Matthew 26:31,32 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

All ye shall be offended, &c.— That is "You shall lose all sense of your dutyas disciples, and, seeing me in a condition inconsistent with the vulgar idea of the Messiah, shall leave me to the cruelties of my enemies." This was a remarkable completion of Zechariah 13:7. See the note. Our Lord might use this as a proverbial expression, I will smite the sheep, &c. but it being so remarkably accomplished in him above all others, especially as he was the great shepherd of souls, as he was described under that image in the Old Testament, and had assumed the title peculiarly to himself;—his disciples could not but consider this circumstance as a proof of his being the Messiah. No sooner did Jesus mention the offence which his disciples were to take at his sufferings, than, to strengthen their faith, he told them of his resurrection, as well as of the particular place where they should see him after he was risen. An appointment to meet in so large a region as Galilee, would, without this, have been of very little use; and ch. Matthew 28:16 expressly declares such an appointment. We do not know the exact place, but we there learn that it was a certain mountain; probably it might be near the sea of Tiberias, not only because we find Christ on the borders of that sea after his resurrection, John 21:1 but also because, as he had resided there longer than any where else, he had, no doubt, the greater number of his disciples thereabouts; and it lay pretty near the centre of his chief circuits, and therefore must be most convenient, especially for those beyond Jordan, where many had of late believed in him. See John 10:40; John 10:42. The angel repeats the words of the 32nd verse to the disciples who visited our Saviour's tomb. Ch. Matthew 28:7. The words go before allude to the image of the shepherd in the preceding verse, it being the custom of the Eastern shepherds to precede their flocks. See Doddridge, and John 10:4.