MALCHUS (Μάλχος, Malchus, from the Semitic malk = “king”). — A servant of the high priest Caiaphas (v.). When he went to the Garden of Olives to arrest Jesus, Peter struck him with a blow that wounded his right ear. Only John 18:10 names the striker, Peter, and the wounded man, Malchus. The Synoptics (Matt. 26:51; Mark 14:47; Luke 22:50), perhaps because Peter was still alive when they wrote, omit the names of both striker and wounded. Luke 22:51 adds that “Jesus, touching the ear, healed it.”
Peter may have intended to cut off Malchus’s head; Malchus ducked and only his ear was severed. Malchus had a relative in the high priest’s court. This kinsman challenged Peter, who was denying Jesus, with the words: “Did I not see you with him in the garden?” (John 18:26–27).
The name Malchus corresponds to the Hebrew Mallikh (Vulgate Maloch and Melluch), found in 1 Chron. 6:29 (Vulg. 44); Ezra 10:32; Neh. 10:4–27; 12:2.