Matthew 16:22

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "God forbid it, Lord!" he said. "That must never happen to you!"

Matthew 16:22 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 16:22

Then Peter took him
The Arabic version reads it, "called to him": the Ethiopic, "answered him"; and the Syriac, "led him"; he took him aside, by himself; and as the Persic version, "privately said to him", or he took him by the hand in a familiar way, to expostulate with him, and dissuade him from thinking and talking of any such things;

and began to rebuke him:
reprove and chide him, forgetting himself and his distance; though he did it not out of passion and ill will, but out of tenderness and respect; looking upon what Christ had said, unworthy of him, and as what was scarce probable or possible should ever befall him, who was the Son of the living God, and overlooking his resurrection from the dead, and being ignorant at present of the end of Christ's coming into the world, and redemption and salvation by his sufferings and death:

saying, far be it from thee, Lord,
or "Lord, be propitious to thyself", or "spare thyself": the phrase answers to (dl ox) , often used by the Targumists ^F21 and stands in the Syriac version here. The Septuagint use it in a like sense, in ( Genesis 43:23 ) ( 2 Samuel 23:17 ) ( 1 Chronicles 11:19 ) . Some think the word "God" is to be understood, and the words to be considered, either as a wish, "God be propitious to thee": or "spare thee", that no such thing may ever befall thee; or as an affirmation, "God is propitious to thee", he is not angry and displeased with thee, as ever to suffer any such thing to be done to thee: but it may very well be rendered, by "God forbid"; or as we do, "far be it from thee", as a note of aversion, and abhorrence of the thing spoken of:

this shall not be done unto thee:
expressing his full assurance of it, and his resolution to do all that in him lay to hinder it: he could not see how such an innocent person could be so used by the chief men of the nation; and that the Messiah, from whom so much happiness was expected, could be treated in such a manner, and especially that the Son of the living God should be killed.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 Targum Hieros. in Gen. xlix. 22. & Targum Onkelos in 1 Sam. xx. 9.

Matthew 16:22 In-Context

20 Then Jesus ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

21 From that time on Jesus began to say plainly to his disciples, "I must go to Jerusalem and suffer much from the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law. I will be put to death, but three days later I will be raised to life."

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "God forbid it, Lord!" he said. "That must never happen to you!"

23 Jesus turned around and said to Peter, "Get away from me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my way, because these thoughts of yours don't come from God, but from human nature."

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me.