, and comfort his disciples, by a series of most wise and pious discourse; and said, Depend upon it, you XXII.28 will find that humble and benevolent temper which I have recommended to you the way to the highest honours, if you have patience to wait the proper time; for as ye are they who have continued faithfully and affectionately with me in all my trials and afflictions: So by a 29 sacred and inviolable covenant I appoint unto you a kingdom, and solemnly engage myself to bestow it upon you, even as my Father has appointed a kingdom unto me, and is quickly about 30 That ye may eat to raise me to it. Now the exalted honours 30 and which I shall there receive are incomparably be 29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father bath appointed unto me: a I appoint unto you a kingdom.] It is well known that the word dalla properly signifies to covenant, or to bestow in virtue of a covenant; and therefore the last clause of this verse may probably refer to what divines commonly call the covenant of redemption, to which there are so many references in scripture, and concerning the reality of which we could have no doubt if the references were not so express; considering, on the one hand, the great importance of that undertaking of our Lord's to which it refers; and, on the other, the plain declarations of those prophecies which VOL. VII. yond his Spirit suggested, and the confidence Na b Judging 284 He intimates his knowledge that they are not all so. SECT. yond those about which you seem so solicitous; and drink at my table clxx. let me therefore awaken a nobler ambition in in my kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging Luke your minds, while I assure you that you may ex- the twelve tribes of XXII.30 pect to eat and drink at my table in that my king- Israel. John XIII. 18 19 JOHN XIII. 18. I I know whom I have dom, or to be treated as my distinguished favour- And this I tell you now, before it comes to b Judging the twelve tribes of Israel.] The interpretation given of this promise here (and before on Mat. xix. 28, sect. cxxxvii. p. 107) appears to me preferable to that which refers it only, or chiefly to the power which the apostles had in the Christian church, as the authorized ambassadors of Christ. It by no means implies that Paul and Barnabas, the apostles of the Gentiles, shall be excluded from the honour of being assessors with Christ in his kingdom (compare 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. Rev. ii. 26, 27. iii. 21.) but seems plainly to allude to the courts of judicature among the Jews, where the inferior judges sat in a semicircle round the chief judge, who had his seat in the middle point of it. Compare Rev. iv. 4. xxi. 14. mission bread with me, hath me. 19 Now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, c He that eateth bread with me, &c.] When these words are so plainly to be found, Psal. xli. 9. it seems very unnatural, with Mr. Jeffrey (in his Review, p. 187), to imagine they refer to Psal. Iv. 12, 13. because something like the sense of them occurs there. Nor is it necessary, with Mr. Pierce (Dissert. iii), to suppose a trajection in these two verses, and render them, I speak not of you all; I know whom I have chosen : but I tell you this before-hand, that when it shall come to pass that the scripture shall be fulfilled, "One that eateth of my bread hath lift up his heel against me," ye may believe that I am he. I rather think, with Brennius, that it is an accommodation; and that the sense and connection are to be explained accordingly, as in the paraphrase. The that I am he. 20 Verily, Verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whom soever I send, receiv. eth me, and he that receiveth me, receiv 285 SECT. clxx. John He tells them, One at the table with him would betray him. pass, ye may believe mission upon that account, that, on the contrary, you may more firmly believe that I am [he], that I told you I was even the true Messiah. And, whatsoever therefore I shall suffer, let not XIII. 20. your zeal to carry on my cause be lessened, but stedfastly persist in your adherence to it, with a firm persuasion that I will support you in it; for in this view I look upon your interest as my own, and as I formerly declared (Mat. x. 40. sect. lxxvi. and Luke x. 16. sect. xcvii.) so now I most assuredly say unto you, Whoever entertains and shews regard to you, or any of my other messengers, as coming in my name, entertains me; and whoever entertains me, entertains him that sent me; as, on the other hand, when you or they are slighted, the affront redounds to me and to my Father. eth him that sent me. devil having now put 21 When Jesus had Now when Jesus had thus said, he made a so- 21 thus said -2 The lemn pause. (The devil, as was observed beit into the heart of fore, having already, by his vile and pernicious Judas Iscariot, Simon's insinuations, put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, son, to betray him], [the son] of Simon, to betray him into the hands he was troubled in spi- of his murderous enemies.) And, as our Lord rit, and [MARK, as they sat, and did eat, well knew that Judas was then watching for an Jesus] testified, and opportunity to accomplish his horrid purpose, said, Verily, verily, which he would execute that very night, he say unto you, That one of you [MARK, was much troubled in spirit to think of so unwhich eateth with grateful and impious a design in one so near me] shall betray me; him, and so much obliged to him; and as they the hand of him that sat together, and were eating the paschal supbetrayeth me, is with per, Jesus openly testified and said with a deep me on the table.] [MATT. XXVI. 21. Sigh, Verily, verily, I say unto you, That, how MARK XIV, 18. LUKE incredible soever the hint I just now gave you XXII. 21. JOHN XIII. may seem, one of you who is eating with me in -2.] this friendly and intimate manner will quickly betray me to those that thirst for my blood [and] behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is now with me on the table. [LUKE, and behold, 22 Then the disciples [were exceed Then the disciples were exceedingly grieved to 22 ing sorrowful, and] hear of his being betrayed at all, and much more looked one on ano- to be told that it should be by one of their own ther, number, while, no one being singled out from the rest, the suspicion lay in common among them; and they looked stedfastly on each other for The devil having already put it into the heart of Judas, &c.] That Satan entered into Judas before he went to the chief priests, and agreed to betray his Master to them, had been observed before, Luke Nn 2 some xxii. 3. p. 270; and that this clause of To 286 He points out Judas as the man by giving him a sop. SECT. Some time in silence, doubting of whom he spake, ther, doubting of whom and studious to observe in whose countenance he spake: [LUKE, and clxx. John say unto him [MARK, one by one], Lord, is it I?] [MAT. XXVI. 22. MARK XIV, 19. LUKE XXII. 23.] they might read any peculiar confusion, which they began to inquire among themselves, XIII. 22. might look like an indication of guilt: and, which of them it was as they none of them knew where to fix it, but that should do this thing;] and [began the vile wretch himself, they began to inquire every one of them to among themselves, which of them it could be that was about to do this thing; and, earnestly desirous to be freed from the suspicion of such heinous wickedness, they applied themselves to Christ, and began every one of them to say to him, one by one, Lord, is it I that am this guilty creature? Thou knowest that my very heart abhors the thought, and I hope I shall never be capable of entertaining it. 23 23 Now there was leaning on Jesus' boples whom Jesus loved. som, one of his disci 24 Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. Now one of his disciples, namely John, whom Jesus loved with a peculiar tenderness, and honoured with the most intimate friendship, sat next him at the table, on his right-hand; and, as they were all in a reclining posture, each of them resting on his left elbow, so in the place where John was seated he was leaning on the bosom of 24 Jesus. And as the question was almost gone round, and Jesus made no answer to it, but rather seemed to be swallowed up in mournful contemplation, Simon Peter therefore looked upon John, and beckoned to him with a motion of his head, by which he intimated his desire that he should privately ask him who it might be of whom 25 he spake. He then, lying down closer on the breast of Jesus, that he might put the question without him, Lord, who is it? being heard by the rest of the company, secretly whispered and said to him, Lord, who is it? 26 And Jesus answered him with a low voice, It is he to whom I shall give this sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop in a thick I have dipped it. And kind of sauce made of dates, raisins, and other when he had dipped ingredients beaten together, and properly dilu- the sop, he gave it to ted, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, [the son of Si- Judas Iscariot, the son mon, putting it towards that part of the dish which e To say to him, one by one, Lord, is it I?] I look on this as a strong proof that the facts mentioned John xii. 23-26, did not happen a night or two before; for if Christ had then privately marked out Judas to John and Peter as the traitor, the information must surely have reached the rest of the company by this time. f Beckoned to him with a motion of his head.] This is certainly the import of the words, which might more exactly be rendered nodded. was 25 He then lying on Jesus' breast, saith unto 26 Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when of Simon. g In a thick kind of sauce made of dates, &c.] The Jews still retain such a sauce, which they call charoseth, made of such kind of ingredients, about the consistence of mortar, to represent the clay in which their forefathers wrought while they were under bondage to the Egyptians. See Buxt. Synag. Jud. cap. 18, and the Religious Ceremonies of all Nations, Vol. I. p. 215. La He He afterwards reveals the traitor to them all. 287 clxx. was nearest him, and directing it towards him. SECT. MAT. XXVI. 23. Upon which Judas put forth his hand to take it; And he answered and and while he was just in this posture, others consaid [unto them, It is Mat. one of the twelve,] tinuing the same question to Jesus, he answered XXVI. He that dippeth his and said to them, [It is] one of the twelve [even] 23 hand with me in the he that now dippeth his hand with me in the dish this very person shall betray met. dish, the same shall betray me. [MARK XIV. 20.] 24 The Son of man [indeed] goeth as it is written (LUKE, and determined] of him but wo unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed: it had been good for that man, if he had not been born. [MARK XIV. 21. LUKE XXII. 22.] And let 24 him not vainly hope that I shall exert my miraculous power to rescue myself from the hands of mine enemies, after he has delivered me to them and secured to himself the wages of unrighteousness; for the Son of man, great and powerful as he will finally appear, is indeed going to sufferings and death, as it is written in the scriptures, [and] determined in the Divine counsels, concerning him : but as those prophecies and counsels have no influence to destroy the free agency of the persons concerned in his death, so there will be a most terrible wo to that man by whom the Son of man is so perfidiously betrayed, and who presumes to set a price on his royal and sacred blood: it had been well for that man if he had never been born; for a speedy and most dreadfui vengeance awaits him, which will ħ He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish.] Some very ingenious persons imagine that Christ by this phrase only declares it was one who sat on the same side of the table with him, and so eat out of the same dish; and, if it were so, there might seem a gradation in the discovery not observable on any other interpretation. But (not to insist upon it) that the lamb, which was to be roasted whole, Exod. xii. 9. was also to be served up in one dish, I cannot but conclude that, if this had been our Lord's meaning, on his saying here (as Mark relates it,) in the same breath, Big Ex Tow dwdexa one of the twelve, he would have added εις εκ των εμβαπλομένων one of those that dip rather than lope, which plainly signifies the very person that dippeth. The Son of man is indeed going.] As we often in common speech, say a person is going or gone, to intimate that he is dying or dead so Elsner shews (Observ. Vol. I. p. 119.) that the word nya has the ambiguity. Compare Josh. xxiii. 14. and Psal. xxxix. 13.-The repetition of that title of the Son of man, which is twice used here in the same verse, has a peculiar energy and dignity, not commonly observed. kAs it is determined.] As this passage is not liable to the ambiguities which some have apprehended in Acts ii. 23. and iv. 28. (which yet seem, on the whole, to be Qui parallel to it in their most natural construc- 1 Thou |