Matthew 26:38 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Ver. 37,38. Mark names the three disciples, Mark 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, Matthew 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 Matthew 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, Luke 22:44, the angels coming and ministering unto him, Luke 22:43. Luke saith, he was in an agony, which signifieth a great inward conflict.