Bible Commentaries

And ¹ [Jesus] entered and passed through Jericho.

(1) Christ especially guides by his grace those who seem to be furthest from it.

And, behold, [there was] a man named Zacchaeus, which was the ^a chief among the publicans, and he was rich.

(a) The overseer and head of the publicans who were there together: for the publicans were divided into companies, as we may gather from many places in the orations of Cicero.

² And when they saw [it], they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.

(2) The world forsakes the grace of God, and yet is unwilling that it should be bestowed upon others.

³ And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by ^b false accusation, I restore [him] fourfold.

(3) The example of true repentance is known by the effect.

(b) By falsely accusing any man: and this agrees most fitly to the master of the tax gatherers: for commonly they have this practice among them when they rob and spoil the commonwealth, that they claim to be concerned for nothing else except the profit of the commonwealth, and under this pretence they are thieves, and to such an extent that if men reprove them and try to redress their robbery and thievery, they cry out that the commonwealth is hindered.

And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a ^c son of Abraham.

(c) Beloved of God, one that walks in the steps of Abraham's faith: and we gather that salvation came to that house because they received the blessing as Abraham had. (Ed.)

⁴ And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

(4) We must patiently wait for the judgment of God which will be revealed in his time.

⁵ And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

(5) There are three sorts of men in the Church: the one sort fall from Christ whom they do not see; the other, according to their God given position, bestow the gifts which they have received from God to his glory, with great pains and diligence; the third live idly and do no good. As for the first, the Lord when he comes will justly punish them in his time; the second he will bless according to the pains which they have taken; and as for the slothful and idle persons, he will punish them like the first.

Then came the first, saying, Lord, ^d thy pound hath gained ten pounds.

(d) This was a piece of money which the Greeks used, and was worth about one hundred pence, which is about ten crowns.

⁶ And another came, saying, Lord, behold, [here is] thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:

(6) Against those who idly spend their life in deliberating and in contemplation.

Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the ^e bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?

(e) To the bankers and money changers. Usury or loaning money at interest is strictly forbidden by the Bible, (Exodus 22:25-27) ; (Deuteronomy 23:19-20). Even a rate as low as one per cent interest was disallowed, (Nehemiah 5:11). This servant had already told two lies. First he said the master was an austere or harsh man. This is a lie for the Lord is merciful and gracious. Next he called his master a thief because he reaped where he did not sow. Finally the master said to him that why did you not add insult to injury and loan the money out at interest so you could call your master a "usurer" too! If the servant had done this, his master would have been responsible for his servant's actions and guilty of usury. (Ed.)

And when he had thus spoken, ^f he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.

(f) The disciples were staggered and stopped by what Christ said, but Christ goes on boldly even though death was before his eyes.

⁷ And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called [the mount] of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,

(7) Christ shows in his own person that his kingdom is not of this world.

⁸ And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.

(8) When those linger who ought to preach and set forth the kingdom of God the most, he will extraordinarily raise up others in spite of them.

⁹ And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,

(9) Christ is not delighted with destruction, no not even of the wicked.

^g Saying, ^h If thou hadst known, even thou, ⁱ at least in this ^k thy day, the things [which belong] unto thy ^l peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

(g) Christ stops his speech, which partly shows how moved he was with compassion over the destruction of the city that was surely to come: and partly to reprove them for their treachery and stubbornness against him, such as has not been heard of before.

(h) You at the very least, O Jerusalem, to whom the message was properly sent.

(i) If after slaying so many prophets, and so often refusing me, the Lord of the prophets, if only now, especially in my last coming to you, you had any concern for yourself.

(k) The good and prosperous time is called the day of this city.

(l) That is, those things in which your happiness stands.

And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not ^m the time of thy visitation.

(m) That is, this very instant in which God visited you.

¹⁰ And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;

(10) Christ shows after his entry into Jerusalem by a visible sign that it is his duty, given and admonished unto him by his Father, to purge the temple.