Luke 19:8

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 goods A vast sacrifice for one whose very position shewed that he had not been indifferent to wealth.

I give i.e. I now propose to give; a purposenot a past habit.

by false accusation On the word esukophantesa,see Luke 3:14.

fourfold far more therefore than was required by the Mosaic Law, which only demanded the restitution of a fifth partbeyond the principal, Numbers 5:7. The words neither deny nor affirm that any part of his wealth had been thus dishonestly gained.