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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Luke 4:20 - 4:20
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
He closed the book (ptuxas to biblion). Aorist active participle of ptussō. Rolled up the roll and gave it back to the attendant who had given it to him and who put it away again in its case.
Sat down (ekathisen). Took his seat there as a sign that he was going to speak instead of going back to his former seat. This was the usual Jewish attitude for public speaking and teaching (Luk 5:3; Mat 5:1; Mar 4:1; Act 16:13).
Were fastened on him (ēsan atenizontes autōi). Periphrastic imperfect active and so a vivid description. Literally, the eyes of all in the synagogue were gazing fixedly upon him. The verb atenizō occurs in Aristotle and the Septuagint. It is from the adjective atenēs and that from teinō, to stretch, and copulative or intensive a, not a privative. The word occurs in the N.T. here and in Luk 22:56, ten times in Acts, and in 2Co 3:7, 2Co 3:13. Paul uses it of the steady eager gaze of the people at Moses when he came down from the mountain when he had been communing with God. There was something in the look of Jesus here that held the people spellbound for the moment, apart from the great reputation with which he came to them. In small measure every effective speaker knows what it is to meet the eager expectations of an audience.