Matthew 8:5

And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum ,.... Was returned from his journey through Galilee, to the place where he before dwelt, and is called his own city, Matthew 9:1

there came unto him a centurion , a Roman officer, שר מאה , "a commander of an hundred men", as the Hebrew Gospel by Munster reads it: though the number of men under a "centurion" was more, according to some accounts.

"A band (it is said F7 Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 6. c. 13. ) made two centuries, each of which consisted of an hundred and twenty eight soldiers; for a doubled century made a band, whose governor was called an ordinary "centurion".'

Such an one was Cornelius, a centurion of a band, Acts 10:1 . The other person that was healed was a Jew. The next instance of Christ's power and goodness is the servant of a Gentile; he came to do good both to Jews and Gentiles;

beseeching him , not in person, but by his messengers; see Luke 7:3 and the Jews F8 T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 34. 2. say, ששלוחו של אדם כמותו , "that a man's messenger is as himself".