1. On the Synoptics, see Brown, John, 2:787–804; Beasley-Murray, John, 308–12; on the genre and historicity of the passion narratives, see Keener, John, 2:1068–73.
2. Parsenios, Departure and Consolation, 50–51.
3. Barrett, John, 517; Keener, John, 2:1076–77.
4. Just as the Synoptics intend the names in the scene (e.g., “Gethsemane” or “Mount of Olives”) to signal meaning to the reader, the Gospel of John intends “a garden” to signal meaning to the reader.
5. This is in contrast to the majority of modern interpreters. Contra Brown, John, 2:806, the argument is not based on the occurrence of the same Greek word in Genesis 2 and this pericope, but on the motif of “garden” so entrenched in the biblical metanarrative. Brown’s linguistic argument against the “garden” motif between Genesis 2 and John has been forcefully challenged by Joachim Schaper, “The Messiah in the Garden: John 19:38–41, (Royal) Gardens, and Messianic Concepts,” in Paradise in Antiquity: Jewish and Christian Views, ed. Markus Bockmuehl and Guy G. Stroumsa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 17–27, who shows how the different terms for “garden” involved a difference in emphasis but not in concept (20).
6. See also Frédéric Manns, “Le symbolism du jardin dans le récit de la passion selon S Jean,” SBFLA 37 (1987): 53–80; Nicolas Wyatt, “ ‘Supposing Him to Be the Gardener’ (John 20,15): A Study of the Paradise Motif in John,” ZNW 81 (1990): 21–38.
7. Michaels, John, 886.
8. Cf. Aquinas, John, 3:199.
9. See Brian Brock, “Creation: Mission as Gardening” in Living Witnesses: Explorations in Missional Ethics, ed. Andy Draycott and Jonathan Rowe (Nottingham, UK: Apollos, 2012), 57–78 (especially 58–67).
10. In this Gospel and Scripture as a whole, “garden” almost becomes a technical term, similar to the term “hour.” Cf. Barrett, John, 518.
11. BDAG 936.
12. Barrett, John, 518; Morris, John, 656.
13. With the importance of light and darkness imagery in the Gospel, the double mention of instruments of light may be intended to contrast this group and its artificial light with the one whom the Gospel declares to be the light of the world (8:12). Cf. Charles Homer Giblin, “Confrontations in John 18, 1–27,” Bib 65 (1984): 210–32 (217–18); Raymond E. Brown, “The Passion according to John: Chapters 18 and 19,” Wor 49 (1975): 126–34 (127).
14. BDAG 1035.
15. See Keener, John, 2:1078–80.
16. Wright, “Greco-Roman Character Typing and the Presentation of Judas in the Fourth Gospel,” 558.
17. Ridderbos, John, 576.
18. Michaels, John, 891.
19. David E. Garland, “John 18–19: Life through Jesus’s Death,” RevExp 85 (1988): 485–99 (486).
20. Cf. Schnackenburg, John, 3:225.
21. Cf. Brown, John, 2:811.
22. See Garland, “John 18–19,” 497; Keener, John, 2:1083.
23. David Daube, “Three Notes Having to Do with Johanan ben Zaccai,” JTS 11 (1960): 53–62 (61).
24. Although Malchus is a common enough name, it is interesting to note that the common Semitic root for Malchus (m-l-k) forms the Hebrew word for “king.” At several levels Malchus can be understood to represent Christ.
25. See e.g., Pss 11:6; 60:3; Isa 29:9–10; 51:17, 21–23; 63:6; Jer 25:15–29; Ezek 23:31–33; Lam 4:21; Zech 12:2; cf. Rev 14:10; 16:19.
26. Cf. Timothy Wiarda, “The Portrayal of Peter and Atonement Theology in the Gospel of John,” BBR 21 (2011): 507–23.
27. BDAG 1084.