John 18:10. Simon Peter therefore having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. And the servant's name was Malchus. It is possible that the position of ‘therefore' in the original, between ‘Simon' and ‘Peter,' may be designed to call attention to the import of the apostle's name. It is not Simon only who does the act about to be mentioned, but Simon who is ‘Peter,' the rock, the bold and determined one. The ‘servant' is not one of the ‘officers' formerly mentioned, but the high priest's own attendant, who may have borne his master's message to the ‘officers.' His name was Malchus, and the mention of this fact, as well as of the minute circumstance that the ear cut off was the right ear, illustrates the personal knowledge possessed by John of what he describes. The earlier Evangelists, who all mention the incident, do not give the servant's name (Matthew 26:51; Mark 14:47; Luke 22:50). As the great object of John in this passage is to illustrate the perfect submission of Jesus to the will of His heavenly Father in the ‘hour' now come, nothing is said of the healing of the ear. Luke alone tells us of it (chap. Luke 22:51).

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Old Testament