Luke 19:1-10. Zacchaeus the Tax-gatherer. 1. _entered and passed through_ Literally, "_having entered Jericho was passing through it."_ Jericho Jericho (the City of Palm trees, Deuteronomy 34:3; Judges 1:16) is about 6 miles from the Jordan, and 15 from Jerusalem. It was from a point opposite to i... [ Continue Reading ]
_behold_ The style of this chapter shews that St Luke is using a document of Aramaic origin. _a man named Zaccheus Zakkai_means -pure." Ezra 2:9; Nehemiah 7:14; Jos. _Vit._46. There is a Zakkai in the Talmud, father of the famous Rabbi Jochanan, and he also lived at Jericho. _the chief among the pu... [ Continue Reading ]
_he sought to see Jesus_ Doubtless his riches increased the odium of his position, and being accustomed to contempt and hatred, he wished to see One who was not only a great prophet, but also kind to tax- gatherers and sinners.... [ Continue Reading ]
_into a sycomore tree_ Not the same as the _sycamine_(_mulberry)_of Luke 17:6, or with our _sycamore_(or pseudo-platanus) but the Egyptian fig, of which the low spreading branches are very easy to climb. __... [ Continue Reading ]
_Zaccheus_, _make haste_ Zacchaeus was so prominent a person in Jericho that we can see no difficulty in his being known to Jesus by name.... [ Continue Reading ]
_joyfully_ This public honour done by the Messiah to one so despised by all classes of his countrymen, ennobled him with a new feeling of happiness and self-respect.... [ Continue Reading ]
_they all murmured_ Rather, THEY ALL BEGAN TO MURMUR ALOUD. The all" is very significant as shewing how deep-seated was the national feeling which, because it was unworthy, our Lord at the very zenith of His earthly popularity thus unflinchingly braved. Many of them may not have heard His previous... [ Continue Reading ]
_stood_ The word means -taking his position" in sight of all the crowd; see Luke 18:11. _unto the Lord_ Not to the crowd who had nothing but contempt and hatred for him, but to Him who loved the nobler self which He saw in him, and of whose notice he desired to be more worthy. _the half of my good... [ Continue Reading ]
_a son of Abraham_ Used here in the high spiritual sense (Romans 4:11-12; Romans 4:16; Galatians 3:7) though also true (as the name shews) in the literal sense. See Luke 1:55; Luke 3:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
_that which was lost_ See Luke 15:1-32; Matthew 18:11; 1 Timothy 1:15; Ezekiel 34:11-16.... [ Continue Reading ]
11-27. The Parable of the Pounds. 11. _because he was nigh to Jerusalem_ Probably therefore the parable was spoken on the journey. _should immediately appear_ Literally, _"be manifested to view."_The disciples had the same excited anticipation after the Resurrection, Acts 1:6-7. Our Lord was alway... [ Continue Reading ]
_A certain nobleman_, &c. This would seem a most unintelligible incident if we did not know what suggested it. The Evangelists throw no gleam of light upon it, and the fact that we can from contemporary secular history not only explain it, but even trace (without the slightest aid from any of the Go... [ Continue Reading ]
_his ten servants_ Rather, ten servants of his own; for such a noble would count his servants by hundreds. _ten pounds_ The _mina_was 100 drachmas (Luke 15:8), and was worth _£3. 6s._8 _d._in nominal value. The word is a corruption of the Hebrew _maneh. (2 Chronicles 9:16_.) A comparison of this pa... [ Continue Reading ]
_hated him_ And this was not strange, seeing that the very beginning of his reign had been signalised by a hideous massacre of his subjects. (Jos. _Antt._xvii. 9, § 3.) _and sent a message after hint_ Rather, AN EMBASSY to FOLLOW HIM (Luke 14:32). Here again the incident would be entirely obscure,... [ Continue Reading ]
_having received the kingdom_ Not however the coveted title of king, which was refused him. _had gained by trading diepragmateusato_, a compound form of the _pragmateuesthai_in Luke 19:13. The calling of the servants corresponds to the "Give an account of thy stewardship" of Luke 16:2 _._... [ Continue Reading ]
_thy pound hath gained_ Literally, _"earned in addition_." As though there were no merit of his own in the matter.... [ Continue Reading ]
_in a very little_ See Luke 12:48; Luke 16:10. _have thou authority over ten cities_ Another strange touch explained by the history of the times. Archelaus had actually assigned the government of cities to his adherents who had proved faithful, and this was not an uncommon plan among the Herodian p... [ Continue Reading ]
_I feared thee_ A sure sign that he did not love him, 1 John 4:18. _takest up that thou layedst not down_ A typical description of injustice forbidden alike by Jewish and Greek laws (Jos. c. _Ap._11. 130).... [ Continue Reading ]
_Oat of thine oum mouth_ "A powerful instance of the _argument um ex concessis_." Lange. __... [ Continue Reading ]
_into the bank_ Rather, INTO A BANK. The Greek word for -bank" is _trapeza_(-a table"); hence a banker is _trapezites._This touch contains the germ of the unrecorded saying (_agraphon dogma)_of our Lord, which is one of the most certainly genuine of those which are preserved by tradition "Shew yours... [ Continue Reading ]
_Take from him the pound_ Here our Lord leaves the historical groundwork. Compare Matthew 21:43, "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." Luke 8:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
_they said unto him_ Perhaps the officials round the king; but as this verse is purely parenthetical, it may not impossibly be an interpellation of the crowd, expressive of their vivid interest in the narrative.... [ Continue Reading ]
_even that he hath_ Comp. Luke 8:18, "even that which he _seemeth to have."_... [ Continue Reading ]
_mine enemies_ They had once been -citizens," Luke 19:14. _slay them before me_ Archelaus had similarly put some of his political opponents to death. This, too, corresponds to ulterior truths the ruin and massacre of the unbelieving Jews. Comp. 1 Corinthians 15:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
_he went before_ Literally, "_he began to journey in front of them_;" as though, for the delivery of the parable, He had paused to let the crowd gather round Him. _ascending_ The road from Jericho to Jerusalem is a continual ascent. See Luke 10:30-31.... [ Continue Reading ]
29-40. The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. 29. _Bethphage_ The site is not identified, but it seems to have been regarded as a suburb of Jerusalem. The name means _House of (unripe) Figs._ and Bethany Perhaps the _House of Dates_, but this is very uncertain. The mention of Bethany _after_Bethphage... [ Continue Reading ]
_a colt tied_ St Luke is here less circumstantial than the other Evangelists, and does not refer to the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. _whereon yet never man sat_ and therefore adapted for a sacred use. See Numbers 19:2; Deuteronomy 21:3; 1 Samuel 6:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
_cast their garments upon the colt_ to do Jesus royal honour. Comp. 2 Kings 9:13. _they set Jesus thereon_ It is clear that He rode upon the unused foal, which was probably led by the bridle, while it is possible that the mother went by its side. St Matthew, however, alone (apparently) mentions two... [ Continue Reading ]
_spread their clothes in the way_ as well as leaves of trees and branches of the palms, which they tore off and kept strewing as they went along (Matthew 21:8), as in the reception of Mordecai (Targum on _Esther_x. 15) and of the Maccabees (2Ma 10:7). The very same mode of shewing honour was adopted... [ Continue Reading ]
_even now at the descent of the mount of Olives_ at the spot where the main road from Bethany sweeps round the shoulder of the hill, and the city first bursts full on the view. At this point the palm-bearing procession from the city seems to have met the rejoicing crowd of the Galilaean pilgrims who... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blessed be the King_ The various cries recorded by the three Evangelists all come from the Great Hallel (Psalms 113-118). St John alone (John 12:17 reading _on)_points out that the Messianic enthusiasm had been mainly kindled by the raising of Lazarus.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Master_, _rebuke thy disciples_ St Matthew puts into the mouth of "the Chief Priests and scribes" the ruder interpellation, "Hearest thou what these say?... [ Continue Reading ]
_the stones would immediately cry out_ There seems to be an allusion to the passage "For the stone shall cry out of the wall," which occurs amid denunciations of destruction on covetousness and cruelty in Habakkuk 2:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
41-44. Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. 41. _he beheld the city_ The Temple was at that time magnificent with gilding and white marble, which flashed resplendently in the spring sunlight (Jos. _B. J._v. 5, § 6), and the city was very unlike the crumbling and squalid city of to-day. But that "mass of g... [ Continue Reading ]
_at least in this thy day_ Isa 55:6; 2 Corinthians 6:2. _which belong unto thy peace_ Perhaps with a _paronomasia_on the name of _Salem or_-Peace," and on the _sound_though not the derivation of Jerusalem (_Yeroo Shalom_-they shall see peace," comp. Psalms 122:6-7). Such plays on words often spring... [ Continue Reading ]
_the days_ often used of troublous times, like the Latin _tempora._ shall cast a trench about thee Rather, SHALL SURROUND THEE WITH A PALISADE, Isaiah 29:3-4; Isaiah 37:33, LXX. Literally fulfilled forty years afterwards at the siege of Jerusalem, when Titus surrounded the city first with a palisad... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall lay thee even with the ground_ Titus, if we may trust Josephus, accomplished this prophecy wholly against his will, being driven to the utter subversion and destruction of the city, by the desperate obstinacy of the Jews. Sulpicius Severus (_Hist._ii.), who is supposed to be here incorporatin... [ Continue Reading ]
45, 46. Final Cleansing of the Temple. 45. _he went into the temple_ The procession of Galilaean pilgrims would leave Jesus at the foot of Mount Moriah (the -Mountain of the House," Isaiah 2:2), beyond which none might advance with dusty feet or stained by travel. Jesus would enter by the Shushan g... [ Continue Reading ]
_My house is the house of prayer_ Isaiah 56:7. See on Luke 1:10; Luke 18:10. _a den of thieves_ Rather, a brigands" cave. Our Lord had seen many of these brigands" caves on the steep rocky sides of the Wady Hamam and elsewhere. Comp. Jeremiah 7:11, "Is this house which is called by my name become a... [ Continue Reading ]
48. Eagerness of the People to hear.... [ Continue Reading ]
_were very attentive to hear him_ Literally, "_were hanging from him,"_i.e. hung on His lips; "_pendebot ab ore,"_Verg. _Aen._iv. 79. __... [ Continue Reading ]