Greetings in the markets. — The greetings referred to were more than the familiar “Peace with thee,” and involved the language of formal reverence (comp. Note on Luke 10:4) paid to those whom men delighted to honour.
Rabbi, Rabbi. — The title, which properly meant a “great” or “chief” one, as in Rab-Mag (“the chief priest,” Jeremiah 39:3), Rabsaris (“the chief eunuch,” 2 Kings 18:17), had come to be applied, in the days of Hillel and Shammai, to the teachers or “masters” of the Law, and, as such, was given to the scribes who devoted themselves to that work. In Rabban (said to have been first given to Simeon, the son of Hillel) and Rabboni (John 20:16) we have forms which were supposed to imply a yet greater degree of reverence.