John 18 - NIV First Century Study Bible

18:3 How involved were the Pharisees? It seems historically unlikely that the Pharisees as a whole played any significant role in Jesus’ arrest. If a few supported the Sadducees and the high priest, they would have certainly been in the minority, as Pharisees were typically at serious odds with the priestly establishment (see notes on Mt 23:2; Lk 13:31; compare Ac 5:33–42; 15:5; 23:6).

18:5 I am he. The text does not explain what caused the soldiers to fall to the ground, but again the story probably alludes to the divine name “I am” (see note on Jn 8:58). A similar story appears in the writings of Eusebius in a story about Pharaoh asking Moses if he can hear the divine name: “Moses bent down and whispered in his [Pharaoh’s] ear, and when the king heard it he fell speechless.” (Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica, 9:27.)

18:10 Cutting off his right ear. See notes on Mt 26:51; Lk 22:49–51.

18:28 Wanted to be able to eat the Passover. This appears to be in conflict with the Synoptic accounts, which say Jesus ate the Passover meal on Thursday night and was crucified the next day. John’s Gospel says Jesus was executed on Passover itself, when all the lambs were slaughtered in the temple and taken home for the meal. There are two possible solutions: 1) Different groups of Jews ate the Passover meal at different times; 2) “Passover” may refer to the entire festival and include a number of different meals.

18:31 No right to execute anyone. According to Josephus, capital punishment cases were handled by the Roman procurator. (Josephus, Wars, 2.8.1.) In the present case, the Jewish authorities needed Pilate to execute Jesus, which also allowed them to lay blame on Rome. Though technically true, in some cases the Jewish authorities took matters of capital punishment into their own hands (see Ac 7).

18:40 Barabbas. Barabbas was probably a revolutionary or Zealot and it is called a lestes in Greek (see note on Mt 27:16; see also second note on Jn 10:1).