Peter - True Knucklehead

Luke now reintroduces us to Herod Antipas who would qualify as a sinner who faced no worldly retribution other than the self inflicted kind. If you will recall, this incestuous and dreadful leader had his ear to the ground to learn about all who might be a threat to his rule. He killed everyone around him, including his sons, who he thought might be considered rivals and was driven to distraction with the news of Jesus as the information traveled up and down the road to Damascus.

Herod Antipas, who Jesus compared to a fox, an animal that was ritually unclean, must have had spies on the lookout through out the kingdom. Between the religious leaders following His every movement and word and the state tracking Him with spies, those in power were well aware that Jesus represented a problem to the status quo. Since Herod considered himself to be both a Jewish religious leader as well as the ruling tetrarch, he had double the reason to track the activities of Jesus. Luke reports confusion experienced by Herod regarding just who Jesus was. He wondered openly if Jesus was actually John the Baptist whom Herod murdered previously.

Not to belabor this point but Herod had John’s head cut off and the unofficial narrative tells us that his head was placed on a tray at Herod’s insistence, so he knew without a doubt that John the Baptist was dead. How could he logically think that Jesus was John the Baptist, brought back to life? What a nut job.

According to the aforementioned “Walking in Their Sandals” bible history website located at, http://www.ancientsandals.com/overviews/bethsaida.htm ,the town known as Bethsaida could be found at one of two identified locations that we can visit today. This is an important fact because it is the location that Luke reports to be where Jesus fed over five thousand followers with five loaves of bread and two fish.

Josephus records that Philip the Tetrarch, (who ruled Gaulanitis from 4 B.C. to A.D. 34 and was the half brother of Harod Antipas) developed the village of Bethsaida, near the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee. He states that in A.D. 30, Philip raised it to the status of a "city" (polis), strengthening its fortifications, increasing its population, and naming it "Julias" in honor of the Emperor Augustus’ daughter. Other historians hold that the city was named after Emperor Tiberius’ mother.


The website goes on to provide more information regarding Bethsaida and its relevance to bible history. An edited reference to that information is as follows:

A Bethsaida at the site of et-Tel, located a mile and a half inland from the lakeshore, would not likely have functioned as a fishing village. El-‘Araj, on the other hand, because it was located on a flood plain, would not have been a suitable site for a large fortified city. It should also be noted that the course of the Jordan River as it enters the lake has changed over the two millennia since Jesus’ ministry in the area.

An aqueduct and Roman road have been discovered which joined the two locations. A reasonable conclusion would be that et-Tel may have been the location of the important city referred to in the Gospels. El-‘Araj, then, would have served as the center of the fishing industry that gave the city its name, "house/place of fish." The Bethsaida of the Gospels, however, may have referred to either or both of these sites.

Historical and Biblical Significance

Bethsaida, Chorazin and Capernaum formed what has been called the "evangelical triangle," because most of Jesus’ miracles in Galilee were performed in these cities. In light of Jesus’ condemnation of them for their unbelief, the word "evangelical" would more accurately refer to the preaching of the gospel there, rather than the character of their inhabitants (Matt 11:20-30)!

Bethsaida was the home of three of Jesus’ disciples, Peter and his brother Andrew, and Philip (John 1:44). Apparently Peter later moved to Capernaum, where his mother-in-law (and wife) resided (Matt 8:14,15; Mark 1:30,31; Luke 4:38,39). Since fishing was the main industry in each of these towns, Peter’s move of some three miles would be unremarkable, except that Capernaum was to become the base of Jesus’ Galilean ministry.

The small plain that surrounds Bethsaida (el-‘Araj) may have been the location of Jesus’ "Sermon on the Mount," if this account recorded another occasion on which Jesus gave this message (Luke 6:17-49).

At the conclusion of the "Sermon on the Mount," Jesus illustrated the importance of basing one’s life on God’s truth, rather than on human teaching, by contrasting the foundations on which two builders constructed their homes (Luke 6:47-49). His reference may have been to the plain at el-‘Araj, where builders would need to dig through some five feet of alluvial soil to find bedrock. "Foolish builders" would build on the sandy overlay, to their sorrow when the spring floods came down from the hills; "wise builders" would have no problem since they had built their houses on the rock stratum below. (The three disciples who came from Bethsaida would have especially appreciated this illustration.)

Jesus performed a unique healing at Bethsaida, restoring a man’s sight in stages (Mark 8:22-26). Apparently He used this method to demonstrate to His disciples their imperfect understanding of His deity at that time. In this miracle, He sought to prepare their hearts for the next revelation of His person. From Bethsaida they proceeded up the Jordan Valley to Caesarea Philippi, where He would ask them, "Who do you say that I am?" (Matt 16:15;Mark 8:27; Luke 9:20)

Putting myself in the place of the apostles who heard Jesus tell them to feed to large crowd with essentially nothing, I am surprised that they didn’t walk away before the miracle and think Him crazy.

In the book of John, the author describes the blessing of the loaves and fishes and pointed out that after the crowd was fed, Jesus had to slip away because the people got so wound up seeing this miracle, they wanted to crown Him king. If they had gossip magazines like we do today, we can only imagine the reporting of this event and the headlines associated with it.

Luke picks up the storyline with an account of Jesus asking the apostles, “Who do the people say that I am?” They replied that people either thought Him to be Elijah, John the Baptist or one of the other prophets who were raised from the dead. Jesus then asked, “Who do you think that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, sent from God!”

When Peter answered the question by saying that Jesus was the Messiah, he was referring to the expected king and deliverer of the Jews. The etymology of the word “Messiah” is as follows:

Middle English Messias, Messie, from Old French Messie, from Late Latin Messs, from Greek, from Aramaic mi, the anointed one (from ma, to anoint), or Hebrew m?a, anointed (from ma, to anoint); see m in Semitic roots. The Online Etymology Dictionary, located on the web, at (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=messiah&searchmode=none) breaks down the word further,

c.1300, Messias, from L.L. Messias, from Gk. Messias, from Aramaic meshiha and Heb. mashiah "anointed" (of the Lord), from mashah "anoint." This is the word rendered in Septuagint as Gk. Khristos (see Christ). In O.T. prophetic writing, it was used of an expected deliverer of the Jewish nation. The modern Eng. form represents an attempt to make the word look more Heb., and dates from the Geneva Bible (1560). Transf. sense of "an expected liberator or savior of a captive people" is attested from 1666.

Now, who could this “deliverer” be? In Judaism, the expected king of the line of David who will deliver the Jews from foreign bondage and restore Israel's golden age. The term used for the messiah in the Greek New Testament, christos, was applied to Jesus, who is accepted by Christians as the promised redeemer. Messiah figures also appear in various other religions and cultures; Shiite Muslims, for example, look for a restorer of the faith known as the mahdi, and Maitreya is a redeeming figure in Buddhism.

In regards to Judaism, it is important to note that there have been several, so called messiah’s. The first one that I would like to tell you about is a fellow known as Shabbetai Tzvi. I have reprinted his story as well as the source website address where you can read more yourself if you wish, at
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Zvi.html .


Shabbetai Zvi was born in Smyrna in 1626, he showed early promise as a Talmudic scholar, and even more as a student and devotee of Kabbalah. More pronounced than his scholarship were his strange mystical speculations and religious ecstasies. He traveled to various cities, his strong personality and his alternately ascetic and self-indulgent behavior attracting and repelling rabbis and populace alike. He was expelled from Salonica by its rabbis for having staged a wedding service with himself as bridegroom and the Torah as bride. His erratic behavior continued. For long periods, he was a respected student and teacher of Kabbalah; at other times, he was given to messianic fantasies and bizarre acts. At one point, living in Jerusalem seeking "peace for his soul," he sought out a self-proclaimed "man of God," Nathan of Gaza, who declared Shabbetai Zvi to be the Messiah. Then Shabbetai Zvi began to act the part, as Gershom Scholem describes:

Riding around on horseback in majestic state [he] summoned a group of his followers, appointing them as apostles or representatives of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The messianic news spread like wildfire to other communities in Palestine ... First reports about Shabbetai Zvi reached Europe early in October 16,65 ... detailed accounts, deeply involved with legendary material, arrived in Italy, Holland, Germany and Poland.

Messianic fervor took hold of communities that had no immediate experience of persecution and bloodshed as well as those which had.... Repentance alternating with public manifestations of joy and enthusiasm was the order of the day.

From many places delegations left bearing parchments signed by the leaders of the community which acknowledged him as the Messiah and king of Israel.

Not only did Shabbetai Zvi gain militant adherents in his native Turkey and in the Near East, but even in such cosmopolitan European cities as Venice, Livorno, and Amsterdam leading rabbis and sophisticated men of affairs were caught up in the messianic frenzy.

On September 15, 1666, Shabbetai Zvi, brought before the Sultan and given the choice of death or apostasy, prudently chose the latter, setting a turban on his head to signify his conversion to Islam, for which he was rewarded with the honorary title "Keeper of the Palace Gates" and a pension of 150 piasters a day.

The apostasy shocked the Jewish world. Leaders and followers alike refused to believe it. Many continued to anticipate a second coming, and faith in false messiahs continued through the eighteenth century. In the vast majority of believers, revulsion and remorse set in and there was an active endeavor to erase all evidence, even mention of the pseudo-Messiah. Pages were removed from communal registers, and documents were destroyed. Few copies of the books that celebrated Shabbetai Zvi survived, and those that did have become rarities much sought after by libraries and collectors.




According to Wikipedia, the following reference was made about David Alroi, another messianic figure during the twelfth century. It goes as follows:

According to the memoirs of Benjamin of Tudela and Pethahiah of Regensburg, there were about 100 Jewish settlements and substantial Jewish population in Kurdistan in 12th century A.D. Benjamin of Tuleda also gives the account of David Alroi, the messianic leader from central Kurdistan, who rebelled against the king of Persia and had plans to lead the Jews back to Jerusalem.

Going back to the answer that Peter gave, “You are the Messiah, sent from God!”, seems a little over the top, especially when we know that Peter denies to everyone later who Jesus really is and claims to not know Him. At the time of the answer, I am sure that Peter and the rest of the apostles present probably believed that He was the Messiah.

One of the problems that people have in accepting Jesus as the Messiah is His humility and gentleness that was punctuated by physical submissiveness. Jesus willingly subjected Himself to torture and went to the cross so that He could claim victory over death and free us. There are many who don’t see that act as fulfillment of messianic prophecy, instead are looking for a dynamic and strong leader to lead them in worldly battles to restore God’s kingdom. That is why the apostles were huddled in a room, waiting to be arrested, thinking that Jesus could not have been the messiah because He died on the cross. It wasn’t until He appeared to them, after His resurrection, did they understand that He was the true Messiah.

I would like to make a final note in regards to this subject. The devil was also fooled in regards to Jesus. If the devil had truly known what God was up to, he would have never allowed Jesus to die on the cross. No death, no resurrection.