Matthew 26:23

Jesus’ answer did not identify the betrayer specifically. His response meant that the betrayer was someone who had dipped into the same bowl as Jesus had, namely, one of the Twelve, someone close to Jesus. This reply stressed the heinousness of the betrayal and the graciousness of Jesus.

"The whole incident must be interpreted as a gracious attempt on the part of Jesus to make Judas realize his terrible sin and turn from it before it was too late." [Note: Walvoord, Matthew: . . ., p. 213.]

If this was the main course of the meal, the bowl would have contained herbs and a fruit purée that everyone would have been scooping out with bread to eat with the lamb.

"Toward midafternoon of Thursday, 14 Nisan, the lambs (one per ’household’-a convenient group of perhaps ten or twelve people) would be brought to the temple court where the priests sacrificed them. The priests took the blood and passed it in basins along a line till it was poured out at the foot of the altar. They also burned the lambs’ fat on the altar of burnt offerings. The singing of the Hallel (Psalms 113-18) accompanied these steps.

"After sunset (i.e., now 15 Nisan), the ’household’ would gather in a home to eat the Passover lamb, which by this time would have been roasted with bitter herbs. The head of the household began the meal with the thanksgiving for that feast day (the Passover Kiddush) and for the wine, praying over the first of four cups. A preliminary course of greens and bitter herbs was, apparently, followed by the Passover haggadah-in which a boy would ask the meaning of all this, and the head of the household would explain the symbols in terms of the Exodus (cf. M[ishnah] Pesahim Matthew 10:4-5)-and the singing of the first part of the Hallel (Psalms 113 or Psalms 113-14). Though the precise order is disputed, apparently a second cup of wine introduced the main course, which was followed by a third cup known as the ’cup of blessing,’ accompanied by another prayer of thanksgiving. The participants then sang the rest of the Hallel (Psalms 114-18 or 115-18) and probably drank a fourth cup of wine." [Note: Carson, "Matthew," p. 533.]