Jesus exposes the way they came for Him. He had taught openly every day, yet they came at night with weapons, as if He were a violent man who would fight. Barnes says the word means "Rather a 'robber.' This was the manner in which they would have sought to take a highwayman." Gill says Jesus spoke "to the heads and chief of them, the chief priests, captains of the temple, and elders, as Luke says," and that they "had no need to take such extraordinary methods to apprehend him, as to make use of one of his disciples to betray him." The leaders had planned it this way: to take Him "by subtilty," but "Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people" (Matthew 26:4-5).

Matthew records no answer from the crowd. Instead he writes, "But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled" (Matthew 26:56). Then "they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled" (Matthew 26:57). Luke adds Jesus' words, "this is your hour, and the power of darkness" (Luke 22:53).

The KJV's "thief" translates lestes. Thayer defines it as "a robber; a plunderer, freebooter, brigand," and distinguishes it from the word for a thief who steals in secret. A lestes used violence. The "staves" were wooden clubs (Greek xylon, wood).

"I sat daily with you teaching in the temple" describes the days just before. Barnes says, "For many days before the Passover, as recorded in the previous chapter." Matthew shows the chief priests and elders coming to Him "as he was teaching" in the temple (Matthew 21:23), and when they wanted to lay hands on Him then, "they feared the multitude" (Matthew 21:46).

Jesus names the injustice honestly while still submitting to it. He was no robber; He had taught in the open. Barnes writes, "It adds not a little to the depth of his humiliation that he consented to be 'hunted down' thus by wicked people." He consented. Gill explains why they had not taken Him before: "either through fear of the people, or through Christ's making his escape from them; and particularly, by the singular providence and power of God, which restrained them, because his time was not yet come."

Now His time had come, and even this dark hour served God's purpose: "all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled" (Matthew 26:56).