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.