Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 22
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Luke 22
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Luke 22
"Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might put him to death; for they feared the people." — Luke 22:1-2 (ASV)
Now, the feast of unleavened bread . . .—See Notes on Matthew 26:1-5; Mark 14:1–2. St. Luke’s way of giving a preliminary explanation of the Jews’ Passover is characteristic of the Gentile Evangelist.
"And Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve." — Luke 22:3 (ASV)
Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot.—See Notes on Matthew 26:14-16; Mark 14:10–11. St. Luke stands alone in the first three Gospels as thus describing the origin of the Traitor’s guilt. John 13:27 shows, however, that such a way of speaking had become common, though he places the “entrance” at a later stage. The use of the name Satan for the devil, as the author of the many forms of human evil, is, it need hardly be said, a prominent feature in St. Paul’s writings (1 Corinthians 7:5; 2 Corinthians 2:11; 2 Corinthians 12:7; and others). Compare also St. Peter’s speech in Acts 5:3, where Satan appears as instigating the sin of Ananias and Sapphira.
"And he went away, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might deliver him unto them." — Luke 22:4 (ASV)
Chief priests and captains. The latter term is used by Luke, and only by him in the New Testament, to refer to the officers who presided over the Levite guardians of the Temple. Here and in Luke 22:52, it is used in the plural. In Acts 4:1 and Acts 5:24, we read of the captain of the Temple, presumably the chief officer in command. In earlier times, Pashur was such an officer, the governor of the house of the Lord (Jeremiah 20:1). As watchmen, the Levite sentinels carried clubs and would use them freely against any sacrilegious intruder. The attempt to seize our Lord, recorded in John 7:32, shows why Judas applied to these officers as well as to the priests.
"And he consented, and sought opportunity to deliver him unto them in the absence of the multitude." — Luke 22:6 (ASV)
In the absence of the multitude.—The marginal reading, without a tumult, is perhaps nearer to the meaning of the original.
"And the day of unleavened bread came, on which the passover must be sacrificed." — Luke 22:7 (ASV)
Then came the day of unleavened bread.—See Notes on Matthew 26:17-19; Mark 14:12–16. St. Luke, like St. Mark, writing for Gentiles, adds the explanatory note, when the Passover must be killed, or, better, sacrificed. (Compare Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, in 1 Corinthians 5:7.)
Jump to: