Luke 19 Chap 19:1-10

The Conversion of Zakkai (Zachaeus - innocent in Hebrew)

1. He entered and was passing through Yericho.
2. There was a man named Zakkai. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.
3. He was trying to see who Yeshua was, and couldn't because of the crowd, because he was short.
4. He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.
5. When Yeshua came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zakkai, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house." (compare 2:30, Mt 1:21)
6. He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully.
7. When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, "He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner."
8. Zakkai stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much."
9. Yeshua said to him, "Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Avraham.

   Key verse

10. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost." (as in Chap 15 and echoing Ezekiel 34;16, where Yahweh seeks his lost sheep)

Comments

In this parable the conversion of Zakkai (Zachaeus) reveal the truth in this scripture "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God." (Luke 18:27) In this passage we know that Zacchaeus was a rich man and one thinks that it must be impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. However this passage show that Zakkai humbled before the Messiah and he did not allow the wealth come between his soul and Yahweh.

In verse 8 we see Zakkai made restitution of what he done in the past. According to David H Stern explain in his 'Jewish NT commentary' that when a person confessed to fraud and made voluntary restitution the Torah required him to return the amount stolen plus twenty percent (Leviticus 5:20-24 (6:1-5), Numbers 5:5-7). An apprehended thief had to pay the victim double (Exodus 22:3, 6 (4, 7). But a man stealing what is essential and showing no pity was required to pay back fourfold .(Exodus 21:37 (22:1), 2 Samuel 12:6) Zakkai, fully repented, not only acknowledge the heartlessness and cruelty of his behavior but voluntarily imposed upon himself the whole restitution required by the Torah for such acts.

In verse 9 Yeshua said that salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Avraham. The expression "son of Avraham shows more than just natural descent, it means that Zakkai exercised the same type of faith in the Holy One of Israel that Abraham did. In conclusion the conversion of Zakkai was a fulfillment of the purpose of the Messiah's coming into this world.