“Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.”
So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons — The armed cohort (speira, likely a Roman century of 600, or a smaller detachment of 200) combines Roman soldiers with Jewish temple police, indicating coordinated Jewish-Roman action against Jesus. The equipment—lanterns, torches, weapons—reveals fear and expectation of resistance, yet Jesus presents no physical opposition. The irony: those bearing light carry spiritual darkness.
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