Luke 7:1-6

a.The First Deputation.

The Alex. reading ἐπείδη, since assuredly, has no meaning.

There is something solemn in these expressions: ἐπλήσωσε, had fulfilled, and εἰς τὰς ἀκοάς, in the ears of the people. The proclamation which had just taken place is given as something complete. The circumstance that this miracle took place just when Jesus returned to Capernaum, after this discourse, was remembered in the traditional account, and has been faithfully preserved in our two evangelical narratives.

The centurion (Luke 7:2) was probably a Roman soldier in the service of Herod; he was a proselyte, and had even manifested special zeal on behalf of his new faith (Luke 7:5).

Instead of δοῦλος, a slave, Matthew says παῖς, a word which may signify either a son or a servant, and which Luke employs in the latter sense at Luke 7:7. Bleek and Holtzmann prefer the meaning son in Matthew, “because otherwise it would be necessary to admit that the centurion had only one slave.” As if a man could not say: “My servant is sick,” though he had several servants! The meaning servant is more probable in Matthew, because it better explains the reluctance which the centurion feels to trouble the Lord. If it had been his son, he would doubtless have been bolder.

The malady must have been, according to Matthew's description, Luke 7:6, acute rheumatism. And whatever criticism may say, this malady, when it affects certain organs, the heart for instance, may become mortal.

The words: who was very dear to him, serve to explain why a step so important as a deputation of the elders should have been taken.

The latter are doubtless the rulers of the synagogue, whose duty it was to maintain order in the congregation. They could more easily explain to Jesus the honourable facts which made in favour of the centurion, than he could himself.