Mark 14:72

72 And immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he broke down and wept.

Mark 14:72 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 14:72

And the second time the cock crew
Immediately, as soon as he had so said and swore, as the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions read, and as it is read in one of Beza's copies; which was about three of the clock in the morning, and is what is properly called the cock crowing:

and Peter called to mind;
upon hearing the cock crow a second time,

the word that Jesus said unto him, before the cock crow twice, thou
shalt deny me thrice:
as he now had done twice, to the maid or maids, and a third time to the servants that stood by the fire along with him:

and when he thought thereon;
on the words of Christ, and on his sin in denying him, and on the aggravated circumstances of it. The Arabic version renders it, "he turned himself to weep"; he turned away from the company, he threw himself out of it, and got out of doors as fast as he could, and broke out into a violent fit of weeping. The Syriac, Persic, and Vulgate Latin versions, render it, "he began to weep"; this phrase is omitted in the Ethiopic version: some choose to render it, "he looked upon him", that is, on Christ: as Christ looked upon him; which produced true evangelical repentance in him, so Peter looked upon his dear Lord with concern, whom he so had shamefully denied; he looked upon him and mourned, he looked upon him with an eye of faith, and sorrowed for his sin after a godly sort: but the true sense of the word is, "he covered himself"; he cast his garment over his head, he veiled himself as mourners did, who covered their heads, and their faces, and even their lips. So Maimonides ^F15;

``from whence, says he, is uncovering the head, forbidden a mourner? For, lo! it is said to ( Ezekiel 24:17 ) , "cover not thy lips" at all, for the rest of mourners are obliged to the covering of the head; the linen cloth, or veil, with which he covers his head, he covers with a part of it, a little over his mouth; as it is said, ( Leviticus 13:45 ) , "He shall put a covering upon his upper lip": and Onkelos paraphrases it, (Pjety albak) , "as a mourner he shall cover himself".''

And so it is said of Haman ^F16,

``that he went to his house, and mourned for his daughter, (albak hyvyr le Pjetmw) , "and put a covering on his head as a mourner": for his daughter, and for his reproach.''

And this, it seems, was the custom of the Ishmaelites: hence that saying ^F17,

``all veiling (in mourning) which is not as the veiling of the Ishmaelites (who cover all the face), is no veiling?''

And thus Peter, through shame, and as a token of sorrow and mourning for his sin, threw his garment over him:

and he wept;
as Matthew says, "bitterly": being fully convinced of his sin, and heartily sorry lot it; (See Gill on Matthew 26:75).

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Hilch. Ebel, c. 5. sect. 19.
F16 Targum in Esther vi. 12. Vid. Targum in Mic. iii. 7.
F17 T. Bab. Moed. Katon, fol. 24. 1.

Mark 14:72 In-Context

70 But Peter denied it again. A little later some of the other bystanders confronted Peter and said, “You must be one of them, because you are a Galilean.”

71 Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know this man you’re talking about!”

72 And immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he broke down and wept.