Bible Dictionary
COMMEND
To commend can mean to entrust someone or something to another’s care, as Jesus entrusted His spirit to the Father. It can also mean to establish, attest, recommend, or praise a person or quality.
Definition
To commend may mean to entrust someone or something to another’s care, especially for preservation. It may also mean to establish, attest, recommend, certify, or praise.
Biblical Usage
Jesus commended His spirit into the Father’s hands. Scripture also uses the word for establishing or demonstrating righteousness and divine love, recommending believers, and praising a person or quality.
Historical Background
The sense of entrusting corresponds to the idea of placing a deposit into another’s hands, particularly in the case of the dying.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ko-mend':</p><p>(1) For paratithemi (Lu 23:46), translating the Hebrew paqadh (Ps 31:5), in the dying words of Jesus: "Into thy hands I commend my Spirit." the King James Version in Psalms has the more general word "commit." The use of the Greek word in the sense of "deposit what belongs to one into the hands of another" is not uncommon in the classics. So also the derivatives paratheke (2Ti 1:12) and parakatatheke (1Ti 6:20; 2Ti 1:14). See DEPOSIT. This sense of the English, while slightly archaic, corresponds to the first meaning of the Latin, whence it comes, "to commit for preservation," especially of the dying; to commend children, parents, etc., to the care of others (for examples, see Harper's Latin Dictionary).</p><p>(2) For sunistiemi, "to stand together," and then, by standing together, to establish, prove, exhibit, as "righteousness" and "love of God" (Ro 3:5; 5:8), and thus to attest (2Co 3:1; 4:2), and, finally, to certify or to recommend a stranger (Ro 16:1; 2Co 6:4). The use of paristemi in 1Co 8:8 is equivalent.</p><p>(3) "To praise," epaineo (Lu 16:8), and sunistemi in 2Co 10:12,18; for the Old Testament, Hebrew hillel, in Ge 12:15 the King James Version; Pr 12:8.</p><p>H. E. Jacobs</p>