Acts 24:2

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 not be denied there was a substratum of truth. Felix, during his long and burdensome administration, had at least distinguished himself by his strong measures to put down brigandage and deeds of violence in Judæa, and had waged ceaseless warfare against those wandering bands of Sicarii (assassins) which had begun to infest the country. Tacitus, no friend to Felix or his government, relates how, on the occasion of a bitter quarrel between Felix and the governor of Galilee, V. Cumanus, the procurator of Judæa was supported by the president of Syria, Quadratus, and quietness was restored to the province (‘quies Provinciae reddita,' Ann. xii. 54). ‘As to the number of robbers whom he caused to be crucified, and of those whom he brought to be punished, they were a multitude not to be enumerated' (Wars of the Jews, Josephus). Yet, on the other hand, this cruel and ambitious man kept in his pay a number of Sicarii himself, fanning instead of really quelling the seditious spirit then everywhere abroad. On one occasion, for instance, the hired assassins of Felix murdered in the temple, at the instigation of their employer, Jonathan the reigning high priest, once the friend of the Romans. It was this infamous governor to whom the advocate of the Sanhedrim was pleased to address such false honeyed words, in the hope of gaining his favourable attention to his accusation of Paul.

And that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation. Rather ‘reforms' or ‘improvements, according to the reading of the more trustworthy MSS. There was absolutely no ground for this statement of Tertullus; within two years of this time, Felix was accused by the Jews of bad government, and the accusation supported by such undeniable proof that he was recalled from his province to Rome, and only escaped punishment through the influence of his brother Pallas, which, though waning, was still powerful at the court of the Cæsar.

By thy providence. Tua providentia, Providentia Cæsaris, is a common inscription on the coins of the emperors. It was a skilful and delicate piece of flattery, to weave this well-known phrase of imperial adulation into his words of praise on this occasion.