- All of the newer versions translate publicanas tax collector. The King James Version keeps the publican.
- There was contempt that went along with the position (Being Called as Disciples of Christ).
- Publicans were seen as second-class citizens — if that.
- They were Jews that, because their employer was the Roman government, they were excommunicated.
- They couldn’t testify in court.
- They had little more rights than the heathens.
- No fundamental Jew would talk to, let alone eat with, a publican.
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