Acts 22:5

AS ALSO THE HIGH PRIEST DOTH BEAR ME WITNESS, AND ALL THE ESTATE OF THE ELDERS: FROM WHOM ALSO I RECEIVED LETTERS UNTO THE BRETHREN, AND WENT TO DAMASCUS, TO BRING THEM WHICH WERE THERE BOUND UNTO JERUSALEM, FOR TO BE PUNISHED. _ As also the high priest (still alive, it seems) doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders_ - the whole Sanhedrim (cf. , GR.); A POWERFUL APPEAL THIS: From whom also I received letters unto the brethren (in the Jewish Faith), and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished....

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 22:5. _THE HIGH PRIEST DOTH BEAR ME WITNESS_, c.] He probably referred to the _letters of authority_ which he had received from the high priest, and the _whole estate of the elders_, παν το πρεσβυτεριον, _the whole of the presbytery_, that is, the _sanhedrin_ and it is likely, that he had those letters to produce. This zeal of his against Christianity was an ample proof of his _sincerity_ as a Pharisaical Jew....

AS ALSO THE HIGH PRIEST ... - See the notes on Acts 9:2. ALL THE ESTATE OF THE ELDERS - Greek: all the presbytery; that is, the whole body of the Sanhedrin, or Great Council of the nation. UNTO THE BRETHREN - The Jewish brethren who were at Damascus. Paul here speaks as a Jew, and regards his countrymen as his brethren....

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

AS ALSO THE HIGH PRIEST DOTH BEAR ME WITNESS,.... Either Annas, or Caiaphas, who was at that time high priest; and it should seem by this, that he was still in being; or else that the apostle had preserved his letter, written with his own hand, which he was able to produce at any time, as a testimony of the truth of what he had said, or was about to say; since he speaks of him (as now) bearing him witness, or as one that could: AND ALL THE ESTATE OF THE ELDERS; the whole Jewish sanhedrim, for this character respects not men in years, but men in office, and such who were members of the high court of judicature in Jerusalem; FROM WHOM ALSO I RECEIVED LETTERS UNTO THE BRETHREN; some render it "against the brethren", as if the Christians were meant; whereas the apostle intends the Jews of the synagogue at Damascus, whom the apostle calls brethren; because they were of the same nation, and...

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

ACTS 22:5 o` avrciereu,j After o` avrciereu,j several Western witnesses (including 614 and syrh with *) add ~Anani,aj (compare Acts 23:2)....

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 ...