{"id":518,"date":"2014-12-29T12:00:08","date_gmt":"2014-12-29T12:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=518"},"modified":"2014-12-12T23:08:02","modified_gmt":"2014-12-12T23:08:02","slug":"matthew-814-17-jesus-heals-many-historical-backgrounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-814-17-jesus-heals-many-historical-backgrounds.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 8:14-17; Jesus Heals Many (Historical Backgrounds)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew 8:14-15 is testimony (again) to Jesus\u2019 divinity and compassion, but it also reveals important historical background about Christ\u2019s foremost disciple, Simon Peter. It\u2019s because of this Scripture (along with Mark 1:29-34, Luke 4:38-41, and 1 Corinthians 9:5) that we know with certainly Peter was married, and that he lived in a home in Capernaum as patriarch of his extended family (as was customary in ancient Israel).<\/p>\n<p>So what do we know about Peter\u2019s nameless wife?<\/p>\n<p>Scripture tells us that she traveled with Peter on his preaching and teaching journeys (1 Corinthians 9:5), and that her mother lived in the house she shared with Peter and his brother Andrew\u2019s family (Mark 1:29-34). Beyond that, we have the testimony of tradition which indicates that she was the daughter of Aristobulus, a co-worker of the Apostle Paul and brother to Paul\u2019s first missionary partner, Barnabas. It\u2019s also likely she was, at least in part, a role model in Peter\u2019s mind when he wrote his now-famous advice on the character and conduct of husbands and wives in marriage (1 Peter 3:1-12).<\/p>\n<p>Tradition also tells us that she was imprisoned with Peter at the time of his martyrdom\u2014and that she, in fact, was murdered just before he was. Perhaps that was intended by his captors as additional cruelty for Peter, to be forced to watch his wife painfully endure execution for her faith in Christ. Regardless, Bible historian Herbert Lockyear recalls the traditional stories of their final moments this way:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">When death came, his [Peter\u2019s] wife was martyr first, and as she was led out to die, Peter comforted her with the words, \u201cRemember the Lord.\u201d When Peter\u2019s turn came he begged his crucifiers to crucify him head downward, feeling he was unworthy to die in exactly the same way as his Lord. In heaven, Peter and his loyal wife shine together as stars for having turned many to righteousness.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/workscited.html\">Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>[AWB, 220; WWW, 38]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Bible Study Nerds\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-for-bible-study-nerds.html\">About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Mike Nappa\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-mike-nappa.html\">About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0<a title=\"Nappaland Communications Inc. official website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nappaland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew 8:14-15 is testimony (again) to Jesus\u2019 divinity and compassion, but it also reveals important historical background about Christ\u2019s foremost disciple, Simon Peter. It\u2019s because of this Scripture (along with Mark 1:29-34, Luke 4:38-41, and 1 Corinthians 9:5) that we know with certainly Peter was married, and that he lived in a home in Capernaum&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,2],"tags":[220,219,79],"class_list":["post-518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-historicalbackgrounds","category-matthew","tag-martyrs","tag-peters-wife","tag-simon-peter"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Matthew 8:14-17; Jesus Heals Many (Historical Backgrounds) - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-814-17-jesus-heals-many-historical-backgrounds.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matthew 8:14-17; Jesus Heals Many (Historical Backgrounds) - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Matthew 8:14-15 is testimony (again) to Jesus\u2019 divinity and compassion, but it also reveals important historical background about Christ\u2019s foremost disciple, Simon Peter. It\u2019s because of this Scripture (along with Mark 1:29-34, Luke 4:38-41, and 1 Corinthians 9:5) that we know with certainly Peter was married, and that he lived in a home in Capernaum&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-814-17-jesus-heals-many-historical-backgrounds.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-29T12:00:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-12T23:08:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike Nappa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Matthew 8:14-17; Jesus Heals Many (Historical Backgrounds) - For Bible Study Nerds","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-814-17-jesus-heals-many-historical-backgrounds.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Matthew 8:14-17; Jesus Heals Many (Historical Backgrounds) - For Bible Study Nerds","og_description":"Matthew 8:14-15 is testimony (again) to Jesus\u2019 divinity and compassion, but it also reveals important historical background about Christ\u2019s foremost disciple, Simon Peter. It\u2019s because of this Scripture (along with Mark 1:29-34, Luke 4:38-41, and 1 Corinthians 9:5) that we know with certainly Peter was married, and that he lived in a home in Capernaum&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-814-17-jesus-heals-many-historical-backgrounds.html","og_site_name":"For Bible Study Nerds","article_published_time":"2014-12-29T12:00:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-12T23:08:02+00:00","author":"Mike Nappa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-814-17-jesus-heals-many-historical-backgrounds.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-814-17-jesus-heals-many-historical-backgrounds.html","name":"Matthew 8:14-17; Jesus Heals Many (Historical Backgrounds) - For Bible Study Nerds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-12-29T12:00:08+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-12T23:08:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-814-17-jesus-heals-many-historical-backgrounds.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-814-17-jesus-heals-many-historical-backgrounds.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/12\/matthew-814-17-jesus-heals-many-historical-backgrounds.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Matthew 8:14-17; Jesus Heals Many (Historical Backgrounds)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/","name":"For Bible Study Nerds","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Mike Nappa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/#\/schema\/person\/a0ce37903172885871b0c504c6694575","name":"Mike Nappa","description":"Mike Nappa is an entertainment journalist at FamilyFans.com, a bestselling author\u2014and a notorious Bible Study Nerd. He's a former youth pastor who shepherded kids on staff at Chuck Swindoll's church in Southern California\u2014and he's a bestselling and award-winning author with more than a million copies of his books sold worldwide. Plus, he holds a degree in Christian Education with an emphasis in Bible Theology. So, you know, he\u2019s got that going for him. Mike is also a pop culture dork who watches too much TV, reads too many comic books, utters too many bad words, laughs at all the wrong jokes, and often gets in trouble because he says whatever he happens to be thinking at the moment\u2014like quoting an R-rated movie in the middle of a sermon. Yeah, he\u2019s a mess (just like you!), but he kind of likes it that way. Most of all, Mike Nappa loves Jesus, and he figures that covers over a multitude of sins. Learn more at nappaland.com\/mikenappa.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.biblestudynerds.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/author\/mnappa"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":522,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518\/revisions\/522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}