Acts 22:2

(AND WHEN THEY HEARD THAT HE SPAKE IN THE HEBREW TONGUE TO THEM, THEY KEPT THE MORE SILENCE: AND HE SAITH,) _ (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue (see the note at _) to them, they kept the more silence. THEY COULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD HIM IN GREEK, AND DOUBTLESS FULLY EXPECTED THE RENEGADE TO ADDRESS THEM IN THAT LANGUAGE; BUT THE SOUND OF THEIR HOLY MOTHER-TONGUE AWED THEM INTO DEEPER SILENCE. And he saith). THIS SKETCH OF HIS LIFE HAVING BEEN ALREADY MADE USE OF, IN ILLUSTRATION OF THE REMARKABLE ACCOUNT GIVEN OF HIS CONVERSION, BY THE HISTORIAN IN ACTS 9:1 , a few supplementary notes are all that seem requisite here....

− 2._That he spake Hebrew. _This is indeed an usual thing, that when men which speak diverse languages are together, we hear those more willingly who speak our own language; but the Jews were moved with another peculiar cause, because they imagined that Paul was offended − (497) with his own kindred, so that he did even hate their tongue, or that he was some rogue which had not so much as learned the speech of that nation whereof he said he came. Now, so soon as they heard their own language, they began to have some better hope. Furthermore, it is uncertain whether Paul spake in the Hebrew or in the Syrian tongue; for we know that the speech of the Jews was corrupt and degenerate after their exile, forasmuch as they had much from the Chaldeans and Syrians. For mine own part, I think, that because he spake as well to the common sort as unto the elders, he used the common speech which was...

1-11 The apostle addressed the enraged multitude, in the customary style of respect and good-will. Paul relates the history of his early life very particularly; he notices that his conversion was wholly the act of God. Condemned sinners are struck blind by the power of darkness, and it is a lasting blindness, like that of the unbelieving Jews. Convinced sinners are struck blind as Paul was, not by darkness, but by light. They are for a time brought to be at a loss within themselves, but it is in order to their being enlightened. A simple relation of the Lord's dealings with us, in bringing us, from opposing, to profess and promote his gospel, when delivered in a right spirit and manner, will sometimes make more impression that laboured speeches, even though it amounts not to the full proof of the truth, such as was shown in the change wrought in the apostle....

Verse Acts 22:2. _WHEN THEY HEARD THAT HE SPAKE IN THE HEBREW TONGUE_] He had probably been traduced by the Jews of Asia as a mere _Gentile_, distinguished only by his virulence against the Jewish religion; which virulence proceeded from his malice and _ignorance_....

THE HEBREW TONGUE - See the notes on Acts 21:40....

EXPOSITION ACTS 22:1 _Brethren _for _men, brethren, _A.V. (Acts 7:2, note); the for my, A.V.; _now make _for _make now, _A.V. THE DEFENSE; ἀπολογία This is the technical word in classical Greek for a defense in answer to an accusation. Thus e.g. the oration of Gorgias entitled, Υπὲρ Παλαμήδους ἀπολογία,_ _begins, Ἡ μὲν κατηγορία καὶ ἡ ἀπολογία κρίσις οὐ περὶ θανάτου γίγνεται. And Demosthenes opposes κατηγρσεῖν to accuse, to ἀπολογεῖσθαι, to make one's defense. And an ἀπολογία δικαία καὶ ἁπλῆ is to prove that τὰ κατηγορημένα, "the things of which the person is accused," were never done. But it is probably from St. Paul's use of the word here that it became common to call the defenses of the Christian religi

AND WHEN THEY HEARD THAT HE SPAKE IN THE HEBREW TONGUE TO THEM,.... Acts 21:40. THEY KEPT THE MORE SILENCE; it being their mother tongue, and which they best understood; and which the captain and the Roman soldiers might not so well under stand; and chiefly because the Hellenistic language was not so agreeable to them, nor the Hellenistic Jews, who spoke the Greek language, and used the Greek version of the Bible; and such an one they took Paul to be, besides his being a Christian; wherefore when they heard him speak in the Hebrew tongue, it conciliated their minds more to him, at least engaged their attention the more to what he was about to say: AND HE SAITH; the Syriac and Ethiopic versions add, "to them", as follows....

Acts 22:1. _Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defense which I make now unto you. (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith),_ Men like to be addressed in their own language; they give the more heed to the message if it is spoken to them in words that they can understand. Acts 22:3. I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received l

CHAPTER 22 _ 1. The Address of the Apostle (Acts 22:1)._ 2. The Answer from the Mob, and Paul's Appeal to His Roman citizenship (Acts 22:22). What a scene it was! On the stairs, midway between the temple-court and the fortress, stood the Apostle in chains, his person showing the effects of the beating he had received. Around him were the well-armed Roman soldiers, and below the multitude, with up-turned faces, still wildly gesticulating and only becoming more silent when they heard the first words from Paul's lips in the Hebrew tongue. He relates his great experience. They were impatient listeners; the storm broke with the word “Gentiles.” Another great tumult resulted and the many voices demanded that such a fellow should not live. It was a scene of utmost confusion. The chief

PAUL'S SPEECH TO THE JEWS. The opening of the speech is like that of Stephen (Acts 7:2). In 2 Corinthians 11:22 Paul attests his full membership of the Jewish people, and having lived many years in Palestine he could no doubt speak Aramaic, though his countrymen did not expect it of him. ACTS 22:3. AT THE FEET OF GAMALIEL: Jewish boys sat on the floor at their lessons. GAMALIEL: _cf. Acts 5:34_. Some scholars are strongly inclined to put Paul down as a pure Hellenist in his schooling. If he did study with Gamaliel, it was probably immediately before his conversion ...