Matthew 26:69 - 75
69 Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.
70 But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
71 Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
72 He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”
73 After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”
74 Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”
Immediately a rooster crowed. 75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”And he went outside and wept bitterly.
Question:
ReplyDeleteWhat does it mean then it says Peter denied it with an oath, call down curses and swore to them?
http://ancientroadpublications.com/Studies/BiblicalStudies/TurnedandLooked.html says:
ReplyDeleteWhile Scripture condemns fifthly language, which we might call cursing (Eph. 4:29), that is not what Peter was doing. From a Biblical standpoint to curse is to call condemnation or ill will upon another (cf. Deut. 28:15-68). The word translated “to curse” is katanathematizein meaning literally “to anathematize.” Although it is possible that Peter was calling condemnation on himself as a way to try and convince his accusers that he was not one of Jesus’ disciples, some scholars thinks something else was involved here. In the Second Century, Justin Martyr records that during Jewish revolt that was led by Bar Kochba, he forced Christians not only to deny Jesus, but actually to blaspheme, apparently by cursing Jesus (First Apology 31). Merkel asks, Did Peter under renewed pressure in spite of his repeated protestations, resort to what would probably count in the eyes of his Jewish opponents as the strongest way of dissociating himself, that is, cursing Jesus?”
When Peter did this, “a rooster crowed” (Matt. 26:74), or as Mark indicates “a second time the rooster crowed” (Mark 14:68, 72). This was probably an allusion to the Roman method of measuring the watches of the night. When more than one “cock-crowing” was referred to, the first signaled the end of the third watch, about 3:00 AM (cf. Mark 13:35). When two were referenced, it was what the Romans called secundum gallicinium “the second cock-crowing,” around sunrise (cf. Ammianus Marcellinus, Rerum Gestarum 22.14.4).
The fact that Jesus and Peter were within sight of each other is quite significant. When the rooster crowed after Peter’s last denial, Luke adds the striking words, “and the Lord turned and looked at Peter” (Luke 22:61). Peter had seen Jesus’ look of compassion for the helpless and hungry multitudes (9:36; Mark 8:2). He has seen his look of rebuke when Peter said he would not die (Mark 8:33), and his look of deliverance and salvation when he began to sink into the raging waves (14:31). Yet, now what a look of piercing disappointment, and shame must have shot through the darkness of the courtyard, as Peter would realize in disgrace, and horror that Jesus had not only foreseen his treachery, but knew the very moment when it was realized! The last words that Matthew tells us about Peter in his gospel are that “he went out and wept bitterly” (Matt. 26:75).
We know that after the resurrection, John records Jesus’ three part charge to Peter to feed (or tend) his flock—believed to demonstrate Jesus’ renewed acceptance of Peter, mirroring Peter’s three part denial (John 21:15-19). We know that, after his repentance, and restoration back to Jesus, in only a few days, Peter would stand before the same men who questioned Jesus while he fearfully watched from the courtyard and courageously confess his faith in the Lord (Acts 4:5-12). This is certainly a lesson about forgiveness and repentance. But Peter’s decline into denial is also a lesson about commitment. Service to the Lord will demand things of us we do not now expect—will we have the courage to bear them? Identification with Jesus won’t always be easy, but even the worst hardship we must bear in service to the Lord, is nothing compared to the shame and horror we could feel one day if in the Judgment the Lord must turn and look at us when we have lived a life that denied Him!