And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.
Many, no doubt, were converted to the faith of Christ of whom no account is kept in the gospels; but the conversion of some, whose case had something in it extraordinary, is recorded, as this of Zaccheus. Christ passed through Jericho, Luk 19:1. This city was build under a curse, yet Christ honoured it with his presence, for the gospel takes away the curse.
Commenting on Luke 19:1-10
And he sought to see Jesus who he was,.... What sort of a person he was for complexion, stature, and age: having heard much of him, he was very desirous of indulging his curiosity with a sight of him; having, as yet, nothing else that induced him to desire to see him: his desire to see Jesus was not of the same kind with the...
Verse 2. A man named Zaccheus. The name Zaccheus is Hebrew, and shows that this man was a Jew. The Hebrew name properly means pure, and is the same as Zacchai in . The publicans, therefore, were not all foreigners. Chief among the publicans. Who presided over other tax-gatherers, or who received their collections and transmitted them to the Roman government He was rich.