20. For--Greek, as in
Eph 6:19,
"On behalf of which."
an ambassador in bonds--a paradox. Ambassadors were held inviolable
by the law of nations, and could not, without outrage to every sacred
right, be put in chains. Yet Christ's "ambassador is in a chain!"
The Greek is singular. The Romans used to bind a prisoner to a
soldier by a single chain, in a kind of free custody. So
Ac 28:16, 20,
"I am bound with this chain." The term, "bonds" (plural), on the
other hand, is used when the prisoner's hands or feet were bound
together
(Ac 26:29);
compare
Ac 12:6,
where the plural marks the distinction. The singular is only used of
the particular kind of custody described above; an undesigned
coincidence [PALEY].
JFB.
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