Acts 21:40

ἐπιτρέψ.: because he no doubt saw that Paul's purpose was to inform and pacify the people, so that there is nothing strange in such permission to speak. κατέσεισε, see on Acts 12:17. “What nobler spectacle than that of Paul at this moment! There he stands bound with two chains, ready to make his defence to the people. The Roman commander sits by to enforce order by his presence. An enraged populace look up to him from below. Yet in the midst of so many dangers, how self-possessed is he, how tranquil!” Chrys., Hom, xlvii. πολλῆς δὲ σιγῆς γεν., cf. Virg., Aen., i., 148 152, ii., 1; but probably the phrase means not “a great silence,” but rather “aliquantum silentii” (Blass), Acts 22:2, cf. Xen., Cyr., vii., 1, 25. Ἐβραΐδι : in W.H [364] Ἐβ., see Introd., 408; so as to gain the attention, and if possible the hearts, of the people, by using the language of the people, the Aramaic dialect of Palestine (Grimm-Thayer however points out that this is not rightly described as Syro-Chaldaic, it was rather Chaldee): see also Schürer, Jewish People, div. ii., vol. i., E.T., pp. 47, 48.

[364] Westcott and Hort's The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.