And when they had sung an hymn
The "Hallell", which the Jews were obliged to sing on the night of the passover; for the passover, they say F12, was (llh Nwej) , "bound to an hymn". This "Hallell", or song of praise, consisted of six Psalms, the 113th, 114th, 115th, 116th, 117th, and 118th F13: now this they did not sing all at once, but in parts. Just before the drinking of the second cup and eating of the lamb, they sung the first part of it, which contained the 113th and 114th Psalms; and on mixing the fourth and last cup, they completed the "Hallell", by singing the rest of the Psalms, beginning with the 115th Psalm, and ending with the 118th; and said over it, what they call the "blessing of the song", which was ( Psalms 145:10 ) , and they might, if they would, mix a fifth cup, but that they were not obliged to, and say over it the "great Hallell", or "hymn", which was the 136th Psalm F14. Now the last part of the "Hallell", Christ deferred to the close of his supper; there being many things in it pertinent to him, and proper on this occasion, particularly ( Psalms 115:1 ) ( 116:12-15 ) ( 118:22-27 ) , and the Jews themselves say F15, that (xyvm lv wlbx) , "the sorrows of the Messiah" are contained in this part: that this is the hymn which Christ and his disciples sung, may be rather thought, than that it was one of his own composing; since not only he, but all the disciples sung it, and therefore must be what they were acquainted with; and since Christ in most things conformed to the rites and usages of the Jewish nation; and he did not rise up from table and go away, until this concluding circumstance was over; though it was allowed to finish the "Hallell", or hymn, in any place they pleased, even though it was not the place where the feast was kept F16 however, as soon as it was over,
they went out to the Mount of Olives;
he and his disciples, excepting Judas: first he himself alone, and then the disciples followed him, according to ( Luke 22:39 ) , and the Persic version here reads it, "he went out". This seems to be contrary to a Jewish canon; for the passover was (hnyl Nwej) , "bound to lodging a night" {q}; that is, as the gloss explains it,
``the first night (i.e. of the passover) a man must lodge in Jerusalem; thenceforward it was lawful to dwell without the wall, within the border.''And a little after, the same phrase, being bound to lodge, is explained, one night in the midst of the city: but Christ had more important business to attend unto, than to comply with this rule, which was not obligatory by the word of God, though the Jews pretend to found it on ( Deuteronomy 16:7 ) F18. The place where he went with his disciples, was the Mount of Olives, which was on the east side of Jerusalem; and was the place where the high priest stood, and burnt the red heifer, and sprinkled its blood F19: now from the temple, or from the mountain of the house, there was a causeway, or bridge on arches, made to the Mount of Olives, in which the high priest and the heifer, (hydeom lkw) , "and all his assistants", (the priests that helped him in this service,) went to this mount F20: in this same way it is very probable, went Christ the great high priest, who was typified by the red heifer, and his companions the disciples, to the same place, where he had his bloody sweat, and where his sorrows and sufferings began.