Christmas Eve
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Bible Dictionaries
Cock
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or COCK . Matthew 26:34; Matthew 26:74 , Mark 13:35; Mark 14:30; Mark 14:72 , Luke 22:34; Luke 22:60-61 , John 13:30; John 18:27 . Cocks and hens were probably unknown in Palestine until from two to three centuries before Christ’s time. In the famous painted tomb at Marissa (see Mareshah), a work of about b.c. 200, we have the cock depicted. Cocks and hens were introduced from Persia. The absence of express mention of then from the Law, and the fact that it is a ‘clean’ bird, have made it possible for the Jews for many centuries to sacrifice, these birds on the eve of the Day of Atonement a cock for each male and a hen for each female in the household. Talmudic tradition finds references to the cock in Isaiah 22:17 , Job 38:36 , and Proverbs 30:31 , but all these are very doubtful. The ‘ cock-crowing ’ was the name of the 3rd watch of the night, just before the dawn, in the time of our Lord. During this time the cocks crow at irregular intervals.
E. W. G. Masterman.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Cock'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/c/cock.html. 1909.
