I stop to note a circumstance in the history of the conversion of Zaccheus, which deserves attention. The Lord Jesus observed, when speaking of the salvation that was then to come to his house, "for so much as he also is a son of Abraham." (Luke 19:1-10) Now if Zaccheus was, as is Generally supposed, a Gentile by birth, this sonship in Abraham must have been as Paul speaks of it, spiritually. "If ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:29) I do not speak positively upon the subject; but the office of a Publican or Taxgatherer among the Romans was so invidious an employment that few of the Jews would engage in it. So that it is probable, Zaccheus might have been a gentile. And hence, by the way, a sweet testimony to that blessed truth, that Christ was given both for a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of his people Israel. (Isaiah 49:6) (Luke 2:32) If Zaccheus derived his name, as is supposed, from Zacac, of the Syriac, meaning just, or justified; the name was truly applicable to the person, justified freely as he was in the salvation of Christ.


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