“No doubt it would be difficult to admit this supposition if the words in question (the words of the Synoptic Evangelists) contained, as seems generally to be taken for granted, a distinct identification of the traitor. For it could hardly be supposed that Judas, if thus pointed out, could have retained his place at the supper table, among the Apostles. But, in reality, there is no reason to regard the expressions recorded by St. Matthew and St. Mark—and the same may be said of that recorded by St. Luke—as thus distinctly identifying the one who was to betray our Lord.” “We may, indeed, regard them as conveying an intimation to _Judas himself_, if, as may be supposed, at the time they were uttered, or shortly before it, his hand had been upon the table, or if he had helped himself to some meat from the same dish as our Lord, and those others who sat in immediate proximity to Him. Or we may even suppose that those expressions, or at least some of them, were _altogether indefinite_, so as to convey only the sad intelligence that it was one of His chosen Twelve who was about to betray Him; just as the words, ‘_Unus vestrum_ me traditurus est,’ of St. Matthew (xxvi. 21), or the ‘_Unus ex vobis_ tradet me, qui manducat mecum’ of St. Mark (xiv. 18), or the prophetic words of the Psalmist (Ps. xl. 10) quoted by our Lord, as recorded by St. John (xiii. 18), ‘_Qui manducat mecum panem_, levabit contra me calcaneum suum.’ “But there appears no sufficient reason for supposing that any of the expressions hitherto quoted was calculated, or was intended, to identify the traitor, at least _in the eyes of his fellow‐Apostles_.(93) Thus, then, there is no difficulty in supposing that they may have been spoken by our Lord at even an early period of the supper.” “The incident recorded by St. John (xiii. 21, 30) is of an essentially different character. There our Lord, after announcing in general terms, ‘Unus ex vobis tradet me,’ is appealed to by St. John, at the instance of St. Peter, to declare who the traitor may be. The request of the beloved disciple is promptly met by the response, ‘Ille est, cui ego intinctum panem porrexero;’ and the traitor is immediately pointed out by the signal thus selected by our Lord: ‘Et quum intinxisset panem, dedit Judae Simonis Iscariotae.’ ”(94) 22. Aspiciebant ergo ad 22. The disciples therefore invicem discipuli, haesitantes looked one upon another, de quo diceret. doubting of whom he spoke.