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Joh_18:22-23. Whether ῥάπισμα is a blow on the face, box on the ear (so usually), or stroke with a rod (Beza, Bengel, Godet), cannot be decided. Comp. on Mat_26:67. But the former, because the blow was wont to be the chastisement for an impudent speech (comp. Act_23:2), is the more probable, and δέρεις is not opposed to it (2Co_11:20). That which here one of the officers of justice, who stood in waiting (see the critical notes), takes upon himself for the honour of his master (“fortis percussor et mollis adulator,” Rupert.), can hardly be conceived as taking place in an orderly sitting of the Sanhedrim before the acting high priest (in Act_23:2 it is done at the command of the latter), but rather at an extra-judicial sitting.
οὕτως ] So unbecomingly (Fritzsche, ad Marc. p. 150 f.; Bremi, ad Lys. et Aesch. p. 124, 355); comp. on 1Co_5:3.
Joh_18:23. Important for the ethical idea expressed in Mat_5:39.[214] Comp. the note on Mat_5:41.
μαρτύρησον ] bear witness. He must, in truth, have been an ear-witness.
[214] Luther: “This thou shouldest therefore understand, that there is a great difference between these two; to turn the cheek to the one, and with words to punish him who strikes us. Christ must suffer, but nevertheless the word is put in His mouth, that He should speak and punish what is wrong. Therefore, I should separate the mouth and the hand from one another.”