Matthew 26:71 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

When he was gone out into the porch— St. Matthew and St. Mark say it was a woman that attacked Peter in the porch; St. Luke says it was a man; and Grotius, to reconcile the evangelists, has shewn that the Greek word Ανθρωπος signifies both man and woman, as homo does in the Latin. But without having recourse to this criticism, which appears rather too nice, it is natural and easy to suppose, that the apostle was accosted in the porch both by a woman and a man; the former mentioned by St. Matthew and St. Mark, the latter by St. Luke. The word προαυλιον, rendered porch, answers most exactly to the Latin word vestibulum, by which many good interpreters render it: and considering the magnificence of the Jewish buildings at this time, it is reasonable to conclude, that this which belonged to the high-priest's palace, was some stately piazza or colonnade, and therefore the word would be better rendered portico. The Jews gave our Lord the appellation of Jesus of Nazareth to shew that they looked upon him as an impostor, who was neither a prophet nor the Messiah, and that they held him in the greatest contempt; and in that view the modern Jews give him the same appellation.