_The Trial of St, Paul at Cæsarea before FelixTertullus, on the part of the Sanhedrim, accuses the Apostle,_ 1-9. Acts 24:1. AND AFTER FIVE DAYS ANANIAS THE HIGH PRIEST DESCENDED WITH THE ELDERS. That is to say, five days after Paul's departure with the armed escort from Jerusalem. Roman usage requ... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:2. TERTULLUS BEGAN TO ACCUSE HIM, SAYING, SEEING THAT BY THEE WE ENJOY GREAT QUIETNESS. The counsel for the Sanhedrim appears to have commenced his address before the court of Felix with the most exaggerated flattery of the procurator; yet at the bottom of his fulsome compliments, it could n... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:3. WE ACCEPT IT ALWAYS, AND IN ALL PLACES, MOST NOBLE FELIX. ‘ Not only here in thy presence and at this moment do we acknowledge our deep debt of gratitude as a nation to thee; but also at all times and in all places do we speak in grateful terms of thee,' thus adding to the gross words of... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:4. NOTWITHSTANDING, THAT I BE NOT FURTHER TEDIOUS UNTO THEE. It were as though the advocate saw signs of impatience in the unrighteous judge before him. Felix, who was with all his faults an able man, could not avoid discerning the shameless nature of the lying words of the unprincipled plau... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:5. FOR WE HAVE FOUND THIS MAN A PESTILENT FELLOW. The Greek word rendered ‘a pestilent fellow,' literally signifies ‘a plague or pestilence.' But it is used by Demosthenes, as here, to designate a designing, dangerous person. A MOVER OF SEDITION AMONG ALL THE JEWS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. The... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:6. WHO ALSO HATH GONE ABOUT TO PROFANE THE TEMPLE. More literally, ‘who even tried to profane.' It is noticeable that here the error of the tumultuous Jews, who, when they saw Paul in the temple, at once accused Him of having profaned the holy building by the introduction of a Gentile into t... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:7. BUT THE CHIEF CAPTAIN LYSIAS CAME UPON US, AND WITH GREAT VIOLENCE TOOK HIM AWAY OUT OF OUR HANDS. Here again Tertullus misstates the facts. When the Roman soldiers came on the scene, the Jews evidently at once released Paul without further violence: ‘When they _saw_ the chief captain and... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:8. BY EXAMINING OF WHOM THYSELF MAYEST TAKE KNOWLEDGE OF ALL THESE THINGS, WHEREOF WE ACCUSE HIM. If the disputed words are left in the text as in our English Version, then ‘of whom' refers of course to Claudius Lysias. Some have supposed that Tertullus suggested questions by torture should... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:9. AND THE JEWS ALSO ASSENTED, SAYING THAT THESE THINGS WERE SO. The rendering of the better authenticated reading, συνεπε ́ θεντο instead of συνε ́ θεντο, would be: ‘And the Jews also _assailed_ him (or them);' that is, they joined their voices to their advocate's in his charges against Pau... [ Continue Reading ]
_Paul's Defence against the Sanhedrim's Accusation before Felix; Procurator Judæa,_ 10-21. Acts 24:10. THEN PAUL, AFTER THAT THE GOVERNOR HAD BECKONED UNTO HIM TO SPEAK, ANSWERED. Paul's defence was a strange contrast to the lying flatteries and the distorted accusations which made up the speech of... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:11. BECAUSE THAT THOU MAYEST UNDERSTAND, THAT THERE ARE YET. BUT TWELVE DAYS SINCE I WENT UP TO JERUSALEM FOR TO WORSHIP. The ‘twelve days' are best reckoned thus: _1st Day._ Arrival at Jerusalem; meeting with James, the Lord's brother, the head of the Christian Church at Jerusalem. _2d Da... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:12. AND THEY NEITHER FOUND ME IN THE TEMPLE DISPUTING WITH ANY MAN, NEITHER RAISING UP THE PEOPLE, NEITHER IN THE SYNAGOGUES, NOR IN THE CITY. He urges that this accusation of exciting sedition was simply incapable of proof. He takes carefully each of the places of public resort, and dispose... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:14. BUT THIS I CONFESS UNTO THEE, THAT AFTER THE WAY WHICH THEY CALL HERESY, SO WORSHIP I THE GOD OF MY FATHERS. More accurately rendered, ‘after the way which they call a sect.' The word translated ‘heresy' (αἵρεσιν) is represented by ‘sect' in Acts 24:5. Paul here defends himself against t... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:15. AND HAVE HOPE TOWARD GOD, WHICH THEY THEMSELVES ALSO ALLOW, THAT THERE SHALL BE A RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, BOTH OF THE JUST AND OF THE UNJUST. That is to say, his belief in the Law and the Prophets gave him a hope _founded on God,_ because His word and the promises contained in the Law... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:16. AND HEREIN DO I EXERCISE MYSELF TO HAVE ALWAYS A CONSCIENCE VOID OF OFFENCE TOWARD GOD AND TOWARD MEN. ‘ Herein;' that is, ‘for this reason,' because of his belief in the future resurrection; or, in other words, because he held the doctrine of the resurrection of the just and unjust, not... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:17. NOW AFTER MANY YEARS I CAME TO BRING ALMS TO MY NATION, AND OFFERINGS. The Greek word πλειο ́ νων, translated ‘many,' rather signifies ‘several.' Some four years had elapsed since the apostle's last visit to the Holy City (chap, Acts 18:22). The ‘alms' here alluded to were those sums of... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:18. WHEREUPON CERTAIN JEWS FROM ASIA FOUND ME PURIFIED IN THE TEMPLE, NEITHER WITH MULTITUDE NOR WITH TUMULT. ‘Whereupon;' literally, ‘in which,' in the midst of which occupations certain Jews from Asia found me.' The reading of the greater number of the more trustworthy MSS. here is ἐν αἷς... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:19. WHO OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE THEE, AND OBJECT, IF THEY HAD OUGHT AGAINST ME. This was happily urged by the apostle, as it was the Roman custom not to judge a prisoner on any charge unless the accusers were present. Paul urges that _his_ accusers really were not the Sanhedrim nor th... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:20. OR EKE LET THESE SAME HERE SAY IF THEY HAVE FOUND ANY evil DOING IN ME, WHILE I STOOD BEFORE THE COUNCIL. Paul well knew that the Sanhedrim had no proof at all that he had committed any of the crimes alleged against him. _The first_ charge, ‘sedition,' was merely on hearsay evidence, the... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:21. EXCEPT IT BE FOR THIS ONE VOICE, THAT I CRIED STANDING AMONG THEM, TOUCHING THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD I AM CALLED IN QUESTION BY YOU THIS DAY. Paul well knew that many in the Sanhedrim, and the majority in the nation, would sympathise with him _here._ These words of his, he was aware,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Paul is remanded, and remains imprisoned at Cæsarea,_ 22, 23. Acts 24:22. AND WHEN FELIX HEARD THESE THINGS, HAVING MORE PERFECT KNOWLEDGE OF THAT WAY, HE DEFERRED THEM, AND SAID, WHEN LYSIAS THE CHIEF CAPTAIN SHALL COME DOWN, I WILL KNOW THE UTTERMOST OF YOUR MATTER. There is little doubt but that... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:23. AND HE COMMANDED A CENTURION TO KEEP PAUL, AND TO LET HIM HAVE LIBERTY, AND THAT HE SHOULD FORBID NONE OF HIS ACQUAINTANCE TO MINISTER OR COME UNTO HIM. There were three descriptions of imprisonment or custody among the Romans (1) Imprisonment in the common prison, _custodia publica._ We... [ Continue Reading ]
_Paul's Interviews during his long Imprisonment at Cæsarea with the Procurator Felix and his wife, the Princess Drusilla,_ 24-27. Acts 24:24. AND AFTER CERTAIN DAYS, WHEN FELIX CAME WITH HIS WIFE BRASILIA, WHICH WAS A JEWESS. The Princess Drusilla occupied no unimportant position among the women of... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:25. AND AS HE REASONED OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, TEMPERANCE, AND JUDGMENT TO COME, FELIX TREMBLED. The subjects upon which Paul seems to have spoken when summoned before Felix and Drusilla, on first thoughts appear to us somewhat strange. No doubt they were very different to the themes the governor... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:26. HE HOPED ALSO THAT MONEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN HIM OF PAUL, THAT HE MIGHT LOOSE HIM: WHEREFORE HE SENT FOR HIM THE OFTENER, AND COMMUNED WITH HIM. The greed and rapacity of so many of these great lieutenants of the Cæsar in distant provinces of the Empire, is well exemplified in this ep... [ Continue Reading ]
Acts 24:27. BUT AFTER TWO YEARS. It was in the summer or autumn of A.D. 60 that Felix was recalled to Rome. Two years he seems to have been from time to time in company with St. Paul; but the words of the apostle as far as we know, made no impression on that cold, hard heart. Did they, in the provid... [ Continue Reading ]