Matthew Chapter 26

Matthew Chapter 26 - 2011-09-02

Finishing the discourse of Christ concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the time of the end, and of His return, which is contained in Matthew chapters 24 and 25, hopefully we saw how these things which He said, and the parables which He left us concerning the troublous times, the ten virgins, the wicked servant, and the sheep and the goat nations, all meshed with the many other prophecies concerning those same things, and that at the end of days and the return of Christ, all of His enemies are destroyed, and in the end there are none left but the sheep. This is the true promise of Christianity, when we shall indeed have heaven on earth, which is what Christians everywhere should pray for incessantly just as Yahshua Christ Himself had instructed us to pray, that things be “on earth as they are in heaven” when His kingdom comes. And it shall indeed come. Here we shall proceed with Matthew chapter 26

XXVI 1 And it came to pass that when Yahshua had finished all these sayings, He said to His students: 2 “You know that after two days it shall be Passover, and the Son of Man is handed over for which to be crucified!”

First, here we see Matthew tell us that now Yahshua had “ had finished all these sayings”, so we see that this marks the end of the discourse which began at the beginning of Matthew chapter 24 where the apostles had initially asked Him about the pending destruction of Jerusalem and the time of the end.

3 At that time the high priests and the elders of the people gathered together in the court of the high priest who is called Kaïaphas, 4 and they took counsel that with guile they shall seize and kill Yahshua. 5 But they said: “Not on the feast, in order that there would not be a tumult among the people!”

Their actual counsel was not recorded by Matthew, but it was recorded by John, at 11:47-53: “47 Then the high priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said “What do we do, seeing that this man makes many signs? 48 If we should leave Him thusly, they shall all believe in Him, and the Romans shall come and they shall take both our place and our nation!” 49 Then a certain one from among them, Kaiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them: “You do not know anything, 50 nor do you consider that it is advantageous to you that one man should die on behalf of the people, and the whole nation not be lost.” 51 (Yet he did not say this by himself, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Yahshua was about to die on behalf of the nation, 52 and not only on behalf of the nation, but that also He would gather into one the children of Yahweh who had been dispersed.) 53 Therefore from that day they determined that they would kill Him.”

6 Then upon Yahshua’s being in Bethania at the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came forth to Him having a box of very valuable ointment, and with His reclining she had poured it upon His head. 8 But seeing it the students had been annoyed, saying “For what is this waste? Indeed this was able to be sold for much and to be given to the poor!” 10 And knowing it Yahshua said to them “Why do you offer the woman trouble? Surely she has performed a good deed for Me. 11 For you always have the poor among you, but you do not always have Me! 12 Indeed she putting this ointment upon My body has done it for which to prepare Me for burial. 13 Truly I say to you, wherever in all of Society this good message should be proclaimed, this which she has done shall also be spoken for a memorial of her.”

There are many passages, and this is one, which show the provenance of God in Christ. The apostles rarely discuss, but repeatedly record, events which show that Yahshua had known things that no man could possibly have known. The copying and distribution of books took great effort in the ancient world, and was not undertaken without the prospect of financial gain. Yet Yahshua knew with certainty that His Gospel message would go out through the whole world, and he knew it with certainty. That it is still doing so to this very day, alone serves as proof of His connection to God, and that God is true.

There is an event recorded at Luke 7:44, where a sinful woman entered into the house of a man named Simon - a Pharisee - and washed Yahshua's feet with her hair and anointed him with ointment as he dined there. Yahshua did not know the woman intimately (from a human perspective) before she anointed Him and washed His feet. This happened when Yahshua was in a city called Nain, which was in Galilee (Luke 7:11). This incident is obviously much earlier in Yahshua's ministry, and it is not this same event, for all of the circumstances of the earlier event recorded in Luke are quite different than those found here.

At John 11:2 where it is said that “Now it was Mariam who anointed the Prince with ointment and wiped off His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick”, we learn that Mariam (Mary in the KJV) was the woman who anointed Yahshua with ointment in the last week of His ministry, and Mark chapter 14 also records this event in the same circumstances as John chapter 12 and as Matthew does here. However Matthew and Mark both have this event in the house of “Simon the Leper”, a name not seen elsewhere in Scripture, where in the Gospel of John this same event takes place in the home of Lazaros, the man whom Christ raised from the dead, whose sisters are Martha and Mariam. Lazarus lived in Bethany (John 11:1), and Matthew and Mark both state that Simon the Leper lived in Bethany. So either Lazaros is also Simon the Leper, which is one possible situation, or Lazaros, Martha and Mariam lived in the same house with with Simon the Leper.

Perhaps coincidentally, the man whom Christ called Lazaros in the parable of The Rich Man and Lazaros in Luke chapter 16 was described as a leper, having sores all over his body, but he was not specifically called a leper. While the parable is an allegory and this man need not actually exist, it still may be the reason that Christ chose to use the name Lazaros for the man in this parable. And if the real Lazaros had been healed by Christ of his leprosy, he still may have borne the name of the leper.

Yet in the Gospel of John, which was written by all accounts 60 years after the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Christ, the triumphal march into Jerusalem with Yahshua riding on an ass happens one day after this feast with Christ and Lazaros and Martha and Mariam (John 12:12). So this very much complicates our understanding of these things. Does John mean to refer to yet another event, where in Chapter 11 of his gospel he had said “Now it was Mariam who anointed the Prince with ointment and wiped off His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick”? Or is the chronology of the last weeks in the ministry of Christ simply at a variance in John's gospel, as compared with Matthew and Mark? Yet since Christ was in Bethany often during his final weeks, it is possible that there were several such episodes, confounded in the memories of the apostles who recorded these things at a much later time.

John also tells us in his Gospel at 12:6 that it was Judas Iscariot who first raised the dispute over the ointment, and that “he said this not because he had care in him for the poor, but because he was a thief and carried the case holding the savings.” So Judas only cared about the value of the ointment, because apparently he wanted to steal it.

14 Then one of the twelve, he who is called Ioudas Iskarioth, going to the high priests 15 said “What do you want to give me, and I shall betray Him to you?” And they appointed for him thirty silver pieces. 16 And from that time he sought an opportunity that he could betray Him.

Zechariah 11:12-13: “12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.”

While the prophecy in Zechariah chapter 11 is quite enigmatic, and the Septuagint version helps us to understand it, we nevertheless see that the thirty pieces of silver are cast to the potter in the temple. In Matthew chapter 27 we learn that Judas in his consternation actually did so, in effect, where he cast the thirty pieces into the temple, and they were ultimately used to purchase a field from a potter for the burial of strangers. It is evident that a potter may have such a field for the mining of clay, which could not then be readily used for agriculture, and many commentators have sought hidden symbolic meanings in all of the possibilities.

As for the Septuagint version of Zechariah chapter 11, in verse 14 where the King James version says “brotherhood”, the Septuagint has “possession”. There was no brotherhood in Zechariah's time between Israel and Judah, for the tribes had divided and fought with each other since the death of Solomon, and therefore I lean firmly towards the Septuagint reading here. The Dead Sea Scrolls are wanting most of Zechariah chapter 11. In this chapter, we see Yahweh promising the breaking of the covenant and of the possession of Israel and Judah. The Old Covenant was broken with the death of Yahweh – the Husband of Israel – on the Cross of Christ.

Zechariah was a prophet during the period when the temple was rebuilt, at the first return of captives to Jerusalem from Babylon. Zechariah Chapter 10 is a prophecy of redemption for Israel and Judah. Of course, nearly all of Israel, and most of Judah, are dispersed far and wide by this time, into Europe and Asia. At Zechariah 10:6 Yahweh says “And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.” With this we shall read Zechariah chapter 11:

KJV Zechariah 11:1 Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. 2 Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down. 3 There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled. [This cannot be something which occurred in Zechariah's time, a time of rebuilding. And must look forward to a future event.] 4 Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; 5 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not. 6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king [this seems to me to indicate the Roman treatment of Judaea in the years before the fall of Jerusalem]: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. [The Roman destruction of Jerusalem.] 7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. [The “poor of the flock” were those who became Christians.]. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. 8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. [Could this be the three would-be emperors who all died, being supplanted by challengers, the year prior to when Jerusalem was taken? Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, who all died or were killed in a period of about nine-months?] 9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another. [The inhabitants of Jerusalem in its final months.] 10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people. [The end of the Old Covenant in the death of Christ.] 11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD. [This describes the good people of Judaea who understood the prophecies concerning the Christ.] 12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD. [This was the price of His betrayal.] 14 Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. [The Septuagint has possession here rather than brotherhood, the possession of Israel and of Judah.] 15 And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. 16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.[From the time of the rebellion and destruction of Jerusalem, Roman emperors had troubles with the jews.] 17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

So it is clear in Zechariah chapter 11, that the thirty silver pieces and the breaking of the covenant – which can only happen upon the death of Yahweh in Christ – are fully related in prophecy, even if the manuscripts and the translation cause us some confusion.

17 Then on the first day of unleavened bread the students came forth to Yahshua saying: “Where do You wish that we should prepare for You to eat the Passover?”

Now we do not know exactly how many days transpired between Matthew 26:1, where Christ said “after two days it shall be Passover” and this day, which we are told was “the first day of unleavened bread”, yet it seems to be either the next day or the day after, and so it must be Passover in the mind of Christ. The feast of unleavened bread begins the day after the Passover Lamb is slaughtered (Exodus Chapter 12, Leviticus Chapter 23). While the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the 14^th day of the first month, Exodus 12:6-9 read thus: “6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.” So the day upon which the Passover was actually eaten was, by the way the Hebrews kept the calendar, the beginning of the fifteenth day of the month. Therefore reading Leviticus 23:5-6 we should bear in mind that the Passover necessarily starts on the fourteenth day, but is eaten on the fifteenth: “5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD'S passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.” Yet Matthew considered the day upon which the Passover should be prepared to be “the first day of unleavened bread” and therefore we see a departure from the exact words of the accounts of Exodus and Leviticus. It is possible that the preparation day when the Passover was to be prepared (the evening before it was to be eaten) was being considered “the first day of unleavened bread” because that was the day by which leaven was to be removed from the home (Exodus 12:15).

Yet there is an even further departure which is evident: when Christ was crucified – on the day after He had the passover with his disciples - that day was considered by the Judaeans to be the preparation day, the day before the Passover. This displays a difference of two days between the two passovers. John seems to distinguish that difference in the calendar, at John 2:13 where he states that “it was near the Passover of the Judaeans”, and again at John 19:42 where he talks of the burial of Christ and says “So there, on account of the preparation day of the Judaeans, because the tomb was near, they had laid Yahshua.” By distinguishing the Passover and the preparation day “of the Judaeans” it seems that John did not share these days in common with them, or why would he distinguish them? Here we clearly see that the disciples of Christ esteemed a day for Passover other than the day upon which the Judaeans celebrated it. The attitude of the disciples was not at all that they must celebrate Passover early for any reason, and they had no way of knowing the things which were to transpire as they did in the few days yet to come. It is fully evident that there were different calendars even at the time of Christ, that the Judaeans had deviated from the original. When the disciples asked about eating the Passover, there was no indication at all that they thought they were eating Passover on any day other than the day upon which they thought they should have been eating it. They clearly believed that the Passover was on a different day than that day upon which it was celebrated by the Judaeans in Jerusalem.

Clifton has a detailed study of the chronology of the final week in the earthly ministry of Christ and the three days and nights of His entombment, which is entitled Three Days and Three Nights available on his website at Christogenea.

18 And He said: “Go into the city...” (to a certain man) “...and say to him ‘The Teacher says: My time is near. With you I shall keep the Passover with My students!’” 19 And the students did as Yahshua had arranged for them and they prepared the Passover.

The words “ to a certain man”, which I have interpreted as a parenthetical statement here, indicate that Christ described the man in more detail to the disciples who were to find him, but that Matthew simply chose not to record that description fully. Mark in his Gospel from 14:12 gives us a fuller picture: “12 And on the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, when the Passover is sacrificed, His students say to Him: “How do You wish departing we may prepare in order that You may eat the Passover?” 13 And He sends two of His students and says to them: “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water shall meet you. Follow him 14 and wherever he should enter you say to the master of the house that ‘The Teacher says, Where are My quarters where I shall eat the Passover with My students?’ 15 And he shall show you a spacious furnished prepared upper room, and there you shall prepare it for us.” 16 And the students went out and came into the city and found just as He said to them and they prepared the Passover.” Luke also agrees with Mark's account.

It is evident, from Paul's words in 1 Corinthians, written over twenty years after the Resurrection of the Christ, that Christians should indeed still be keeping the feast of Passover. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8: “7 Cleanse out the old leaven, that you may be a new dough, just as you are unleavened. Since also our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed. 8 Consequently we should keep the festival, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of sloth and wickedness, but with unleavened sincerity and truth.”

20 Then it being late He reclined with the twelve. 21 And upon their eating He said “Truly I say to you, that one from among you shall betray Me!” 22 And being exceedingly grieved each one began to say to Him: “Prince, am I the one?”

Records of this event are found in all four Gospels. It is only natural that each of them should differ somewhat, each writer hearing and seeing and understanding different parts of the things which occurred, and the things which Yahshua spoke, at that last meal which they shared together. The differences in the accounts, reflecting the way in which each of the four recorders not only heard the things that were done and said, but also the way that each of them understood those things, serves to prove the veracity of the Gospels rather than disproving it.

These words in Mark chapter 14 are much the same as they are here, yet in John the version is very different, and – while Matthew may have missed it – Peter urges John to ask Yahshua who it was that he meant.

There are other aspects of this Last Supper recorded in John which are not in the other Gospels. Among them is the washing of the feet of the disciples by Christ. Luke repeats some of the things which Christ said after the washing of feet, concerning servants and masters, which John also recorded, however only John records the washing of feet. This does not mean that the things which John recorded differently did not happen, but only means that John felt that they were important to relate, where the other apostles did not.

23 Then responding He said: “He having dipped the hand with Mine into the bowl, he shall betray Me! 24 Indeed the Son of Man goes just as it is written concerning Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It was good for him if that man had not been born!”

There are many places in the Psalms and the Prophets which tell us of the sufferings to befall the Christ. One of those places where it was prophesied is Isaiah chapter 53: “1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” These things, written only for the Children of Israel, Yahshua died and bore the sins for the Children of Israel alone, and for none others.

And now to repeat Matthew 26:24: “Indeed the Son of Man goes just as it is written concerning Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It was good for him if that man had not been born!”

1 Enoch 38:2: “And when the Righteous One shall appear before the eyes of the righteous, Whose elect works hang upon the Lord of Spirits, And light shall appear to the righteous and the elect who dwell on the earth, Where then will be the dwelling of the sinners, And where the resting-place of those who have denied the Lord of Spirits? It had been good for them if they had not been born.”

25 Then responding Ioudas who betrays Him said: “Am I the one, Rabbi?” He says to him: “You know.”

Psalm 41:9: “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.” These words are repeated by Christ at the account of this event recorded in John's Gospel.

The words “you know” or “you say” were used as a response by Christ to express agreement with a person, that what they had asked was both affirmative and true. But by that device, the words came from the mouth of the speaker and from Christ Himself, so that it would not be Christ offering the testimony, but the speaker. In Matthew 27:11 we see this exchange between Pilate and Christ: “Then Yahshua stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying: 'Are You the King of the Judaeans?' And Yahshua said to him: 'You say.'”

26 Then upon their eating, Yahshua taking and blessing the wheat-bread broke it and giving it to the students said: “You take it, eat, this is My body.” 27 And taking a cup and giving thanks gave it to them, saying: “All of you drink from it, 28 for this is My blood of the covenant which on account of many is being poured out for a remission of errors. 29 But I say to you, by no means shall I drink even now from this produce of the vine until that day when I shall drink it with you anew in the kingdom of My Father!” 30 And singing hymns they went out into the Mount of Olives.

John did not think it important enough to record this event of Yahshua's breaking the bread and distributing the wine at the table. That alone diminishes any credibility it has a ritual compulsory for salvation, which is a ridiculous Romish church contrivance. The account in Mark is very much like the account given here by Matthew. Here is Luke 22:14-20: “14 And when the hour had come, He reclined and the ambassadors with Him. 15 And He said to them 'With longing have I desired to eat this Passover with you, before that which I am to suffer. 16 For I say to you that by no means shall I eat this until when it shall be fulfilled in the Kingdom of Yahweh.' 17 And taking a cup, blessing it He said 'Take this and divide it for yourselves. 18 For I say to you, by no means shall I drink from the produce of the vine from now until when the Kingdom of Yahweh should come.' 19 And taking bread, blessing it He broke it and gave it to them saying 'This is My body, which on behalf of you is being given. This you do for My recollection.' 20 And in like manner the cup while eating, saying “This is the cup of the New Covenant by My blood which on your behalf is being spilled.” Yet there is nothing in Luke that would make this a compulsory ritual and a commandment relating to salvation for Christians. Rather, Luke only repeated the words of Christ which the other Gospel writers did not even record, which state “This you do for My recollection”.

Yet how did Paul interpret these words? In 1 Corinthians chapter 10 Paul asked “16 The cup of eulogy which we bless, is it not fellowship of the blood of Christ? The wheat-bread which we break, is it not fellowship of the body of Christ? 17 Because one loaf, one body, we the many are, for we all partake from the one loaf.” yes, that word translated as communion in the King James Version is the common Greek word meaning fellowship. At 1 Corinthians 11:22 Paul asked “Now do you not have houses in which to eat and to drink? ” This was in response to what he said in verse 20, that “...of your gathering into one place, it is not to eat the supper of the Prince.” Christians did not gather publicly for communion, rather just as Christ and the apostles, communion was a private meal shared in one's own home with one's own kith and kin! Paul said, from 1 Corinthians 11:23, “23 For I have received from the Prince that which I have also transmitted to you, that Prince Yahshua, in the night in which He had been handed over, took wheat-bread 24 and giving thanks He broke it and said, 'This is My body which is for you; this you do in remembrance of Me.' 25 In like manner also the cup, along with the dinner saying, 'This cup is the New Covenant in My blood: this you do, as often as you may drink, in remembrance of Me.' 26 Indeed as often as you may eat this wheat-bread, and you may drink this cup, you declare the death of the Prince, until He should come.” So every meal that a Christian has is communion: we share with our brethren and give thanks to God, and that is all that is asked of us! The false Romish Church communion ritual only makes an excuse to have a professional priesthood, that they may rule over our faith. None of that is scriptural.

31 Then Yahshua says to them: “You shall all be made to stumble by Me on this night. For it is written: ‘I shall smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered’!

Zechariah chapter 13 is an end-time prophecy, however I believe that it describes the last 2000 years. Both Paul, in Hebrews 1:2, and Peter in 1 Peter 1:20, profess that this last age since Christ is indeed the “last times”.

Zechariah 13:7-8 says: 7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. 8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

Much of our race has already been destroyed, all of the former Genesis 10 White nations mongrelized, and most of the Revelation of the Christ already unfolded. Still more of us may yet be destroyed by the enemies of our God, but we are promised a third for a remnant!

32 And after what it takes for Me to be raised, I shall go before you into Galilaia.” 33 Then responding Petros said to Him: “If all are made to stumble by You, I shall not ever be made to stumble!” 34 Yahshua said to him: “Truly I say to you that on this night before a cock shall crow, three times you shall deny Me!” 35 Petros says to Him: “Even if it would be necessary for me to die with You, by no means shall I deny You!” Likewise also spoke all the students.

This helps to show just how stubborn a man that Peter was. Peter had argued with Christ earlier in his ministry, and Christ had barked at him, “Get behind Me, satan!” Yet even here he has not yet learned to refrain from arguing with his Master. And for this Peter was committed to hearing everything that he was told three times! Three times, as it is recorded in the last chapter of John, did Yahshua ask Peter if he loved Him, and demanded that He therefore feed His sheep. Likewise, three times Peter had to see the four-cornered sheet come down from heaven in Acts chapter 10. It is the same here, where Peter was told that he would deny Christ and he disputed it, for that he had to endure that very thing three times! Peter remained stubborn. Among Yahshua's last recorded words to him are these, from John 22:18; “Truly, truly I say to you, when you were young, you girt yourself and walked about wherever you wished. But when you should grow old, you shall extend your hand, and another shall gird and bring you where you do not wish.”

36 Then Yahshua goes with them into a place called Gethsemani and says to the students: “Sit in this spot while upon departing over there I shall pray.” 37 And taking Petros and the two sons of Zebedaios, He began to be grieved and troubled. 38 Then He says to them: “My soul is deeply grieved, even to death! Remain here and stay awake with Me.” 39 And having gone forth a little He fell upon His face praying and saying “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from Me! But not as I desire, rather as You do!”

Yahshua Christ is Yahweh God come in the flesh, as one of His Own Sons, and the Gospel accounts and Old Testament prophecies are replete with the proofs of that statement. Yet without a parable, He did not speak to men, and everything that He said and did were an example to Men. So here, where He prays, it is for an example to men, for our edification. He Himself does not need edification! Here He prays that He would rather not suffer, but that whatever is the will of God, that is what he would do. That too, should be our example and our own model for when we pray concerning ourselves.

40 And He comes to the students and finds them sleeping, and says to Petros: “Thusly are you not able for one hour to stay awake with Me?

This demonstrates fully the fallibility of man. Not even those who are closest to God could remain alert for Him in His mission.

41 Stay awake and pray, that you would not enter into trial! Indeed the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!”

If we do not keep our minds fixed on what God may desire for us, which we may only find through prayer and His Word, then we may easily enter into earthly temptation and trial. And even if the Spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. For that reason Paul told us that we must exercise our bodies for godliness, at 1 Timothy 4:7-8.

42 Again for a second time departing He prayed, saying “My Father, if this is not able to pass unless I would drink it, it must be Your will!”

This prayer demonstrates how quickly Yahshua accepted the Word of God, since His circumstances had not changed in a short period of time, He tells us that He must proceed and allow Himself to face the coming hardship, His crucifixion.

Psalm 116, from the Septuagint:1 Alleluia. I am well pleased, because the Lord will hearken to the voice of my supplication. 2 Because he has inclined his ear to me, therefore will I call upon him while I live. 3 The pangs of death compassed me; the dangers of hell found me: I found affliction and sorrow. 4 Then I called on the name of the Lord: O Lord, deliver my soul. 5 The Lord is merciful and righteous; yea, our God has pity. 6 The Lord preserves the simple: I was brought low, and he delivered me. 7 Return to thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with thee. 8 For he has delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. 9 I shall be well-pleasing before the Lord in the land of the living. Alleluia: 10 I believed, wherefore I have spoken: but I was greatly afflicted. 11 And I said in mine amazement, Every man is a liar. 12 What shall I render to the Lord for all the things wherein he has rewarded me? 13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. 14 I will pay my vows to the Lord, in the presence of all his people. 15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. 16 O Lord, I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast burst by bonds asunder. 17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of praise, and will call upon the name of the Lord. 18 I will pay my vows unto the Lord, in the presence of all his people, 19 in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, Jerusalem.

43 And coming again He found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 And leaving them again, having gone He prayed for a third time, having spoken the same speech. Again 45 then He comes to the students and says to them: “You sleep? Finally then are you rested? Behold, the hour is near and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of wrongdoers! Arise, we must go! Behold, he who is betraying Me is near!”

2 Samuel 24:14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

47 And upon His still speaking behold! Ioudas had come, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs from the high priests and elders of the people. (48 And he betraying Him had given to them a sign, saying “He whom I should kiss is Him, seize Him!”)

There is a similar story in 2 Samuel chapter 20: “8 When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab's garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out. 9 And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him. 10 But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri.” Amasa was made a captain of the army by Absalom, when he tried to supplant David his father.

49 And immediately having come forth to Yahshua he said: “Greetings, Rabbi!”, and he kissed Him. 50 Then Yahshua said to him: “Friend, for what are you here?” Then having come forth they laid hands upon Yahshua and seized Him.

The word rendered friend is the Greek word ἐταῖρος, which signifies a comrade or companion. The word does have a deeper meaning, since in the Greek schools of profane philosophy it was also used of disciples by their teachers. Here, I am certain, Christ used it sarcastically. Again, Psalm 41:9: Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.

51 And behold, one of those with Yahshua extending the hand drew his sword and smiting the servant of the high priest took off his ear. 52 Then Yahshua says to him: “Return your sword into its place! For all those taking the sword shall be destroyed by the sword!

This statement, “For all those taking the sword shall be destroyed by the sword!”. I think people are too quick to take out of context. It's application is not for all future time, and plenty have picked up the sword appropriately, or out of compulsion, and have gone on to live long lives thereafter. Rather, it is a statement for this place and time, to inform us that the will of Yahweh must be carried out, even when it is not to our benefit, that vengeance belongs to Him alone, and that all those who take the sword unrighteously shall be rewarded in kind.

John records this exchange quite differently, where in chapter eighteen of his gospel he writes: “10 Then Simon Petros, having a sword, drew it and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. And Malchos was the name of the servant. 11 Therefore Yahshua said to Petros: 'Put the sword into the sheath! The cup which the Father gave to Me, shall I not drink it?'”

53 Or do you suppose that I am not able to summon My Father, and He shall have come to Me now over twelve legions of messengers?

Psalm 91:11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

54 Then how would the writings be fulfilled, that thusly it is necessary to happen?”

Aside from those things that we have seen in Isaiah chapter 53, we see in Daniel 9:26: “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off”.

55 At that moment Yahshua said to the crowds: “As for a robber you have come out with swords and clubs to take Me? Each day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me! 56 But all this has happened in order that the writings of the prophets may be fulfilled!” Then the students all leaving Him fled. [As He had warned them, at verse 31, “You shall all be made to stumble by Me on this night.”]

57 And those having seized Yahshua led Him off to Kaïaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. 58 But Petros followed Him from afar, unto the court of the high priest, and entering inside sat with the deputies to see the outcome.

John's version of this account is much more complete in several respects. There, they brought Yahshua to Annas first, he being Kaïaphas' father-in-law and a former high priest himself. In John's version, an unnamed disciple accompanied Peter, and only by that unnamed disciple did Peter gain access to the court of the high priest, since that unnamed disciple knew the servant of the high priest who kept the door. That must be how that servant later accused Peter of being a disciple of Yahshua's! The unnamed disciple of John's account must have been John himself, who never mentioned his own name in reference to himself, until the Revelation of Yahshua Christ was recorded by him.

59 Then the high priests and the entire council sought false testimony against Yahshua, that they may kill Him, 60 yet they found not many false witnesses coming forth.

Psalm 27:12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

But later two having come forth 61 said “He said this: ‘I am able to destroy the temple of Yahweh and in three days I will build it’!”

From the Gospel of John, chapter 2: “18 Therefore the Judaeans responded and said to Him: 'What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?' 19 Yahshua replied and said to them: 'You destroy this temple and in three days I shall raise it!' 20 Therefore the Judaeans said: 'Forty-six years to build this temple, and You shall raise it in three days?' 21 (But He had spoken concerning the temple of His body. 22 Therefore when He had risen from the dead, His students remembered that He had said this, and they believed in the writing and in the word which Yahshua spoke.)” It must be that He planned it from the beginning, that this would be the false accusation by which the jews executed Him. He used those who were His enemies to destroy the real temple – the Adamic body which is the very temple in which He came to redeem Israel, thereby effecting that redemption!

Jeremiah 50:27-28: “27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation. 28 The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.”

62 And arising the high priest said to Him “Would You answer nothing for what they testify against You?” 63 But Yahshua was silent.

Yahshua made no defense against their false accusations, in fulfillment of Isaiah 53:7: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

And the high priest said to Him “I adjure You by the living God that You would tell us whether You are the Anointed Son of God!” 64 Yahshua says to him “You have spoken. But I say to you, from this time you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven!”

Again Yahshua answers “You have spoken”, agreeing with the question of the high priest without answering it, so that the only testimony belongs to the high priest. Neither does the statement which Yahshua made that follows qualify as an answer, but is rather only a general statement that does not provide a direct answer to the question which was asked..

Daniel 7:13: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.”

Psalm 110:1: The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

1 Enoch 1:9: And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones To execute judgement upon all, And to destroy all the ungodly: And to convict all flesh Of all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, And of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.

65 Then the high priest tore his garments, saying: “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, now you have heard the blasphemy! 66 What do you think?” And those replying said: “He is liable for death!”

Those replying wanted to see him dead under any circumstances. In fact, Yahshua said nothing that could be construed as a blasphemy. This is why the seed of the serpent is considered to be the devil, which means in Greek the false accuser.

67 Then they spat in His face and beat Him, and they had struck Him 68 saying “Prophecy to us, Christ, who is it who is hitting You?”

Their challenge to Him indicates that He was accredited with the ability to do such things, as a matter of reputation. They also admit that He was indeed the Christ.

69 And Petros sat outside in the court, and one servant girl had come forth to him saying “You also were with Yahshua the Galilaian!” 70 But he denied it before all saying “I know not what you say!” 71 And having gone out to the gate another saw him and says to those there: “He was with Yahshua the Nazoraian!” 72 And again he denied with an oath that “I do not know the man!” 73 Then after a short time those standing having come forth said to Petros “Truly, you also are from among them! For even your speech makes you conspicuous!” 74 Then he began to curse and to swear that “I do not know the man!” And immediately a cock crowed. 75 And Petros remembered the words spoken by Yahshua, that “Before a cock shall crow, three times you shall deny Me!” And going out he wept bitterly.

Yahshua the Nazoraian: I will discuss this title at length at a later date. Yahshua was called a Nazoraian after the city Nazareth where He was raised. The word Nazareth is from Hebrew word which means branch. Thus is the literal fulfillment of the prophecy, that Yahshua “the branch”, as it is found in Zechariah chapters 3 and 6. But the word has no direct link to the ancient sect of the Nazarites found in Numbers chapter 6 and Judges chapter 13.

For even your speech makes you conspicuous: The phrase shows that the Galilaians spoke a different dialect than the people of Jerusalem.

There are many other things to discuss here, especially about the trials of Christ, and they will be discussed as we proceed through the four Gospels. Next week, Yahweh willing, we will be back to continue our commentary on the Gospel of Matthew.