John 18:8 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

If therefore ye seek me,— This was not a request, which would have been but little attended to by an inveterate multitude, but a command; for the same divine power which struck them to the ground, John 18:6 withheld their hands from seizing the disciples, even after Peter had assaulted Malchus. Who can fail remarking the extreme tenderness of our Lord towards those who had so lately neglected him, sleeping while he was in such an agony; that yet he would not suffer them to be terrified by so much as a short imprisonment. His disciples perhaps might consider this speech as an excuse for their forsaking him: but had they viewed it in a just light, it would rather have appeared a strong engagement upon them to have waited for that fair dismission, which our Lord seemed about to give them. See the parallel pl