Luke 7:5

5 diligit enim gentem nostram et synagogam ipse aedificavit nobis

Luke 7:5 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 7:5

For he loveth our nation
The Jewish nation, which was Christ's nation, as well as theirs, he being a Jew; see ( John 18:35 ) . This they mention as an argument to induce him to have a regard to the centurion, though he was a Gentile; since he was a friend of the Jews, and well affected and disposed to them, which was very rare: it was not common for the Gentiles to love the Jews, any more than the Jews the Gentiles; there was an hatred, yea, an enmity between them; but this man, very likely, was a proselyte to their religion, as the following instance seems to show:

and he hath built us a synagogue;
at his own private charge, and by the assistance of his soldiers under him, whom he might employ in this work: sometimes a single person built a synagogue at his own expense, and gave it to the citizens; of which the Jews say, ^F15

``if a man builds an house, and afterwards devotes it to a synagogue, it is as a synagogue.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Piske Harosh Megilia, c. 4. art. 1.

Luke 7:5 In-Context

3 et cum audisset de Iesu misit ad eum seniores Iudaeorum rogans eum ut veniret et salvaret servum eius

4 at illi cum venissent ad Iesum rogabant eum sollicite dicentes ei quia dignus est ut hoc illi praestes

5 diligit enim gentem nostram et synagogam ipse aedificavit nobis

6 Iesus autem ibat cum illis et cum iam non longe esset a domo misit ad eum centurio amicos dicens Domine noli vexari non enim dignus sum ut sub tectum meum intres

7 propter quod et me ipsum non sum dignum arbitratus ut venirem ad te sed dic verbo et sanabitur puer meus