Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Luke 22:47

"While he yet spake, behold, a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them; and he drew near unto Jesus to kiss him." — Luke 22:47 (ASV)

While Jesus was still speaking to his disciples, Judas and the crowd make a sudden intrusion into the somber scene in Gethsemane. Note the word “crowd” (GK 4063), often used in Luke to designate an unfeeling, perhaps even hostile, group of people. From the crowd attention moves to “the man who was called Judas.” This designation is a dramatic way of isolating Judas—holding him off at a distance for a derogatory look and comment, i.e., “this Judas person.” The betrayal was accomplished with a kiss in order to identify Jesus in the darkness of the night. But in the high drama of the actual situation, it was cruelly hypocritical.