Be not far from me
Who had been so near unto him, as to take him out of the womb,
and to take the care of him ever since; this is to be understood
not with respect to the omnipresence of God, who is everywhere,
and is not far from any of us; but of his presence, which was now
withdrawn from Christ, and he was filled with a sense of divine
wrath, and with sorrow and distress; and also of his powerful and
assisting presence which he had promised, and Christ expected,
and believed he should have, as he had: the reasons for it
follow:
for trouble [is] near;
Satan was marching towards him with his principalities and
powers, to attack him in the garden and on the cross; Judas, one
of his own disciples, was at hand to betray him; a multitude with
swords and staves were about to seize him; the sins and
chastisement of his people were just going to be laid upon him;
the sword of justice was awaked against him, ready to give the
blow; the hour of death was near, he was brought to the dust of
it, as in ( Psalms 22:15
) . A second reason is given,
for [there is] none to help;
none among his disciples: one of them was to betray him, another
to deny him, and all to forsake him and flee from him, as they
did; nor any among the angels in heaven; for though they
ministered to him in the wilderness, and strengthened him in the
garden, there were none near him on the cross, that it might be
manifest that salvation was wrought out alone by him, ( Isaiah 63:5 ) ; and,
indeed, if any of these had been willing to have helped him, it
was not in their power to do it, none but God could; and
therefore he applies to him, who had promised and was as good as
his word, ( Isaiah 49:8 ) .
