Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible

Again therefore he asked them, Whom seek ye? And they said Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I told you that I am he; if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way: that the word might be fulfilled which he spake, Of those whom thou hast given me I lost not one.

If the arrest had not been prevented, some, perhaps all of them would have been lost.

Whom seek ye ... ? The shock of what had just happened was still upon them all; and, under the circumstances, they readily agreed to Jesus' request of exemption from arrest for his apostles. John 18:9 strongly suggests that this miracle, like all the others, was not for Jesus' personal benefit, but for the benefit of others.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Then asked he them again, whom seek ye?.... This supposes them to be risen up again and on their feet; no hurt being done to them; for Christ always did good, and not hurt, to the bodies of men; he never disabled any, or took away life, or limb: he only did this to show his power, and not to do them any real damage; and the same divine person that struck them down, suffered them to rise, and gave them power and strength to get up; which showed his great clemency and goodness: but they, on the contrary, persisted in their wicked intentions, and were still seeking after him; a plain proof of that judicial hardness of heart, under which they were; and that even miracles wrought will not bring hardened sinners to repentance without powerful and efficacious grace. When Christ, as fearless of them, and to show that this action he had no design to make his escape them, though he could easily have done it, and that he was willing to be apprehended by them, puts the question a second time, and asks them who they were seeking for. Something like this Josephus^F2Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4. sect. 3. reports concerning Elisha the prophet, though not repeated as here, nor attended with the like effect: he relates that Elisha having requested of God that he would smite his enemies with blindness, and that being granted he went into the midst of them, and asked them, τινα επιζητουντες ηλθον, "whom do ye come to seek?" they say Elisha the prophet: he promised them to deliver him to them, if they would follow him into the city, where he was; and so they being blinded by God, both in their sight and in their mind, followed the prophet.

They said Jesus of Nazareth; having recovered their spirits, and being hardened in desperate malice and wickedness, impudently make this reply to him; nor would they, notwithstanding this instance of his power, own him to be the Messiah; but still contemptuously style him Jesus of Nazareth.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? — Giving them a door of escape from the guilt of a deed which now they were able in some measure to understand.

Jesus of Nazareth — The stunning effect of His first answer wearing off, they think only of the necessity of executing their orders.

Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament

Again (παλιν — palin). The repeated question receives the same answer. The soldiers and officers know who it is, but are still overawed.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

Опять спросил их. Здесь видно, что такое слепота, которой Бог поражает умы нечестивых, и сколь ужасно их оцепенение, когда по праведному суду Божию их очаровывает сатана. Быки и ослы, если падают, что-то при этом чувствуют. Эти же, ясно увидев божественную силу Христову, действуют так спокойно, словно не узрели в Нем даже человека. И даже Иуда никак не был этим затронут. Итак, давайте научимся бояться суда Божия, по которому отверженные, преданные в руки сатаны, глупеют больше, чем бессловесный скот. Не подлежит сомнению, что это сатана толкает их к столь глупому бесстрашию. Итак, никакое безумие не владеет людьми столь яростно, как подобное ослепление. Ибо отверженные, преданные превратному уму, восстают на Бога так, будто имеют дело с обычной мухой. Они ощущают Его силу, но не склоняются перед ней. Они скорее сто раз сокрушатся, нежели отступят. Их злоба для них словно покрывало, мешающее взирать на божественный свет. Упорство же делает их более чем каменными, не поддающимися никакому укрощению.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

7 Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.

Ver. 7. Then asked he them again] Though struck to the earth they desist not: so the Sodomites, smitten with blindness, grope for the door. Pharaoh, in that palpable darkness, rageth against God, and menaceth Moses. Monoceros interimi potest, capi non potest: the unicorn is able to be killed bt not able to be captured; stubborn men will sooner break than bend. Man, saith Polybius, is held the wisest, but to me he seemeth the most foolish of all creatures; for they, where they have miscarried once, will not easily be driven thither again. Solus homo ab aevo ad aevum peccat fere in iisdem: only man will not be warned, though he have soundly smarted. (Solinus.) We load an ass (saith Bernard) and he cares not, because he is an ass and born to bear burdens; but if you would drive him into a ditch, or thrust him into the fire, he shuns it as well as he can, because he loves life and fears death: Caret quantum potest, quia vitam amat, et mortem timer. Yet silly man fears not his eternal bane.

Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Here note, 1. How voluntarily and freely Christ laid down his life! When his enemies were fallen to the ground, he suffered them to rise again, and offers himself to them to take him and carry him away.

Note, 2. How the sight of this glorious miracle of the soldiers falling to the ground did not deter or discourage them from their wicked purpose; they get up again, and go on with their bloody design.

Learn hence, that obstinate and obduraate sinners will not be reclaimed by the most evident and convincing, by the most miraculous and surprising, appearances of God against them.

Note, 3. How mindful, in the midst of his sufferings, Christ was of his dear disciples, to secure them, at this time, from death and danger; If ye seek me, let these go their way: that is, my disciples, against whom ye have no warrant at this time.

Learn hence, that Christ is so tender of his followers, that he will not put them upon trials, or call them forth to sufferings, till they are ripe and ready, fitted and prepared for them.

The disciples yet were weak and feeble, timorous and fearful, and Christ had much work and service for them to do in the world; namely, to plant and propagate the gospel in foreign countries; he therefore resolves not to lose any one of them by persecution at this time. And thus was his word fulfilled, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.

Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament

[7. οἱ δὲ εἶπον, and [but] they said) The violence of their mad attack upon the Saviour robbed them of all consideration, or regard to so striking an omen.—V. g.]

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Ver. 7,8. Our Saviour’s question, and their answer, are the same as before. They fell down, but they rose up again, and go on in their wicked purpose. This is the genius of all sinners; they may be under some convictions and terrors, but they get out of them, if God doth not concur by his Spirit, and sanctify them as means to make a thorough change in their hearts. Though those words,

let these go their way, might be interpreted of the armed men that came with the officers, of whom there seemed no such need to carry away an unarmed man; yet the next words make it evident that they are to be understood of his disciples, being persons against whom they had no warrant. Our Lord hath a care of his disciples, that they might not suffer with him.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

7.Asked he them again—By a divine irony he pushes their impotence with the same question. Strange that such commentators as Alford and Stier suppose such a question and reply to be uttered and even repeated because the officers were ignorant which was Jesus. Surely they knew after the first I am he; and so they might also know before the first I am he, from the traitor’s kiss.

Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament

John 18:7. Again therefore he asked them, Whom seek ye? Their reply is in the same terms as before.

And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. The moment is come when Jesus is to deliver Himself up, and His sole concern now is for the safety of His disciples.

The Expositor's Greek Testament

John 18:7_{. Declaring His identity a second time, Jesus explicitly reminds the officials that by their own acknowledgment they are instructed to arrest none but Himself, ’ . In thus protecting His companions, Jesus, according to John, fulfils} John 17:12_{; although here the fulfilment is more superficial than that which was intended. (Cf.}2 Samuel 24:17_.)

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

asked = demanded. Greek. eperotao. A stronger word than erotao (App-134.), which occurs in John 18:19.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.

Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? - giving them a door of escape from the guilt of a deed which now they were able in some measure to understand. And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. The stunning effect of His first answer wearing off, they think only of the necessity of executing their orders.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) Then asked he them again.—Their fear has passed away, so that we are not to think, as men sometimes do, that they were struck to the ground helpless. His thought is still of saving those who are with Him. The question brings the same formal answer. They have no warrant to take any of those who are with Him. They seek only Jesus of Nazareth.

Ernst Hengstenberg on John, Revelation, Ecclesiastes, Ezekiel & Psalms

Ver. 7. "Then asked He them again. Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth."

After His object in confounding them was attained, our Lord, the Lion and the Lamb, speaks to them in a milder tone. He Himself gives them courage to accomplish the ta.sk they had undertaken; whilst, however, what they had just experienced would restrain them from transgressing the strict limit of their commission. "Jesus of Nazareth," they uttered in low tones. But when they found their task done, when they had bound Jesus, they give up all their fear, and are ashamed of their earlier cowardice. When the heart is far from God, the work of hardening goes on apace, so soon as the sensible impression is past, and God withdraws again into silence. This was most impressively manifested in the history of Pharaoh.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

7.He therefore asked them again. Hence it appears what is the powerful effect of that blindness with which God strikes the minds of wicked men, and how dreadful is their stupidity, when, by a just judgment of God, they have been bewitched by Satan. Oxen and asses, if they fall, are touched with some kind of feeling; but those men, after having had an open display of the divine power of Christ, proceed as fearlessly as if they had not perceived in him even the shadow of a man; nay, Judas himself remains unmoved. Let us learn, therefore, to fear the judgment of God, by which the reprobate, delivered into the hands of Satan, become more stupid than brute beasts. Nor can it be doubted that Satan hurried them on, with wild fury, to such a desperate hardihood; for there is no insanity that drives a man with such viohnee as this kind of blindness; Wicked men, after having been given over to a reprobate mind, (Romans 1:28,) care no more about rushing against God than if they had only to do with a fly. They feel his power, indeed, but not so as to be disposed to obey; for sooner will they be broken a hundred times than they will yield. In short, their malice is a veil to hinder them from observing the light of God; their obstinacy renders them harder than stones, so that they never suffer themselves to be subdued.