Robertson Word Pictures - Luke 7:2 - 7:2

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Robertson Word Pictures - Luke 7:2 - 7:2


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Centurion’s servant (Hekatontarchou tinos doulos). Slave of a certain centurion (Latin word centurio, commander of a century or hundred). Mar 15:39, Mar 15:44 has the Latin word in Greek letters, kenturiōn. The centurion commanded a company which varied from fifty to a hundred. Each cohort had six centuries. Each legion had ten cohorts or bands (Act 10:1). The centurions mentioned in the N.T. all seem to be fine men as Polybius states that the best men in the army had this position. See also Luk 23:47. The Greek has two forms of the word, both from hekaton, hundred, and archō, to rule, and they appear to be used interchangeably. So we have hekatontarchos; here, the form is -archos, and hekatontarchēs, the form is -archēs in Luk 7:6. The manuscripts differ about it in almost every instance. The -archos form is accepted by Westcott and Hort only in the nominative save the genitive singular here in Luk 7:2 and the accusative singular in Act 22:25. See like variation between them in Mat 8:5, Mat 8:8 (-archos) and Mat 8:13 (archēi). So also -archon (Act 22:25) and -archēs (Act 22:26).

Dear to him (autōi entimos). Held in honour, prized, precious, dear (Luk 14:8; 1Pe 2:4; Phi 2:29), common Greek word. Even though a slave he was dear to him.

Was sick (kakōs echōn). Having it bad. Common idiom. See note on Mat 4:24; Mat 8:16; Mar 2:17; Luk 5:31, etc. Mat 8:6 notes that the slave was a paralytic.

And at the point of death (ēmellen teleutāin). Imperfect active of mellō (note double augment ē) which is used either with the present infinitive as here, the aorist (Rev 3:16), or even the future because of the future idea in mellō (Act 11:28; Act 24:15). He was about to die.