JOHN 18:10 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.”
Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave's name was Malchus — Peter's violent response contrasts sharply with John's portrait of Jesus' willing submission; the unnamed sword (contrast Synoptics' "servant") emphasizes the act itself. "Malchus" (a Semitic name meaning "king") appears only in John, perhaps symbolically significant: Peter strikes against kingship itself, misunderstanding Jesus' non-violent kingdom. The right ear (dextron ōtion) suggests intentional aim.
Church Fathers on John 18:10
Peter trusting to these last words of our Lord’s, and to what He had just done, assaults those who came to take Him: Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant. But how, commanded as he had been to have neither scrip, nor two garments, had he a sword? Perhaps he had foreseen this occasion, and provided one.
Or, he had got one for sacrificing the lamb, and carried it away with him from the Supper.
The servant’s name was Malchus; John is the only Evangelist who mentions the servant’s name; as Luke is the only one who mentions that our Lord touched the ear and healed him.
Read all 11 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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