Matthew 26:50 - Exposition

Friend ; ἑταῖρε : companion (see Matthew 20:13 ; Matthew 22:12 ). The word seems, in the New Testament, to be always addressed to the evil, though in itself an expression of affection. Here Christ uses no reproach; to the last he endeavours by kindness andlove to win the traitor to a better mind. St. Luke narrates that Jesus called him by name, saying, "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" Wherefore art thou come? ἐφ ὁ Ì πα ì ρει . The Received Text gives ἐφ ᾧ , which has very inferior authority. There is great difficulty in giving an exact interpretation of this clause. The Authorized Version, as the Vulgate ( Ad quid venisti? ), takes it interrogatively; but such a use of the relative ὁ Ì ς is unknown. If it is interrogative, we must understand, "Is it this for which thou art come?" But Christ knew too well the purport of Judas's arrival to put such an unnecessary question. Others explain, "Do that, or, I know that for which thou art come." Alford, Farrar, and others consider the sentence as unfinished, the concluding member being suppressed by an aposiopesis consequent on the agitation of the Speaker, "That errand on which thou hast come— complete. " More probably the clause is an exclamation, ὁ Ì being equivalent to οἷον , as in later Greek, "For what a purpose art thou here!" It is, indeed, a last remonstrance and appeal to the conscience of the traitor. Took him. They seized him with their hands, but did not bind him till afterwards ( John 18:2 ). Whether Judas had any latent hope or expectation that Jesus at this supreme moment would assert and justify his Messiahship, we know not. The histories give no hint of any such idea, and it is most improbable that the apostate was thus influenced (see on verse 14). We must here introduce the incident recorded by St. John ( John 18:4-9 ).