The meaning of Commend in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
ko-mend':
(1) For paratithemi (Luke 23:46), translating the Hebrew paqadh (Psalms 31:5), in the dying words of Jesus: "Into thy hands I commend my Spirit." the King James Version in Psalms has the more general word "commit." The use of the Greek word in the sense of "deposit what belongs to one into the hands of another" is not uncommon in the classics. So also the derivatives paratheke (II Timothy 1:12) and parakatatheke (I Timothy 6:20; II Timothy 1:14). See DEPOSIT. This sense of the English, while slightly archaic, corresponds to the first meaning of the Latin, whence it comes, "to commit for preservation," especially of the dying; to commend children, parents, etc., to the care of others (for examples, see Harper's Latin Dictionary).
(2) For sunistiemi, "to stand together," and then, by standing together, to establish, prove, exhibit, as "righteousness" and "love of God" (Romans 3:5; Romans 5:8), and thus to attest (II Corinthians 3:1; II Corinthians 4:2), and, finally, to certify or to recommend a stranger (Romans 16:1; II Corinthians 6:4). The use of paristemi in I Corinthians 8:8 is equivalent.
(3) "To praise," epaineo (Luke 16:8), and sunistemi in II Corinthians 10:12, II Corinthians 10:18; for the Old Testament, Hebrew hillel, in Genesis 12:15 the King James Version; Proverbs 12:8.
H. E. Jacobs
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