Vincent Word Studies - Matthew 9:9 - 9:9

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com

Vincent Word Studies - Matthew 9:9 - 9:9


(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Receipt of custom (τελώνιον)

Rev., place of toll. Wyc., tolbooth, toll-booth, or toll-cabin, which is an excellent word, though obsolete. Sitting at, is, literally, sitting on: the elevated platform or bench which was the principal feature of the toll-office, as in modern custom-bazaars, being put for the whole establishment. This customs-office was at Capernaum, the land-rag-place for the many ships which traversed the lake or coasted from town to town; and this not only for those who had business in Capernaum, but for those who would there strike the great road of eastern commerce from Damascus to the harbors of the West. Cicero, in his oration on the Consular Provinces, accuses Gabinius, the pro-consul of Syria, of relieving the Syrians and Jews of some of their legitimate taxes, and of ordering the small buildings to be taken down, which the publicans had erected at the approaches to bridges, or at the termination of roads, or in the harbors, for the convenience of their slaves and collectors.