Jesus as a Pacifist (Prof. Meggitt)

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0142064X221150484
Meggitt notes that the usage of μάχαιραι (the Greek word often translated as ‘sword’) is broad. It can mean anything from military swords to knives, and a lot of tools in between. Carrying μάχαιραι was not out of the ordinary. Weapons were used by travellers as protection against both wild animals and potential robbers. In big cities it was common to have tools that could function as bladed weapons (the weapons in question were probably not military swords considering their equivalent value of a cloak, mentioned in Lk 22:36). It was not perceived as illegal or support of armed rebellion to carry these tools. So, it is dubious to argue that just because Jesus’ disciples were armed with μάχαιραι in Jerusalem, therefore they were planning an armed rebellion.

Academic Research