And the Lord said, Simon, Simon
Peter is particularly, and by name, spoken to, either because he
might be a principal person in the debate and contention about
superiority, mentioned in the context; or because he was chiefly
to suffer in the following temptation of Satan; or because he was
generally the mouth of the rest of the apostles; and he is
addressed, not by the name of Peter, the name Christ gave him,
when he first called him, signifying his future solidity,
firmness, and steadfastness; because in this instance, he would
not give any proof of it; but by his former name, Simon, and
which is repeated, partly to show the earnestness of Christ in
the delivery of what follows, and partly to express his
affectionate concern for him; so the Jews observe F19
concerning God's calling, "Moses, Moses", ( Exodus 3:4 ) that
(hbx Nwvl) (lwpk) , "the doubling of the word",
is expressive "of love", and finding grace and favour; even as it
is said, "Abraham, Abraham", ( Genesis
22:11 ) or it may be to excite attention to what Christ was
about to say. Though the Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions
read the first of these, "to Simon", thus: Jesus said to Simon,
Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you;
not only Peter, but all the apostles; for the word (umav) , "you", is plural: Satan, the
enemy of the woman's seed, the accuser of the brethren, the
wicked one, and the tempter, desired, asked leave of God, for he
can do nothing without permission; that he might have these
disciples under his power, and in his hand; just as he got leave
to have the goods, and even the body of Job in his hand, and fain
would have had his life, and soul too, could he have obtained it;
and he would have the lives and souls of others; for he goes
about, seeking to devour whom he may; and he had now an evil eye
upon the apostles, and wanted an opportunity to gratify his
malice and envy: his end in desiring to have them in his power
was,
that he may sift you as wheat;
not to separate the chaff from the wheat, but to make them look
like all chaff, by covering the wheat of grace with the chaff of
sin and corruption; or to destroy the wheat, was it possible; or
to toss them to and fro as wheat is in a sieve; that is, to
afflict and distress them; see ( Amos 9:9 ) by scattering
them both from Christ, and one another; by filling them with
doubts about Jesus being the Messiah and Redeemer: and by
frightening them with the fears of enemies and of death, which
end he obtained; see ( Matthew
26:56 ) ( Luke 24:31 ) ( John 20:19 ) .