Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Luke 23:1-56
With Me in Paradise Luke 23:3 We have heard the first word of peace: the priestly intercession for the transgressors. Now we listen to the comfortable word that the Son of man addresses to one who truly turns to Him. There is a natural sequence: first the sinner, then the penitent The prayer of Christ is no sooner uttered than it begins to be answered. The firstfruits of the cross is the malefactor who hangs by Jesus' side. And the robber receives a message of peace. Christ's gift to him is... read more
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Luke 23:43
(43) To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.—We have first to consider the word, then the thought expressed by it. The former first appears as a Persian word applied to land enclosed as a park or garden for a king or satrap. As such it meets us often in Xenophon’s Anabasis (i. 2, § 7; 4, § 9, et al.). Finding it so used, the LXX. translators used it in Song of Solomon 4:13; Ecclesiastes 2:5; Nehemiah 2:8, and, above all, in Genesis 2:15, taking what we treat as a proper name as a description,... read more