Luke 7:2

7:2 a Roman officer (literally a centurion): A centurion was in charge of a “century,” approximately 100 soldiers. There were 60 centuries, or 6,000 soldiers, in a Roman legion.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 7:2. Ἔντιμος, dear) even on account of his obedience [as well as for other reasons]: Luk 7:8.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 7:2 . ὂς ἧν αὐτῷ ἔντιμος , who was dear to him; though a slave, indicating that he was a humane master. Lk. has also in view, according to his wont, to enhance the value of the benefit conferred: the life of a valued servant saved.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 2. A certain centurion's servant] See this miracle explained on Mt 8:5-13.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(2) A certain centurion’s servant.—See Notes on Mat_8:5-13.

Was dear unto him.—Literally, was precious, the dearness of value, but not necessarily of affection. St. Luke is here, contrary to what we might have expected, less precise than St. Matthew, who states that the slave was “sick of the palsy.” Had the physician been unable to satisfy himself from what he heard as to the nature of the disease? The details that follow show that he had made inquiries, and was able to supply some details which St. Matthew had not given.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. a certain centurion’s servant] Literally, “slave” The word used by St Matthew (pais) might mean son, but is clearly also used for servant (like the Latin puer). A centurion is a captain; under him is a sergeant (dekadarch), and above him a colonel (chiliarch), and general (hegemon). Jos. B. J. v. 12, § 2. All the centurions in the N.T. are favourably mentioned (Luk_23:47; Act_27:43).

dear] Rather, precious. The love of the captain for his servant was a good example for the Jews themselves, who in the Talmud forbade mourning for slaves.

sick] St Matthew says, “stricken with paralysis, and in terrible pain” (Luk_8:6). St Luke, as a physician, may have omitted this specification because the description applies rather to tetanus than to the strict use of “paralysis.”

ready to die] Rather, was on the point of death.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And a certain centurion's servant,.... The same that Matthew makes mention of, Mat 8:5; see Gill on Mat 8:5. See Gill on Mat 8:6.

who was dear unto him; to the centurion, being an honest, upright, faithful, and obliging servant; as Tabi was to Rabban Gamaliel, of whom his master said (l),

"Tabi my servant, is not as other servants, , "he is upright".''

was sick: of a palsy; see Mat 8:6,

and ready to die; in all appearance his case was desperate, and there was no help for him by any human means, which makes the following cure, the more remarkable.

(l) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 16. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2 And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die.

Ver. 2. And a certain centurion’s servant] Piscator thinks that this history is not the same with that Mat 8:5. His reasons may be read in his Scholia on that place.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who was dear unto him - That is, he was valuable, trusty, and honored.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This history, though different in some circumstances from that related by St. Matthew, chap. viii., is most likely a relation of the same event, and the apparent discrepancies may be easily reconciled. St. Matthew says it was the centurion’s boy; St. Luke calls him his servant: but in these terms there is no necessary contradiction. And whereas the former says the centurion went himself to Christ, St. Luke mentions that he sent the ancients, or senators, of the Jews. Here, as in other places, we may suppose, that the former evangelist, for the sake of brevity, attributes to the centurion what was done in his name and with his authority; and through the whole narrative he represents our Saviour answering the centurion as if personally present. (Jansenius, concord. Evan.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

2. Servant—Luke says doulos, servant; but Matthew has it pais, boy. There are three words in the Greek language expressive of the condition of rendering service to a superior or employer, namely, μισθιος or μισθωτος, misthios or misthotos, a hired person; ανδραποδον, andrapodon, a slave owned by a proprietor; and δουλος, doulos, a servant, generically including either of the former two, designating any person performing a subordinate service for any reason whatever; as for hire, for love, from civil office, from religious duty, or from ownership.

The first of these three words occurs in Luke 15 :l7-19; Mar_1:20; Joh_10:12-13. The second never occurs in the New Testament. But its derivative, ανδραποδιστης, andrapodistes, is used in 1Ti_1:10, and signifies an enslaver, whether by stealing a man or capturing him in war, or any other means. In all other cases in the New Testament where the English word servant occurs, the Greek word is doulos.

The word boy here denotes the same relation as when an English speaker would call his waiter by the terms my boy or my man. The precise nature of the servitude must be learned from other circumstances than the term used. Very probably the boy in the present case was a slave. If so, he was held in absolute Roman slavery, his life being at the perfect disposal of his master. Of course the law of Christ allowed him to exercise no such right. Whether Christ uttered the word or not, (and we do not know that he did not,) the moment the centurion became a Christian he held his boy as a brother, (Phm_1:16,) entitled to all the rights conferred by the golden rule.

Under the Mosaic law all persons were set free by the jubilee every fiftieth year; so that permanent slavery proper had no legal existence, and even involuntary servitude had a precarious footing. Those who wonder why Jesus did not prohibit slavery, must show some reason for supposing that a Jewish slavery existed at all in Palestine. The reverse was probably the fact.

Sick—Of a paralysis. This is not contradicted by the fact that he is said to have been grievously tormented; for paralysis or palsy, with the contraction of the joints, is accompanied with severe pain. United with tetanus, as it sometimes is in eastern countries, extreme suffering and rapid dissolution are often the result.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And a certain centurion"s servant; literally, slave. The difference is important, as we shall see in the picture presented to us of the centurion"s character. A centurion was an officer in the Roman army: the grade answers to the modem European captain German, hauptmann; the command included a hundred soldiers. Scholars are not agreed respecting the special service of this particular officer. Some consider he was a Greek or Syrian holding a commission under the prince of the country, the tetrach Herod Antipas; others, that he was in the service of the empire, with a small detachment of the garrison of Caesarea, doing duty at the important lake-city, probably in connection with the revenue. It is clear that Roman garrisons at this period were dotted about the various centres of population in these semi-dependent states. At Jerusalem we know a considerable Roman force was stationed, professedly to keep order in the turbulent capital, but really, no doubt, to overawe the national party. Was sick, and ready to die. St. Matthew calls the disease paralysis, and adds that the sufferer was in extreme pain. The disorder was probably some dangerous form of rheumatic fever, which not unfrequently attacks the region of the heart, and is accompanied with severe pain, and proves in many instances fatal. The ordinary, paralysis would scarcely be accompanied with the acute pain mentioned by St. Matthew.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

who was highly regarded by him

"whom the centurion valued" or "whom he respected"

asked him earnestly

"pleaded with him" or "begged him"

He is worthy

"The centurion is worthy"

our nation

"our people." This refers to the Jewish people.

translationWords

centurion

servant

precious

elder

Jew

worthy

nation

synagogue

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

2. ἑκατοντάρχου δέ τινος δοῦλος. Literally ‘slave.’ The word used by St Matthew (παῖς) might mean son, but is clearly also used for servant (like the Latin puer). A centurion is a captain; under him is a sergeant (δεκάδαρχος), and above him a colonel (χιλίαρχος), and general (ἡγεμών). Jos. B. J. Luk 7:12, § 2. All the centurions in the N.T. are favourably mentioned (Luk 23:47; Act 27:43).

ἔντιμος. ‘Precious.’ 1Pe 2:4; 1Pe 2:6. The love of the captain for his servant was a good example for the Jews themselves, who in the Talmud forbade mourning for slaves.

κακῶς ἔχων. St Matthew says, ‘stricken with paralysis, and in terrible pain’ (Luk 8:6). St Luke, as a physician, may have omitted this specification because the description applies rather to tetanus than to “paralysis.”

ἤμελλεν τελευτᾶν. ‘Was on the point of death.’

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2-10. The healing of the Centurion’s Servant at Capernaum. Mat 8:5-13. Mt. places the healing of the leper (Luk 5:12-14) between the Sermon on the Mount and the healing of the centurion’s slave. This centurion was a heathen by birth (ver. 9), and was probably in the service of Antipas. He had become in some degree attracted to Judaism (ver. 5), and was an illustration of the great truth which Lk. delights to exhibit, that Gentile and Jew alike share in the blessings of the kingdom. The anima naturaliter Christiana of the man is seen in his affection for his slave.

2. ἤμελλεν πελευτᾷν “Was on the point of dying,” and would have done so but for this intervention (Act 12:6, Act 16:27, etc.). Burton., § 73. For ἔντιμος “held in honour, held dear,” comp. 14:8; Php 2:29; 1Pe 2:4, 1Pe 2:6; Isa 28:16. The fact explains why this deputation of elders came.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Centurion [εκατονταρχου] . From ekaton, a hundred, and arcw, to command. Commander of a hundred men. Mark uses kenturiwn, a Graecized form of the Latin word centurio. A centuria was originally a division consisting of a hundred things of a kind; and thence came to mean any division, whether consisting of a hundred or not. In military language it meant a division of troops, a company, not necessarily of a hundred, the caption of which was called centurio. The numbers of a century varied from about fifty to a hundred. The Roman legion consisted of ten cohorts or speirai, bands, as "the Italian band," of which Cornelius was a centurion (Act 10:1). The commanders of these cohorts were called chiliarchs, or chief captains (Joh 18:12, Rev.). Each cohort contained six centuries, or companies, of which the commanders were called centurions. The duty of the centurion was chiefly confined to the regulation of his own corps, and the care of the watch. The badge of his office was the vitis, or vine - stock. He wore a short tunic, and was also known by letters on the crest of his helmet. Dean Howson (" Companions of St. Paul ") remarks on the favorable impression left upon the mind by the officers of the Roman army mentioned in the New Testament, and cites, besides the centurion in this passage, the one at the cross, and Julius, who escorted Paul to Rome. See, further, on Act 10:1.

Servant [δουλος] . A bond - servant. Matthew has paiv, a servant, which occurs also at ver. 7.

Dear [εντιμος] . Lit., held in honor or value. It does not necessarily imply an affectionate relation between the master and the servant, though such may well have existed. It may mean only that he was a valuable servant. See on 1Pe 2:4. In this case Luke omits the mention of the disease, which is given by Matthew.

Beseeching [ερωτων] . Too strong. Better asking, as Rev. The word to beseech [παρακαλεω] occurs in the next verse. See on Mt 14:23.

Heal [διασωση] . Better as Rev., save. See on ch. Luk 6:19.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.