Matthew 8:6

Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy.

Luke says his servant "was dear unto him," and the whole account of Matthew indicates intense solicitude. While Romans often treated their slaves with great inhumanity, there were many instances of devoted affection. The slaves were prisoners taken in war, or their children, were usually white, and often highly educated. Thousands were freed by kind-hearted masters, were sometimes made their heirs, and these freedmen often rose to great prominence. Horace, the most distinguished of Roman poets, was the son of. freedman.

Sick of the palsy.

Paralysis, or palsy, was. common disease in those days. (See Matthew 4:24.) Alford says, "The disease of the text may have been tetanus, or lockjaw, which the ancient physicians included under paralysis, and which is more common in hot countries than with us." If the disease was lockjaw the evidences of haste and importunate entreaty are accounted for. Luke says that "he was ready to die."