Violence in Gethsemane

Luke 22:48-51 - Jesus asked him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"

When Jesus' followers saw what was going to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" And [Peter] struck [Malchus], the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.

How many times have you heard that Peter must have had terrible aim the night Jesus was arrested, when he chopped off the right ear of the servant of the high priest? Or that Malchus must have been quick-witted, and ducked just in time to avoid his sword?

Olive trees in Gethsemane. The area is small, and all the curbed walks cross through it like a grid. This is where Peter slashed off Malchus' ear, and Jesus healed it.

But there may have been more to Peter's de-earing than poor aim and quick wits. According to Leviticus 21:16-21, nobody with a ‘defect’ could serve in the Temple:

"None of [the priests] who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God [at the altar in the Temple]...no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; no man with a crippled foot or hand, or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed...he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the Lord, who makes them holy."

A century before Peter a man, apparently quite desperate for the throne, used that Scripture to his advantage:

"Antigonus himself also bit off Hyrcanus' ears with his own teeth, as he fell down upon his knees to him, that so he might never be able, upon any mutation of affairs, to take the high priesthood again; for the high priests that officiated were to be complete, and without blemish." (Josephus, War, 1:270)

The Dome of the Rock, a seventh century Islamic shrine standing where the Temple was in Jesus' time, and where the high priest would have officiated. The building is different, but the grandeur and the expansive space parallel the Temple.

Peter would not have disqualified Caiaphas from the office of high priest when he wounded his chief servant, but in this context the act would have been laden with spite and directed at him, somewhat akin to the Ammonites slashing the clothes of David's delegation or the tenants beating the servants of the landowner in the Parable of the Tenants (Matthew 21:33-41).

2 Samuel 10:4 - David thought, "I will show kindness to [the Ammonite king] Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me." So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.

When David's men came to the land of the Ammonites, the Ammonite nobles said to Hanun their lord, "Do you think David is honoring your father by sending men to you to express sympathy? Hasn't David sent them to you to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?" So Hanun seized David's men, shaved off half of each man's beard, cut off their garments in the middle at the buttocks, and sent them away.

David declared war on the Ammonites. Jesus declared “No more of this!” and healed Malchus' ear, removing the insult and symbolically saying “I will not insult those who deride, chain and crucify me.”

It’s impossible to say what Peter’s motive was, but when you’re faced with an armed guard, and only one other person on your side has a sword, it’s a great deal more practical to slice off an ear than it is to slice off a head.

Study Questions
1. Think of who you have poor relations with. Are you disabling them, perhaps via hurt or slander, declaring war on them, e.g. revenge, or answering derision with love?

2. Would it take more or less humility to love this person, despite their sinful actions toward you, than it cost Jesus to heal the ear of someone arresting him for crucifixion?

3. If Jesus is powerful enough to do that, is He powerful enough to grant you the lesser humility needed to love your enemy? If so, why haven't you done it?

Matthew 7:8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Sources
Bromiley, Geoffrey, ed., 1995, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p 229, 1995, Eerdmans Publishing

Moseley, Ron, 1996, Yeshua: A Guide to the Real Jesus and the Original Church, p 25-26, Messianic Jewish Publishers

Whiston, William, trans., 1998, Josephus: The Complete Works, The Wars of the Jews 1:270, Nelson Publishing

Scripture
Jesus’ arrest in Gethsemane – Luke 22:47-53. Luke 22:38 indicates they had two swords with them