Torches
On the night of his betrayal, when our Lord was in the garden of
Gethsemane, Judas, "having received a band of men and officers
from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with
lanterns and torches and weapons" (John 18:1-3). Although it was
the time of full moon, yet in the valley of the Kidron "there
fell great, deep shadows from the declivity of the mountain and
projecting rocks; there were there caverns and grottos, into
which a fugitive might retreat; finally, there were probably a
garden-house and tower, into whose gloom it might be necessary
for a searcher to throw light around." Lange's Commentary.
(Nahum 2:3, "torches," Revised Version, "steel," probably should
be "scythes" for war-chariots.)