Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 26:36

"Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto his disciples, Sit ye here, while I go yonder and pray." — Matthew 26:36 (ASV)

Then comes, etc. After the institution of the Supper, in the early part of the night, He went out to the Mount of Olives. In His journey He passed over the brook Cedron (John 18:1), which bounded Jerusalem on the east.

To a place. John calls this a garden. This garden was evidently on the western side of the Mount of Olives, a short distance from Jerusalem, and commanding a full view of the city. It is doubted whether the word rendered garden means a villa or country seat, or a garden, properly so called.

It is probable that it might include both: a cluster of houses, or a small village in which there was a garden. The word here means not strictly a garden for cultivating vegetables, but a place planted with olive and other trees, perhaps with a fountain of water, and with walks and groves—a proper place for refreshment in a hot climate, and for retirement from the noise of the adjacent city.

Such places were doubtless common near Jerusalem. Fisk and King, American missionaries, were there in 1823. They tell us that the garden is about a stone's cast from the brook of Cedron; that it now contains eight large and venerable-looking olive trees, whose trunks show their great antiquity.

The spot is sandy and barren, and appears like a forsaken place. A low, broken wall surrounds it. Mr. K. sat down beneath one of the trees and read Isaiah 53:1-12, and also the Gospel history of our Redeemer's sorrow during that memorable night in which He was betrayed there; and the interest of the association was heightened by a party of Bedouins, armed with spears and swords, passing through the place. Jesus, in the silence of the night, free from interruption, made it a place of retirement and prayer.

Luke says, He went as He was accustomed to the Mount of Olives. Probably He had been in the habit of retiring from Jerusalem to that place for meditation and prayer, thus enforcing by His example what He had so often done by His precepts: the duty of retiring from the noise and bustle of the world to hold communion with God.

Gethsemane. This word is made up either of two Hebrew words, meaning valley of fatness, that is, a fertile valley; or of two words, meaning an olive press, a name likely given to it because the place was filled with olive trees.

Sit ye here. That is, in one part of the garden, to which they first came.

While I go and pray yonder. That is, at the distance of a stone's cast (Luke 22:41). Luke adds, that when He came to the garden, He charged them to pray that they might not enter into temptation—that is, into deep trials and afflictions—or, more probably, into scenes and dangers that would tempt them to deny Him.