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Luke 19:2
ESV And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.
NIV A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
NASB And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich.
CSB There was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.
NLT There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich.
KJV And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.

What does Luke 19:2 mean?

Jesus is walking through Jericho; the region consists of the ruins of the original site (Joshua 6) as well as the rebuilt city (1 Kings 16:34). He has just healed a beggar who, despite his blind eyes, recognized Jesus as the Son of David: the rightful king of the Jews (Luke 18:35–43).

Now, Jesus meets Zacchaeus. Jesus has met tax collectors before. In fact, He's infamous among His self-righteous critics for eating with them. His disciple Matthew, also known as Levi, was a tax collector (Luke 5:27–31). When the Pharisees rebuke Jesus, He points out, "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32).

Zacchaeus is a "chief" tax collector, or "publican" as translated in the KJV. He had made bids to collect revenue for the Romans, then hired other men (Luke 18:13) to go into the community and get the money. "Chief" may mean he held a high rank or the term may refer to his great wealth, which he accumulated by adding his commission onto what his contractors took from the people.

Zacchaeus doesn't seem to know Jesus, but he is very curious. He may have heard from other tax collectors about this teacher who associates with people on the margin, especially people like him: Jews who do not devoutly follow God. He works with pagan Romans, which means he was frequently ceremonially unclean. He takes money from Jews for their occupiers and extorts more for himself, making him a traitor to his people. Whatever he is hoping to find from Jesus, he receives much more.
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