Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 26:37
And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
37. Peter and the two sons of Zebedee ] See ch. Mat 17:1 and Mar 5:37. The Evangelist, St John, was thus a witness of this scene; hence, as we should expect, his narrative of the arrest of Jesus is very full of particulars.
very heavy ] The Greek word conveys the impression of the deepest sorrow; it is used of “maddening grief.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 37. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee] That is, James and John; the same persons who had beheld his transfiguration on the mount – that they might contemplate this agony in the light of that glory which they had there seen; and so be kept from being stumbled by a view of his present humiliation.
Began to be sorrowful] , from , to dissolve – exquisite sorrow, such as dissolves the natural vigour, and threatens to separate soul and body.
And very heavy.] Overwhelmed with anguish – . This word is used by the Greeks to denote the most extreme anguish which the soul can feel-excruciating anxiety and torture of spirit.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Mark names the three disciples, Mar 14:33,34; And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; and saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch. The three witnesses of his transfiguration, Mat 17:1, he takes also to be witnesses of his agony. He began to be sorrowful, and very heavy. The words in the Greek are expressive of the greatest sorrow imaginable, which he further expresses Mat 26:38, saying,
My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. This was not wholly upon the sense of his approaching death, for he laid down his life, no man took it from him; nor yet to consider how his disciples would be left; but in the sense he had of the wrath of God due to man for sin, which he now felt, bearing our sins. So as this was a part, and a great part, of his suffering as appears by his following earnest prayers for the passing away of that cup, his sweating as it were drops of blood, Luk 22:44, the angels coming and ministering unto him, Luk 22:43. Luke saith, he was in an agony, which signifieth a great inward conflict.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he took with him Peter, and the two sons of Zebedee,…. James and John, who perhaps were the strongest, and best able to bear the shocking sight, and were his favourite disciples; who were admitted to be with him at other times, when the rest were not; as at the raising of Jairus’s daughter, Mr 5:37, and moreover, these were at his transfiguration on the mount, Mt 17:1, which was a representation and presage of his glory; and so were very proper persons to be witnesses of his sorrows and agonies, which were the way to it; and three of them were taken by him for this purpose, being a sufficient number to bear testimony, since by the mouth of two or three witnesses everything is established:
and began to be sorrowful; his soul was troubled on the same account six days before, Joh 12:27, but was now sorrowful. He was a man of sorrows all his days, and acquainted with griefs, being reproached and persecuted by men: but now a new scene of sorrows opened; before he was afflicted by men, but now he is bruised, and put to grief by his Father: his sorrows now began, for they did not end here, but on the cross; not that this was but a bare beginning of his sorrows, or that these were but light in comparison of future ones; for they were very heavy, and indeed seem to be the heaviest of all, as appears from his own account of them; his vehement cry to his Father; his bloody sweat and agony; and the assistance he stood in need of from an angel; and the comfort and strength he received from him in his human nature: all which, put together, the like is not to be observed in any part of his sufferings:
and to be very heavy; with the weight of the sins of his people, and the sense of divine wrath, with which he was so pressed and overwhelmed, that his spirits were almost quite gone; he was just ready to swoon away, sink and die; his heart failed him, and became like wax melted in the midst of his bowels, before the wrath of God, which was as a consuming fire: all which shows the truth, though weakness of his human nature, and the greatness of his sufferings in it. The human nature was still in union with the divine person of the Son of God, and was sustained by him, but left to its natural weakness, without sin, that it might suffer to the utmost, and as much as possible for the sins of God’s elect.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He took with him (). Taking along, by his side (–), as a mark of special favour and privilege, instead of leaving this inner circle of three (Peter, James, and John) with the other eight. The eight would serve as a sort of outer guard to watch by the gate of the garden for the coming of Judas while the three would be able to share the agony of soul already upon Jesus so as at least to give him some human sympathy which he craved as he sought help from the Father in prayer. These three had been with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and now they are with him in this supreme crisis. The grief of Christ was now severe. The word for
sore troubled () is of doubtful etymology. There is an adjective equal to meaning “not at home,” “away from home,” like the German unheimisch, unheimlich. But whatever the etymology, the notion of intense discomfort is plain. The word occurs in P.Oxy. II, 298,456 of the first century A.D. where it means “excessively concerned.” See Php 2:26 where Paul uses it of Epaphroditus. Moffatt renders it here “agitated.” The word occurs sometimes with to be at a loss as to which way to go. The Braid Scots has it “sair putten-aboot.” Here Matthew has also “to be sorrowful” (), but Mark (Mr 14:33) has the startling phrase
greatly amazed and sore troubled ( ), a “feeling of terrified surprise.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
37. He began to be affected with grief. We have seen that our Lord formerly contended with the fear of death; but as he now fights face to face with temptation, such an attack is called the beginning of grief and sorrow. Hence we infer that the true test of virtue is only to be found when the contest begins; for then the weakness of the flesh, which was formerly concealed, shows itself, and the secret feelings are abundantly displayed. Thus, though God had already tried his Son by certain preparatory exercises, he now wounds him more sharply by a nearer prospect of death, and strikes his mind with a terror to which he had not been accustomed. But as it appears to be inconsistent with the divine glory of Christ, that he was seized with trembling and sadness, many commentators have labored with toil and anxiety to find some way of evading the difficulty. But their labor has been ill-judged and of no use; for if we are ashamed that Christ should experience fear and sorrow, our redemption will perish and be lost.
Ambrose justly says: “I not only do not think that there is any need of excuse, but there is no instance in which I admire more his kindness and his majesty; for he would not have done so much for me, if he had not taken upon him my feelings. He grieved for me, who had no cause of grief for himself; and, laying aside the delights of the eternal Godhead, he experiences the affliction of my weakness. I boldly call it sorrow, because I preach the cross. For he took upon him not the appearance, but the reality, of incarnation. It was therefore necessary that he should experience grief, that he might overcome sorrow, and not shut it out; for the praise of fortitude is not bestowed on those who are rather stupefied than pained by wounds.” Thus far Ambrose.
Certainly those who imagine that the Son of God was exempt from human passions do not truly and sincerely acknowledge him to be a man. And when it is even said that the divine power of Christ rested and was concealed for a time, that by his sufferings he might discharge all that belonged to the Redeemer, this was so far from being absurd, that in no other way could the mystery of our salvation have been accomplished. For Cyril has properly said: “ That the suffering of Christ on the cross was not in every respect voluntary, but that it was voluntary on account of the will of the Father, and on account of our salvation, you may easily learn from his prayer, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. For the same reason that the Word of God is God, (Joh 1:1,) and is naturally life itself, (Joh 11:25,) nobody doubts that he had no dread of death; but, having been made flesh, (Joh 1:14,) he allows the flesh to feel what belongs to it, and, therefore, being truly a man, he trembles at death, when it is now at the door, and says, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; but since it cannot be otherwise, let it be not as I will, but as thou wilt. You see how human nature, even in Christ himself, has the sufferings and fears which belong to it, but that the Word, who is united to it, raises it to a fortitude which is worthy of God.” He at length concludes: “ You perceive that it was not for the sake of the flesh that the death of Christ was voluntary, but that it was voluntary, because, on account of it, according to the will of the Father, salvation and life were bestowed on men.” Such are the views of Cyril.
Still the weakness which Christ took upon himself must be distinguished from ours, for there is a great difference. In us there is no affection unaccompanied by sin, because they all exceed due bounds and proper restraint; but when Christ was distressed by grief and fear, he did not rise against God, but continued to be regulated by the true rule of moderation. We need not wonder that, since he was innocent, and pure from every stain, the affections which flowed from him were pure and stainless; but that nothing proceeds from the corrupt nature of men which is not impure and filthy. Let us, therefore, attend to this distinction, that Christ, amidst fear and sadness, was weak without any taint of sin; but that all our affections are sinful, because they rise to an extravagant height.
The kind of feelings, by which Christ was tempted, is also worthy of notice. Matthew says that he was affected by grief and sorrow (or anxiety;)Luke says that he was seized with anguish; and Mark adds that he trembled. And whence came his sorrow and anguish, and fear, but because he felt that death had something in it more sad and more dreadful than the separation of the soul and body? And certainly he underwent death, not merely that he might depart from earth to heaven, but rather that, by taking upon himself the curse to which we were liable, he might deliver us from it. He had no horror at death, therefore, simply as a passage out of the world, but because he had before his eyes the dreadful tribunal of God, and the Judge himself armed with inconceivable vengeance; and because our sins, the load of which was laid upon him, pressed him down with their enormous weight. There is no reason to wonder, therefore, if the dreadful abyss of destruction tormented him grievously with fear and anguish.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(37) He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee.The favoured three, as before at the Transfiguration, and in the death-chamber in the house of Jairus (Mat. 17:1; Mar. 5:37), were chosen out of the chosen. Their professions of devotion justified, as it were, the belief that they, at least, could watch and pray with Him. The nearness and sympathy of friends were precious even when personal solitude was felt to be a necessity.
And began to be sorrowful and very heavy.The Greek word for the latter verb occurs only here, in the parallel passage of Mar. 14:33, and Php. 2:26, where it is translated full of heaviness. Its primary meaning is thought by some philologists to have been that of satiety, hence, loathing and ill at ease. Others, however, find its root-thought in being far from home, and so weary and perplexed. There is, it is obvious, a mysterious contrast between the calm, triumphant serenity which had shone in the look and tone of the Son of Man up to this point, and had reached its highest point in the prayer of John 17, and the anguish and distress that were now apparent. The change has, however, its manifold analogies in the experience of those who are nearest to their Master in sufferings and character. They, too, know how suddenly they may pass from confidence and joy as to a horror of great darkness. And in His sufferings we must remember there was an element absolutely unique. It was His to tread the wine-press alone (Isa. 63:3). It was not only, as it might be with other martyrs, the natural shrinking of mans nature from pain and death, nor yet the pain of finding treachery and want of true devotion where there had been the promise of faithfulness. The intensity of His sympathy at that moment made the sufferings and sins of mankind His own, and the burden of those sins weighed upon His soul as greater than He could bear (Isa. 53:4-6).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
37. Peter and the two sons of Zebedee The whole body of the eleven disciples went with our Lord to Gethsemane; but from the entire number he now selects Peter, James, and John, “the elect among the elect,” to attend him at a little distance from the rest in the moments of his agonizing prayer. These had been selected to witness his glorification upon the mount of transfiguration, and they were now selected to be witnesses of the deep humiliation of the garden.
Began to be sorrowful The first moment of the terrible hour had now arrived, and our Lord receives the first stroke of atoning sorrow from an invisible source. At the instant of his leaving the eight disciples the trial of sorrow began. For this whole scene of Gethsemane is to be looked upon, not as an hour of fear over his approaching trial, but as the first and, perhaps, far most terrible part of the atoning agony. The sufferings of the cross were, we conceive, from the visible powers of earth; the sufferings of the bitter cup and the bloody sweat were from the invisible powers of hell. The garden was the place of assault from the interior powers of darkness, as the cross was the place of the exterior assaults or men. Both were correspondent parts of the same great work. (For a view of this entire subject, I refer to my Sermon on Substitutional Atonement.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and sore troubled.’
He now took the inner three apart with Him. It is quite clear that He feels in need of their company to support Him in what lies ahead. These are the three He usually takes with Him in unusual situations (as with the raising of Jairus’ daughter, and the Transfiguration). Perhaps the description of the other two as ‘the two sons of Zebedee’ is in order to stress the fact of Peter’s presence, although Matthew has previously described them in this way, and it may be that it is just his way of describing them. However, in Mat 26:40 Peter is again the one who is emphasised, even though in fact He then addresses all three. Perhaps Matthew wants us to see that Jesus is encouraging Peter in the light of what He has previously said to him.
And even as the three move away from the others it is seemingly apparent that Jesus is ‘sorrowful and sore troubled’. The agony of the night is upon Him. The words used are expressive of great emotion. They recognise that something unusual is happening. They are not used to seeing Jesus in such an emotional state.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 26:37. He took with him Peter, &c. These disciples were admitted to the most striking circumstances of our Lord’s conduct: they were present when he raised Jairus’s daughter; they were present at his transfiguration; and were now made witnesses of his agony, the rest of his disciples being leftat the entrance of the garden, to watch the approach of Judas and his company. See the note on ch. Mat 17:1.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 26:37 f. Anticipating the inward struggle that awaited Him, He retired farther into the garden, taking with Him none (Mat 17:1 ) but the three most intimate disciples.
] indicating the first symptoms of the condition in question.
. ] Climax. Suidas explains . as meaning: . See Buttmann, Lexilog . II. p. 135 f.; Ael. V. H. xiii. 3; Phi 2:26 .
] very sorrowful , Psa 63:5 ; Psa 3 Esdr. 8:71 f.; Isocr. p. 11 B; Aristot. Eth. iv. 3; Diog. L. vii. 97. The opposite of this is .
] Comp. Joh 12:27 ; Xen. Hell . iv. 4. 3 : . The soul, the intermediate element through which the spirit ( , Mat 26:41 ) is connected with the body in the unity of the individual (see Beck, Bibl. Seelenl. p. 11), is the seat of pleasure and pain. Comp. Stirm in the Tb. Zeitschr . 1834, 3, p. 25 ff.
] defining the extent of the : unto death , so as almost to cause death, so that I am nearly dead from very grief; Jon 4:9 ; Isa 38:1 ; and see on Phi 2:27 . The idea of the mors infernalis (Calovius), as though Christ had been experiencing the pains of hell , is here exegetically unwarrantable. Euthymius Zigabenus correctly observes: .
] “In magnis tentationibus juvat solitudo, sed tamen, ut in propinquo sint amici,” Bengel.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
Ver. 37. And he took with him Peter, &c. ] He took the same that had seen his glory in the mount, to see his agony in the garden, that they might the better stick to him. Let no man envy others their better parts or places; since they have them on no other condition but to be put upon greater temptations, hotter services. If we could wish another man’s honour, when we feel the weight of his cares, as David once did of Saul’s armour, we should be glad to be in our own coat.
And very heavy ] To faint, or fall away in his soul, to be out of the world, as we say; “He sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him,” Lam 3:28 . , – hominum vestigia vitat.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
37. ] These three Peter, the foremost in attachment, and profession of it the two sons of Zebedee, who were to drink of the cup that He drank of He takes with Him, not only nor principally as witnesses of his trial this indeed, in the full sense, they were not but as a consolation to Him in that dreadful hour to ‘watch with Him.’ In this too they failed yet from his returning to them between his times of prayer, it is manifest that, in the abasement of his humanity, He regarded them as some comfort to Him. ‘In magnis tentationibus juvat solitudo, sed tamen ut in propinquo sint amici.’ Bengel.
not merely idiomatic here He began, as He had never done before .
= Mark. ‘Dicit incursum objecti horribilis.’ Bengel (see below on Mat 26:38 ).
= , , Suidas; , Euthym [174] ; , Hesychius; , , , . , , Eustathius.
[174] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 26:37 . : He takes the same three as at the transfiguration along with Him that they may be near enough to prevent a feeling of utter isolation. , He began. This beginning refers to the appearance of distress; the inward beginning came earlier. He did His feeling till He had reduced His following to three; then allowed them to appear to those who, He hoped, could bear the revelation and give Him a little sympathy. , of unvertain derivation. Euthy. gives as its equivalent , to be dejected or heavy hearted.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Peter, &c.: i.e. Peter, James, and John.
Zebedee. See note on Mat 4:21.
sorrowful and very heavy = full of anguish and distress. Greek. ademoneo = very heavy: only here, Mar 14:33, and Php 1:2, Php 1:26.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
37.] These three-Peter, the foremost in attachment, and profession of it-the two sons of Zebedee, who were to drink of the cup that He drank of-He takes with Him, not only nor principally as witnesses of his trial-this indeed, in the full sense, they were not-but as a consolation to Him in that dreadful hour-to watch with Him. In this too they failed-yet from his returning to them between his times of prayer, it is manifest that, in the abasement of his humanity, He regarded them as some comfort to Him. In magnis tentationibus juvat solitudo, sed tamen ut in propinquo sint amici. Bengel.
-not merely idiomatic here-He began, as He had never done before.
= Mark. Dicit incursum objecti horribilis. Bengel (see below on Mat 26:38).
= , , Suidas; , Euthym[174]; , Hesychius; , , , . , , Eustathius.
[174] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 26:37. , taking with Him) As witnesses the three whom He had employed in the same capacity in ch. Mat 17:1.- , the two) who had offered themselves, ch. Mat 20:20-21.-, He began) immediately.- , to be sorrowful and very heavy) St Mark says, , to be sore amazed and to be very heavy. Both and denote the presence and effect of an object of horror,-, the loss of all power of deriving enjoyment from other sources. The same word occurs in Php 2:26, where see Gnomon. Hesychius explains by (to be astonied) (to be at a loss, to be in trouble, to be at ones wits end) and , the word which occurs in the text, Eustathius says, signifies one who is overwhelmed with , irksomeness, that is to say, by satiety or grief.- signifies, , i.e. to be in great distress, and to be almost beside ones self for trouble.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Peter: Mat 4:18, Mat 4:21, Mat 17:1, Mat 20:20, Mar 5:37
sorrowful: Mar 14:33, Mar 14:34, Luk 22:44, Joh 12:27
Reciprocal: Job 7:11 – the anguish Job 15:24 – anguish Psa 55:4 – My Psa 57:6 – my soul Psa 69:2 – the floods Psa 69:20 – I am Psa 88:3 – soul Psa 102:4 – heart Isa 53:3 – a man Isa 53:4 – yet Mat 10:2 – James Luk 9:28 – he Act 3:1 – Peter Phi 2:26 – full Heb 2:18 – suffered Heb 5:7 – in that he feared 1Pe 1:6 – ye are
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6:37
Leaving the most of the group at the place where they first paused, Jesus took with him Peter and the sons of Zebedee (James and John), and went on into the garden with them. The humanity in his nature now began to manifest itself which caused him to be sorrowful and heavy hearted.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 26:37. Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. These three witnesses of His Divine glory on the Mount, were chosen to witness His human anguish in the valley. Yet they did not witness it (Mat 26:40). Their nearness seems to have been in some way a comfort to Him, though they could not help Him.
And began to be sorrowful and sore troubled. Two ideas: first, that He was troubled with woe that falls upon Him; second, that He felt forsaken, had a weight of trouble that drove Him into solitude.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 37
Sons of of Zebedee; James and John.
Matthew 26:38,39. These manifestations of suffering indicate something mysterious and peculiar in the mental anguish thus expressed. The nature of it is veiled, in a great measure, from our view; but it has been always supposed by the Christian church, that here commenced those sufferings by which the dying Redeemer made expiation for human sin.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
26:37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and {r} very heavy.
(r) The word which he uses signifies great sorrow, and tremendous and deadly grief: this thing, as it indicates man’s true nature, which shuns death as a thing that entered in against nature, shows that though Christ was void of sin, yet he sustained this horrible punishment, because he felt the wrath of God kindled against us for sins, which he revenged and punished in his person.