Judas Iscariot

Who is "Judas, who betrayed Him" (John 18:2)?
Not the other Judas, but Judas Iscariot, whom Jesus had dispatched earlier in the evening to fetch those who will arrest Him (see One of you will betray Me).

How did Judas Iscariot know to find Jesus at this time in the Garden of Gethsemane, which is at the base of the Mount of Olives?
By the time Judas Iscariot came, it was late at night. Jesus didn't have a place to stay in Jerusalem and had been spending the nights in the Mount of Olives: "And in the daytime He was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet" (Luke 21:37). Since a rabbi's disciples accompanied him everywhere, Jesus' twelve disciples, including Judas Iscariot, most likely had been spending the nights on the Mount of Olives with Him.

Whom did Judas Iscariot bring with him?
σπειραν (speiran), the original word of Latin origin that is translated into the phrase “detachment of troops” (John 18:3), means “cohort,” which is one-tenth of a Roman legion, and χιλιαρχος (chiliarchos), the original word translated "captain" (John 18:12), means the commander of such a Roman cohort. Since a Roman legion comprised of 6,000 soldiers at full strength, Judas Iscariot was accompanied by about six hundred Roman soldiers, as well as "officers from the chief priests and Pharisees” (John 18:3), which means the Jewish temple guards who are under the authority of Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council.

Where were the chief priests and Pharisees?
As we will see shortly, many of them, including the high priest, also had come with Judas Iscariot.

Why had so many Roman soldiers come with them?
See next page.