Buy those things that we have need of against the feast - Calmet's observation here has weight so it. "The disciples who thought that our Lord had said this to Judas, knew well that on the day of the passover there was neither buying nor selling in Jerusalem. This, therefore, did not happen on the paschal evening; for the feast, according to the common opinion, must have begun the preceding evening, and Jesus have eaten the passover with his disciples the night before his death; but it appears to me, by the whole text of St. John, that the passover did not begin till the time in which our Lord expired upon the cross. It was then that they were sacrificing the paschal lambs in the temple. It is therefore probable that the apostles believed that Judas went to purchase a lamb, and the other necessary things for the evening, and for the day of the Passover." On this subject the reader is requested to consult the observations at the end of Matthew 26, where the subject is considered at large.

Give something to the poor - It is well known that our Lord and his disciples lived on public charity; and yet they gave alms out of what they had thus received. From this we learn that even those who live on charity themselves are expected to divide a little with those who are in deeper distress and want.

For some of them thought,.... This was the thought of some of the disciples, it may be of all of them but John;

because Judas had the bag: which was for the common supply of Christ and his disciples, and for the relief of the poor; See Gill on John 12:6.

That Jesus had said unto him, buy those things that we have need of against the feast; the feast of the passover, which was to be two days after; and shows, that this was not the passover which Christ now ate with his disciples:

or that he should give something to the poor; for whom Christ cared, and had a hearty concern, and for whom Judas had very little, notwithstanding his high pretensions.

The bag

See on John 12:6.

Buy (ἀγόρασον)

An incidental argument in favor of this gathering of the disciples having taken place on the evening of the Paschal feast. Had it been on the previous evening, no one would have thought of Judas going out at night to buy provisions for the feast, when there was the whole of the next day for it, nor would they have thought of his going out to seek the poor at that hour. The 15th Nisan, the time of the Passover celebration, was indeed invested with the sanctity of a Sabbath; but provision and preparation of the needful food was expressly allowed on that day. The Rabbinical rules even provided for the procuring of the Paschal lamb on the Passover eve when that happened to fall on the Sabbath.

Against the feast (εἰς τὴν ἑορτήν)

Rev., better, for the feast. The Passover feast. The meal of which they had been partaking was the preliminary meal, at the close of which the Passover was celebrated; just as, subsequently, the Eucharist was celebrated at the close of the Agape, or love-feast. Notice the different word, ἑορτή, feast, instead of δεῖπνον, supper, and the article with feast.

To the poor

Perhaps to help them procure their Paschal lamb.

For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor.

13:18-30 Our Lord had often spoken of his own sufferings and death, without such trouble of spirit as he now discovered when he spake of Judas. The sins of Christians are the grief of Christ. We are not to confine our attention to Judas. The prophecy of his treachery may apply to all who partake of God's mercies, and meet them with ingratitude. See the infidel, who only looks at the Scriptures with a desire to do away their authority and destroy their influence; the hypocrite, who professes to believe the Scriptures, but will not govern himself by them; and the apostate, who turns aside from Christ for a thing of naught. Thus mankind, supported by God's providence, after eating bread with Him, lift up the heel against Him! Judas went out as one weary of Jesus and his apostles. Those whose deeds are evil, love darkness rather than light.