John 13:2 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And supper being ended, &c.— And being at supper. See John 13:4; John 13:26. Byour version an English reader would be led to apprehend, that the paschal supper was over, before the subsequent act of condescension was performed by our Saviour; and that the clause in the parenthesis is referred to the devil's tempting Judas during its celebration. But the translation above given is perfectly agreeable to the original, and to the context; and as it was the custom with the Jews to wash themselves before they began to eat, it is on every account right to interpret the expression in that sense. And, with regard to the words in the parenthesis, the participle βεβληκοτος, rendered having put, is of the perfect tense, and denotes an action done at some past time; and the particle ηδη, rendered now, often signifies already, or before: so that what Christ says here concerning Judas, may refer to what had passed between him and the chief priests, after the reproof given him at the supper in Bethany; and therefore when John says afterwards, John 13:27 that, after the supper, Satan entered into Judas, the meaning must be, that he was then again incited by the devil to execute the treachery which he had before resolved upon, by a like instigation ofthe same evil spirit: see John 13:27.