Matthäus 26:53 Kommentar

And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings,.... Meaning either all that are recorded by this evangelist, all the sermons and discourses of Christ, delivered both to the people of the Jews, and to his disciples; his conversation with the former, and his divine instructions and prudent advice to the latter, together with all his excellent parables, which are largely related in this book; or else what is said in the two preceding chapters, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the world, the state of the church, and conduct of his servants to the end of time, expressed in the parables of the virgins and talents, and concerning the last judgment and final state of all men: he said unto his disciples; who now were alone with him: having finished his prophetic, and being about to enter on his priestly office, he gives his disciples some intimations of its near approach.

But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled,.... That is, should Christ make such a request to his Father, and he should grant it, and an host of angels should be sent to rescue him, and he should be rescued by them; how then should the Scriptures, which speak of Christ's being taken, and led as a lamb to the slaughter, and of his various sufferings, and the circumstances of them, have their accomplishment? "declaring", as the Arabic version supplies, or as the Ethiopic version, "which say", that thus it must be; that the Messiah must be apprehended, and suffer, and die. The several parts of the sufferings of the Messiah are foretold in the writings of the Old Testament; the spirit of Christ, in the prophets, testified before hand of them; as that he should be reproached and despised of men, Psa 22:6, be spit upon, smote, and buffeted, Isa 1:5, be put to death, Psa 22:15, and that the death of the cross, Psa 22:15, and be buried, Isa 53:9, and also the several circumstances of his sufferings, which led on to them, or attended them; as the selling him for thirty pieces of silver, Zac 11:12, the betraying him by one of his familiar friends, Psa 41:9, the seizing and apprehending him, and which is particularly referred to here, Isa 53:7, his disciples forsaking him, Zac 13:7, and even his God and Father, Psa 22:1, his suffering between two thieves, Isa 53:12, the parting of his garments, and casting lots on his vesture, Psa 22:18, the giving him gall and vinegar when on the cross, Psa 69:21, and not breaking any of his bones, Psa 34:20, yea, the Scriptures not only declared, that these things should be; but the necessity of them also, that they must be; because of the purposes and decrees of God, which are eternal, immutable, and unfrustrable; for as God had determined on his salvation of his people by Christ, and that through his sufferings and death, these were determined by him also, even the time, nature, manner, and circumstances of them; and which the Scriptures declare, and therefore must be likewise; and because of the covenant of grace, which is sure, unalterable, and unchangeable; in which Christ agreed to assume human nature, to obey, suffer, and die in it, and so do his Father's will, which was to bear the penalty of the law, and undergo the sufferings of death, and which therefore must be, or Christ's faithfulness fail. Moreover, on account of the law and justice of God, which required his bearing the curse, as well as fulfilling the precept of the law: and especially on account of the salvation of his people, which could not be effected without them, they must be. Christ, in these words, discovers a very great concern for the fulfilling of Scripture; and that because it is the word of God, which must not be broken; and because throughout it he is spoken of, in the volume of it, it is written of him, to do the will of God; even in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms: and besides, he was the minister of the circumcision, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers; and even agreeably to them, and upon the foundation of them, he had himself predicted his own sufferings: and as those were to be the rule of the faith and practice of his people in all ages, he was concerned for their accomplishment in every point; and which may teach us to value the Scriptures, and to be confident of the fulfilment of them in things yet future.

He has power to ask, if He will, legions of angels from the Father for His help. He exclaims that God had forsaken Him.

This shows that the armies of heaven have divisions into legions like earthly armies, in the warfare of the Angels against the legions of the daemons. This He said not as though He needed the aid of the Angels, but speaking in accordance with the supposition of Peter, who sought to give Him assistance. Truly the Angels have more need of the help of the Only-begotten Son of God, than He of theirs.

And wherefore did He not say, "Think ye that I cannot destroy them all?" Because He was more likely to be believed in saying what He did say; for not yet had they the right belief concerning Him. And a little while before He had said, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death," and, "Father, let the cup pass from me;" and He had appeared in an agony and sweating, and strengthened by an angel. Since then He had shown forth many tokens of human nature, He did not seem likely to speak so as to be believed, if He had said, "Think ye that I cannot destroy them." Therefore He saith, "What, think ye that I cannot pray to my Father?" And again He speaks it humbly, in saying, "He will presently give me twelve legions of angels." For if one angel slew one hundred and eighty-five armed thousands, what need of twelve legions against a thousand men? But He frames His language with a view to their terror and weakness, for indeed they were dead with fear. Wherefore also He brings against them the Scriptures, saying, "How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled?" alarming them by this also. For if this be approved by the Scriptures, do ye oppose and fight against them?

That is to say, I need not the aid of the Apostles, though all the twelve should fight for me, seeing I could have twelve legions of the Angelic army. The complement of a legion among the ancients was six thousand men; twelve legions then are seventy-two thousand Angels, being as many as the divisions of the human race and languaget.

(Verse 53, 54.) Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen this way? I do not need the help of twelve apostles, even if they all defended me. I could have twelve legions of angelic armies. In ancient times, one legion consisted of six thousand men. In order to keep this brief, I will not go into the exact number for now. Just know that seventy-two thousand angels, divided into twelve legions, is the approximate count for the number of nations divided by language. The following sentence demonstrates a ready mind to suffer, because the prophets sang in vain unless the Lord truly affirmed their words by his own suffering.

(Serm. 22.) The Lord of the zealous Apostle will not suffer his pious feeling to proceed further, Then saith Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place. For it was contrary to the sacrament of our redemption that He, who had come to die for all, should refuse to be apprehended. He gives therefore licence to their fury against Him, lest by putting off the triumph of His glorious Cross, the dominion of the Devil should be made longer, and the captivity of men more enduring.

We might also understand by the Angels the Roman armies, for with Titus and Vespasian all languages had risen against Judæa, and that was fulfilled, The whole world shall fight for him against those foolish men. (Wisd. 5:21.)

He did not say, "I can bring to My side twelve legions of angels," but "[I can] pray to My Father," speaking by divine dispensation as a man, out of consideration for their weakness. By sweat, by fear, and in many ways did He show His human nature. For His words would not have seemed plausible if He had said, "I Myself can bring angels to My side." Instead of twelve disciples, He says, "Twelve contingents of angels would stand beside Me if I so desired." The legion is the largest military contingent, consisting of six thousand horsemen.

Thinkest thou that I cannot ask my Father etc. Here he assigns the reason for calming Peter's spirit, giving him to understand that he was suffering willingly and that he could escape. And because he saw him being presumptuous, therefore he says I cannot ask my Father? And he does not say, I cannot call or bring, but ask: for he speaks the words of a man, because to pray belongs to man. And he will give me presently more than twelve legions of angels? And this was said according to the weakness of Peter's spirit. For Peter was so disposed that he thought he ought to defend him and that he needed the help of men; therefore he means to say that if he could be defended by the help of men, much more by that of angels. But it was not necessary, because the angels are rather sustained by him. But what does it mean when he says twelve legions of angels? It must be said that a company among the Greeks is called a phalanx, among the Romans a legion, and it contained six thousand men; hence twelve legions are seventy-two thousand, and there are that many tongues of men, as is found from Genesis 11. Hence he means to say: if all men rose up against me, the Lord could send against each tongue a thousand angels; and if one angel destroyed so many thousands, as is clear from Isaiah 37, much more could a thousand destroy one tongue; Job 25:3: is there any numbering of his soldiers? And Daniel 7:10: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him. Remigius says: whoever does the will of God can be called angels, i.e., messengers; Isaiah 18:2: go, ye swift angels, to a nation rent and torn. For whoever serves God is called an angel; Psalm 104:4: who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a burning fire. Therefore, by a legion can be understood a Roman legion. Hence the Lord could bring and provoke Roman legions to destroy the Jews, as was afterwards done under Titus and Vespasian. And in this passage, some have destroyed the opinion of those who said that the Lord could not do except what he does; because if he could summon legions which he did not summon, it is clear that he can do many things which he does not do.

GLORIOUS ANGELIC ANNOUNCEMENT ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, THAT CHRIST IS RISEN--HIS APPEARANCE TO THE WOMEN--THE GUARDS BRIBED TO GIVE A FALSE ACCOUNT OF THE RESURRECTION. ( = Mar 16:1-8; Luk 24:1-8; Joh 20:1). (Mat 28:1-15) In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn--after the Sabbath, as it grew toward daylight. toward the first day of the week--Luke (Luk 24:1) has it, "very early in the morning"--properly, "at the first appearance of daybreak"; and corresponding with this, John (Joh 20:1) says, "when it was yet dark." See on Mar 16:2. Not an hour, it would seem, was lost by those dear lovers of the Lord Jesus. came Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary--"the mother of James and Joses" (see on Mat 27:56; Mat 27:61). to see the sepulchre--with a view to the anointing of the body, for which they had made all their preparations. (See on Mar 16:1-2). And, behold, there was--that is, there had been, before the arrival of the women. a great earthquake; for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, &c.--And this was the state of things when the women drew near. Some judicious critics think all this was transacted while the women were approaching; but the view we have given, which is the prevalent one, seems the more natural. All this august preparation--recorded by Matthew alone--bespoke the grandeur of the exit which was to follow. The angel sat upon the huge stone, to overawe, with the lightning--luster that darted from him, the Roman guard, and do honor to his rising Lord.