10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.
11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”
12 Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him.
13 And they led Him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was high priest that year.
14 Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.
Malchus (v. 10) probably seized Jesus first. Peter probably tried to kill him.
Jesus healed Malchus’ ear — Luke 22:49-51
Even after his attack on Malchus, Peter was allowed to go free because Christ had commanded it!
drink the cup (v. 11) = receiving an event as coming directly from God (Psalm 75:8; Isaiah 51:17; Jeremiah 25:15; Ezekiel 23:31-34 — see also Matthew 26:39).
A lamb offered as a sacrifice was brought before a priest (Leviticus 17:5). And the road from Gethsemane to the city passed through the Sheep Gate, through which sacrificial animals were brought to the temple.
one man should die (v. 14) — for political expediency. Obviously, the trial wasn’t to be a fair one.
Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas. Annas had been appointed high priest of the Jews in the year 7 A.D., but had been removed by the Roman Procurator several years previous, and Joseph Caiaphas, his son-in-law, had been appointed in his place. In Luke 3:2, both are called high priests, and in Acts 4:6 and 23:2, the title is given to Annas. This is not a contradiction. The probable explanation is that while Caiaphas held the office, he was really controlled by his father-in-law, whom the Jews probably regarded as their true high priest, in opposition to the Roman deposition of Annas. At any rate, we know from the Jewish historian, Josephus, that the office of the high priest, when our Lord was here, was characterized by disorders and irregularities. It seems Annas was the controlling spirit and a great politician. There were not fewer than twenty-eight high priests from the reign of Herod to the destruction of the temple by Titus in the year 70. Of these, five, besides Caiaphas, were sons of Annas. — Gaebelein, page 340-341.
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