MALCO (Méllyoc, Malchus, from the Semitic malk = “king”). — Servant of the high priest Caiaphas (v.). Having gone to the Garden of Olives to arrest Jesus, he received a blow from Peter that wounded his right ear. Only Io. 18:10 gives the name of the one who struck, Peter, and of the one who was wounded, M. The Synoptics (Mt. 26:51; Mc. 14:47; Lc. 22:50), perhaps because Peter was still alive when they wrote, do not mention the names of either the one who struck or the one who was wounded. Lc. 22:51 adds that “Jesus, having touched the ear, healed him.”
Perhaps Peter intended to sever M.’s neck; but M., bending down, had only his ear severed. M. had a relative in the court of the high priest. This man asked Peter, who was denying him: “Did I not perhaps see you with him (Jesus) in the garden?” (Io. 18:26–27).
The name M. corresponds to the Hebrew Mallükh (Vulgate Maloch and Melluch), in I Par. 6:29 (Vulg. 44); Esd. 10:32; Neh. 10:4, 27; 12:2. Pietro De Ambroggi