Acts 25:23

When Agrippa was come and Bernice

(ελθοντος του Αγριππα κα της Βερνικης). Genitive absolute, the participle agreeing in number and gender (masculine singular, ελθοντος) with Αγριππα, Βερνικης being added as an afterthought.With great pomp

(μετα πολλης φαντασιας). Φαντασια is a Koine word (Polybius, Diodorus, etc.) from the old verb φανταζω (Hebrews 12:21) and it from φαινω, common verb to show, to make an appearance. This is the only N.T. example of φαντασια, though the kindred common word φαντασμα (appearance) occurs twice in the sense of apparition or spectre (Matthew 14:26; Mark 6:49). Herodotus (VII. 10) used the verb φανταζω for a showy parade. Festus decided to gratify the wish of Agrippa by making the "hearing" of Paul the prisoner (verse Acts 25:22) an occasion for paying a compliment to Agrippa (Rackham) by a public gathering of the notables in Caesarea. Festus just assumed that Paul would fall in with this plan for a grand entertainment though he did not have to do it.Into the place of hearing

(εις το ακροατηριον). From ακροαομα (to be a hearer) and, like the Latin auditorium, in Roman law means the place set aside for hearing, and deciding cases. Here only in the N.T. Late word, several times in Plutarch and other Koine writers. The hearing was "semi-official" (Page) as is seen in verse Acts 25:26.With the chief captains

(συν τε χιλιαρχοις). Χιλιαρχς, each a leader of a thousand. There were five cohorts of soldiers stationed in Caesarea.And the principal men of the city

(κα ανδρασιν τοις κατ' εξοχην). The use of κατ' εξοχην, like our French phrase par excellence, occurs here only in the N.T., and not in the ancient Greek, but it is found in inscriptions of the first century A.D. (Moulton and Milligan's Vocabulary). Εξοχη in medical writers is any protuberance or swelling. Cf. our phrase "outstanding men."At the command of Festus

(κελευσαντος του Φηστου). Genitive absolute again, "Festus having commanded."