Acts 26:10

Acts 26:10. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem. Probably referring here especially to his share in the martyrdom of Stephen, when ‘the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul' (Acts 7:58); when Saul was consenting unto his death (Acts 8:1); and also to his conduct shortly after, when, ‘As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women, committed them to prison' (Acts 8:3). All these things took place in the Holy City.

And many of the saints did I shut up in prison. The term ‘saints' (τω ͂ ν α ̔ γι ́ ων) used here in such a place seems at first sight remarkable. When recounting these scenes of his early life to the Jews at Jerusalem (Acts 22:4-5), he speaks of the men and women he had caused to be bound and delivered into prison some of whom he had ‘persecuted unto the death.' But he carefully avoided this loving title. Before the Jews he shrank from using any expression of reverential admiration which might arouse his angry countrymen's wrath against the sect of whom they were already so unreasonably jealous; but now, speaking before men of the world like Agrippa and Festus, he gives these noble martyrs, long since in Paradise, a title of honour which aggravated his own guilt as their persecutor. Indeed, as it has been well remarked, the confident, bold tone of the whole of this speech sounds less like the words of a prisoner defending himself, than of a fearless advocate pleading before a tribunal.

And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. This refers to the ‘great persecution' mentioned in chap. Acts 8:1-4, in which Saul the Pharisee of Tarsus appears to have been the most prominent actor: ‘As for Saul, he made havoc of the church' (Acts 26:3); ‘And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord' (Acts 9:1). The ‘Acts' story only mentions one public execution in this bitter persecution; but the words used here, ‘when they were put to death;' the expression of chap. Acts 22:4: ‘I persecuted this way onto the death;' and the opening sentence of chap. 9: ‘And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord,' lead us decidedly to conclude that many besides Stephen, in that first trial season, witnessed unto death, and through pain and agony.passed to their rest in the Paradise of God.

In several places in the Epistles we find traces of the memory of some bitter and terrible persecutions, of which this very early one, when Paul played the part of chief inquisitor, was perhaps the severest and most fatal, bee Hebrews 12:4, where those to whom the epistle is addressed are appealed to as having ‘not yet resisted unto blood.' See, too, 1 Thessalonians 2:15; James 5:10.

The word ‘voice' in the sentence, ‘I gave my voice against them,' would be rendered more accurately by ‘vote' (ψη ͂ φον). This was a small black or white stone or pebble which was used for voting, as in the ballot. For condemnation, usually a black stone was put into the voting urn; for acquittal, a white one.

This assertion by Paul of his having voted for the death of certain of the ‘saints' in the early Church, has been taken as a proof of his having been, in his Pharisee days, a member of the supreme council of the Sanhedrim. This is possible, but is by no means certain; for the words here used by him may have referred to his having been in past days a member of some important tribunal acting under the direction of the supreme council. Though possible, it is certainly very doubtful if the young man Saul ever had a seat in the Sanhedrim, for (a) granting the most extended conception of the expression ‘young man,' the age of Saul would hardly have warranted his occupying a seat in that grave assembly of elders; (b) tradition positively declares that one of the necessary qualifications of a member of the great Jewish council was that he should be married and have a family, as it was supposed that one who was a father himself would be more inclined to temper justice with mercy. There is certainly nothing in Paul's known life which would lead us to suppose that the missionary apostle was ever married.