Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Mark 14:66 - 14:72
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mar_14:66-72
66As Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came, 67and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, "You also were with Jesus the Nazarene." 68But he denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you are talking about." And he went out onto the porch, and a rooster crowed. 69The servant-girl saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, "This is one of them!" 70But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean too." 71But he began to curse and swear, "I do not know this man you are talking about!" 72Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, "Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times." And he began to weep.
Mar_14:66 "one of the servant-girls of the high priest came" Joh_18:17 says that she was the gate keeper. Matthew, as usual, has two persons, while Mark only has one servant (cf. Mat_26:69-71). Peter must have told John Mark this embarrassing story or he used it in one of his sermons in Rome and John Mark heard it.
Mar_14:67 "seeing Peter" It was a full moon (at Passover). She could clearly see Peter by the firelight (cf. Mar_14:54; Mar_14:67; Joh_18:18; Joh_18:25) and the moonlight.
▣ "'Jesus the Nazarene'" The Jews who grew up in Galilee (cf. Mat_26:69) had a distinct accent. This linked Jesus to his disciples (cf. Mar_14:70). See Special Topic at Mar_10:47.
Mar_14:68 "'I neither know nor understand what you are talking about'" The exact order of these three accusations differs from Gospel to Gospel. The fact that Peter denied Jesus three times with successive emphasis is common to all of the accounts.
▣ "And he went out onto the porch" Apparently Peter tried to leave. The ancient Greek uncial manuscripts are evenly divided over whether the phrase "and the rooster crowed" should be included at Mar_14:68 (MSS A, C, D as well as the Vulgate, Peshitta translations include it, while à , B, L, and W omit it). It clearly explains "the second time a cock crowed" of Mar_14:72. Some modern translations (cf. NASB, NIV) omit it, but several include it with a footnote (cf. NKJV, NRSV, TEV, NJB). The UBS4 cannot decide which is original.
Mar_14:70 "after a little while" Luk_22:59 has "about an hour."
▣ "Galilean" Either Peter's dialect or possibly his clothing gave him away.
Mar_14:71 "began to curse and swear" The term "curse" (anathematizô) originally referred to something devoted to God (anathçma), but came to refer to a curse (cf. Act_23:12; Act_23:14; Act_23:21). It was a way of asserting the trustworthiness of a statement by calling down the judgment of God on oneself if not telling the truth.
Peter, in the strongest cultural ways (i.e., an oath and swearing) perjured himself before God! Judas did nothing worse than Peter! Peter denied His Lord in repeated, emphatic, and binding terms publicly (cf. Mat_26:34; Mat_26:74).
hyperlink
▣ "'I do not know this man'" It is possible the phrase "this man" was a derogatory Semitic idiom referring to Jesus.
Mar_14:72 "a rooster crowed a second time" Peter remembered Jesus' words (cf. Luk_22:31-32). Luk_22:61 says Jesus looked at him. Apparently Jesus was being moved from Annas' to Caiaphas' part of the High Priest's palace.
The phrase "a second time" is omitted in some Greek manuscripts. The problem scribes faced was that the other three Gospels (i.e., Matthew, Luke and John) only mention one rooster crowing, while Mark apparently has two (cf. MSS A, B, C2, D and W), so some manuscripts omit the phrase (cf. MSS à , C and L).
▣ "And he began to weep" Peter was fulfilling prophecy in his denials and giving hope for all believers who have denied Jesus with their tongue, with their lives and with their priorities. There is also hope for anyone who turns back to Him in faith (cf. John 21).
Copyright © 2013 hyperlink