Publican
Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897) · International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
Gustave Doré, La Grande Bible de Tours (1866) — via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
THE DICTIONARY — Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)
one who farmed the taxes (e.g., Zacchaeus, Luke 19:2) to be levied from a town or district, and thus undertook to pay to the supreme government a certain amount. In order to collect the taxes, the publicans employed subordinates (5:27; 15:1; 18:10), who, for their own ends, were often guilty of extortion and peculation. In New Testament times these taxes were paid to the Romans, and hence were regarded by the Jews as a very heavy burden, and hence also the collectors of taxes, who were frequently Jews, were hated, and were usually spoken of in very opprobrious terms. Jesus was accused of being a “friend of publicans and sinners” (Luke 7:34).
THE FULL ARTICLE — from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), general editor James Orr — public domain, printed whole.
pub'-li-kan.
See TAX, TAXING.