The tree Zacchaeus climbs is not the kind of sycamore tree that grows around here, which is a kind of “plane tree,” but is instead a kind of fig tree that has a distinctive spreading appearance, edible fruit, and looks from its pictures like it might be easy-ish to climb. It’s translated “chief tax collector” or “superintendent of tax collectors,” and it seems like it ought to correspond to some known bureaucratic position, but I haven’t found a source that admits to that. Zacchaeus is described as an “architelōnēs”, a term that occurs exactly once in the Bible. The name “Zacchaeus” sounds Greek, but its Hebrew root would have meant “clean, pure” – possibly ironic, given what we think we know about tax farmers: namely, constantly prey to corruption, and hated by the taxpayers. According to Wikipedia, it was a center of a thriving ancient-world trade in balsam, which added to its prosperity, and which would have made Zacchaeus’ role as chief tax farmer especially lucrative. So there are jostling connotations related to Jericho: it’s a point of entry, a place of peace and prosperity (per its nickname “the city of palms”), a place of conquest, and also in some stories a place of refuge (see 2 Samuel 10:1-5, about David’s emissaries to the Ammonites). Jericho as a place has a history – it’s the first inhabited place the Israelites encounter when they invade the land of Canaan, it’s mentioned several more times in the history of ancient Israel, and it’s already figured prominently in Jesus’ story of the Samaritan who acts like a neighbor (Luke 10:25-37). By this time, Jesus has come to Jericho, healed a blind man, and appears to be passing through town. Here are my notes on this text:īACKGROUND AND CONTEXT: We’ve been following Jesus through the gospel of Luke, as he makes his way through “Luke’s special section” from Galilee to Jerusalem. We are studying Luke 19:1-10 for Sunday, March 24 – the story of Zacchaeus, “a wee little man” who not only sees Jesus but gets to host him as one of the last stops on Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem.
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