Mattityahu 26:53

53 Or do you think that I am not able to call upon Avi, and He will provide me now more than Shneym Asar legions of malachim?

Mattityahu 26:53 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 26:53

Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father
Meaning, if he thought proper, or that there was any necessity for it, or that he was desirous of being rescued out of such hands he was falling into. This must be understood of him as man: for, as God, the angels were his creatures and ministering servants, whom he had the command of himself, and so had no need, as such, to pray to his Father to detach a number of them to his assistance, and which, as man, he could only want.

And he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels.
A Roman legion consisted of about six thousand soldiers, or upwards; some add six hundred sixty six; and others make the number far greater. Twelve are mentioned, either with respect to the twelve apostles; or in allusion, as others think, to the Roman militia; a proper and full army with them consisting of such a number of legions: and that there is an innumerable company of angels, thousand thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand, is certain; and the Persic version here reads; "twelve myriads" of legions; and that these are at the command of God, and he can dispatch them at once, on any emergent occasion, is very evident; and what is it that such a company of angels is not capable of, when a single angel slew in one night an hundred, fourscore, and five thousand men, ( 2 Kings 19:35 ) , wherefore had Christ had any inclination to have been rescued from the present danger, he stood in no need of Peter's sword.

Mattityahu 26:53 In-Context

51 And hinei! One of the ones with him stretched out his hand, drew his cherev, and struck the servant of the Kohen Gadol, cutting off his ear.
52 Then Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach says to him, Return your cherev into its place; for all who take the sword will die by the sword.
53 Or do you think that I am not able to call upon Avi, and He will provide me now more than Shneym Asar legions of malachim?
54 But how then may the Kitvei Hakodesh be fulfilled that say it must happen thus?
55 At that moment, he said to the crowd, Do you have the chutzpah (nerve) to come out, as against a revolutionary, with swords and clubs to arrest me? Daily in the Beis Hamikdash I was sitting saying my shiurim and you did not arrest me.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.