John 18:22

22 Now [when] he had said these [things], one of the officers who was standing by gave a slap in the face to Jesus, saying, "Do you reply to the high priest in this way?"

John 18:22 Meaning and Commentary

John 18:22

And when he had thus spoken
What was so right and reasonable, in so becoming a manner, without heat or passion:

one of the officers which stood by;
it may be one of those who had been sent to him and had been a hearer of him, whom Jesus might look wistfully at, or point unto, when he said the above words, at which he might be provoked: and therefore

stroke Jesus with the palm of his hand;
or gave him a rap with a rod, or smote him with a staff, as some think, is the sense of the phrase; though the Syriac, agreeably to our version, reads it, he smote him, (yhwewl le) , "upon his cheek"; gave him, what we commonly call, a slap on the face; and which is always esteemed a very great affront, and was a piece of rudeness and insolence to the last degree in this man:

saying, answerest thou the high priest so?
This he said, as well as gave the blow, either out of flattery to the high priest, or to clear himself from being a favourer of Christ; which, by what had been said, he might think would be suspected: some have thought this was Malchus, whose ear Christ had healed; if so, he was guilty of great ingratitude.

John 18:22 In-Context

20 Jesus replied to him, "I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in the synagogue and in the temple [courts] where all the Jews assemble, and I have said nothing in secret.

21 Why are you asking me? Ask those who heard what I have said to them! Behold, these [people] know what I said."

22 Now [when] he had said these [things], one of the officers who was standing by gave a slap in the face to Jesus, saying, "Do you reply to the high priest in this way?"

23 Jesus replied to him, "If I have spoken wrongly, testify about what [is] wrong! But if [I have spoken] correctly, why do you strike me?"

24 Then Annas sent him, tied up, to Caiaphas the high priest.

Footnotes

• [a] *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the temporal genitive absolute participle ("had said")