The “cock crow” or “crowing of the rooster” is an idiom in scripture, and well may not be speaking of a literal rooster. The Talmud, The Mishnah, and Historian Josephus, all mention that chickens were not allowed in Jerusalem at the time. Historically there were priests who forbid anyone in Jerusalem from having chickens, to avoid dirty and wandering birds from desecrating The Temple, or worse yet, The Holy of Holies. The “crowing of the rooster” refers to a moment of time, beginning at 3 a.m. in the morning. Let’s look in the Bible to see its definition. Mark 13:35, (NASB), "Therefore, be on the alert-- for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning.” Every morning Roman troops were summoned from their barracks at the Tower of Antonia, situated at the northwest corner of the Temple in Jerusalem. They were summoned at the “cock crow”, the third watch of the night, at 3 a.m. in the morning. One trumpet blast summoned them. A second blast dismissed them. The U.S. military does the same, at their chosen time. It’s called “Reveille”. One horn sounds to gather the troops. A second to dispatch troops. The word for trumpet call in Latin is “gullicinium” which means, “cock crow”. The Romans used “gallicinium”, “conticinium”, and “diluculum” for “cock crow”, “end of cock crow”, and “dawn”, respectively. This may also speak to why the Gospels don’t all agree on how many times the “rooster crowed”. Matthew, Luke, and John, all say the cock crowed, then Peter denied our Lord for the third time. But Mark’s Gospel states that before the cock crows twice, Peter would deny our Lord three times. Early church father’s attest that Mark had been a scribe for Peter, therefore the detail is no surprise. We can deduce that Matthew, Luke, and John, were mentioning the cock crow as a single event. However, they had in mind the second “crowing of the rooster” or the second trumpet. Mark’s Gospel specifically mentions that the cock crowed twice, two trumpets, and it would be after the second trump that Peter denied our Lord for the third time.

Do we really understand the love and compassion of Christ? The tax collectors in Jesus’ day were literally called "Pariah dogs." They were considered as dogs who foraged off of the town dump. They were the lowest of all cheats, crooks, liars, and hated by all men. The tax collector in Jesus’ day was demanded to charge whatever the fee was that was owed, BUT in addition to that, whatever extra they could cheat you out of, was their own to keep. They were ruthless and the most hated of all men. Read any of the Gospels where it says that Jesus first saw Matthew, and they all will say that Jesus saw a tax collector. They saw a refuse eating pariah dog!! The chief of sinful men! Only Matthew, writing after the fact, and knowing the surpassing love of Christ wrote something different in his Gospel! Matthew wrote, "As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man," (Matthew 9:9). A MAN??? Yes, Jesus saw a man! The sinners of that day, and this day as well, very much needed someone like Matthew. They needed a pariah dog so they could look at him and say they were so much better than this lowly scum tax collector. Only Jesus, who needed no one to look at with contempt, was free to look in Matthew's eyes with the love of God and see A MAN.