Verse 14
14. Soldiers The word soldiers here is a participle, signifying those who were in actual performance of war duties, and hence it has been supposed that the soldiers specified were those engaged in the war of Herod against Aretas. See note on Matthew 14:1. But the participle perhaps is used because war was so frequent that the soldier was always considered as warring.
Do violence to no man John does not forbid the forcible execution of military duties as ordered by the government, but that illegal violence which transforms the soldier into a private ruffian.
Content with your wages Without adding pillage thereto. And this very injunction implies their continuance in the military service for which the wages were received. That is, war, as an act of government, is allowed by the divine law.
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