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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Matthew 27:32 - 27:32
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat_27:32
32As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.
Mat_27:32 "man of Cyrene named Simon" Cyrene is modern Libya, but the man's name is Jewish. The fact that he was in Jerusalem at this time says he was a Jew or a proselyte. There was a synagogue in Jerusalem for Cyrenian Jews (cf. Act_6:9). His racial or ethnic background is uncertain, but he was probably a Jew of the Diaspora.
▣ "pressed into service" This is a Persian word used in Mat_5:41. Occupying military forces had the right to command local citizens to perform certain tasks.
▣ "to bear His cross" Whether the cross-bar or the entire cross was carried to Golgotha is uncertain. The shape of the cross may have been a capital "T," a small "t," an "X," or a scaffolding holding several persons.