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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Matthew 18:23 - 18:23
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
23. ἠθέλησεν συνᾶραι λόγον μετὰ τῶν δούλων αὐτοῦ. The picture is drawn from an Oriental Court. The provincial governors, farmers of taxes, and other high officials, are summoned before a despotic sovereign to give an account of their administration.
ἠθέλησεν, ‘chose,’ ‘resolved:’ all is subject to his sole will.
δούλων, i.e. subjects, for all subjects of an Eastern monarch from the highest to the lowest are ‘slaves.’ Demosthenes frequently makes a point of this, e.g. Phil. III. 32, κἂν αὐτὸς μὴ παρῇ τοὺς δούλους ἀγωνοθετήσοντας πέμπει. This shade of meaning is perhaps present in the Apostolic title δοῦλος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, Rom 1:1.