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Bible Dictionaries
Cock
Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
or αλεκτωρ , a well known domestic fowl. Some derive the Greek name from α , and λεκτρον , a bed, because the crowing of cocks rouses men from their beds; but Mr. Parkhurst asks, "May not this name be as properly deduced from the Hebrew אור הלכת , the coming of the light, of which this ‘bird of dawning,' as Shakspeare calls him, gives such remarkable notice, and for doing which he was, among the Heathen, sacred to the sun, who in Homer is himself called αλεκτωρ ?" In Matthew 26:34 , our Lord is represented as saying, that before cock-crow, Peter should deny him thrice; so Luke 22:34 , and John 13:39. But according to Mark 14:30 , he says, "Before the cock crow twice thou shalt deny me thrice." These texts may be very satisfactorily reconciled, by observing, that ancient authors, both Greek and Latin, mention two cock- crowings, the one of which was soon after midnight, the other about three o'clock in the morning; and this latter being most noticed by men as the signal of their approaching labours, was called by way of eminence, the cock-crowing; and to this alone, Matthew, giving the general sense of our Saviour's warning to Peter, refers; but Mark, recording his very words, mentions the two cock-crowings.
The rabbies tell us that cocks were not permitted to be kept in Jerusalem on account of the holiness of the place; and that for this reason some modern Jews cavil against this declaration of the Evangelists; but the cock is not among the birds prohibited in the law of Moses. If there was any restraint in the use and domestication of the animal, it must have been an arbitrary practice of the Jews, and could not have been binding on foreigners, of whom many resided at Jerusalem as officers or traders. Strangers would not be willing to forego an innocent kind of food in compliance with a conquered people; and the trafficking spirit of the Jews would induce them to supply aliens, if it did not expressly contradict the letter of their law. This is sufficient to account for fowl of this kind being there, even admitting a customary restraint. The celebrated Reland admits that it was not allowed to breed cocks in the city, but that the Jews were not prohibited from buying them to eat, and that therefore the cock mentioned in the Gospel might be in the house of a Jew who designed to kill it for his own table; or may have been kept in the precincts of Pilate, or of a Roman officer or soldier.
During the time of our Saviour, the night was divided into four watches, a fourth watch having been introduced among the Jews from the Romans, who derived it from the Greeks. The second and third watches are mentioned in Luke 12:38; the fourth, in Matthew 14:25; and the four are all distinctly mentioned in Mark 13:35 : "Watch, therefore; for ye know not when the master of the house cometh; at even," οψε , or the late watch, "or at midnight," μεσονυκτιου , "or at the cock-crowing," αλεκτοροφωνιας , "or in the morning," πρωι , the early watch. Here, the first watch was at even, and continued from six till nine; the second commenced at nine, and ended at twelve, or midnight; the third watch, called by the Romans gallicinium, lasted from twelve to three; and the morning watch closed at six.
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Watson, Richard. Entry for 'Cock'. Richard Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/wtd/c/cock.html. 1831-2.
