_PAUL, IN THE PRESENCE OF AGRIPPA, DECLARETH HIS LIFE FROM HIS CHILDHOOD, AND HOW MIRACULOUSLY HE WAS CONVERTED, AND CALLED TO HIS APOSTLESHIP. FESTUS CHARGETH HIM WITH MADNESS, WHEREUNTO, HE ANSWERETH MODESTLY. AGRIPPA IS ALMOST PERSUADED TO BE A CHRISTIAN. THE WHOLE COMPANY PRONOUNCE HIM INNOCENT.... [ Continue Reading ]
PAUL STRETCHED FORTH THE HAND,— Elsner shews this to have been esteemed at that time a very decent expression of earnestness in one who spoke in public; though some of the most illustrious Greek orators in earlier ages, as Pericles, Themistocles, Aristides, thought it a point of modesty to avoid it.... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE I KNOW THEE TO BE EXPERT— Agrippa must have had great advantages for an accurateacquaintance with the Jewish customs, from his education under his father Herod Agrippa, and from his long residence at Jerusalem; and agreeably to this, by the permission of the emperor, he had the direction of... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH WAS AT THE FIRST, &C.— Doddridge reads this, _Which from the beginning_ (of my youth) _was spent among those of mine own nation,_ &c. Probably he had in his childhood been brought up in the school of Tarsus, and there formed an acquaintance with Greek and Roman authors, till he entered on a ki... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THE MOST STRAITEST SECT— _The strictest sect._ So Josephus, in a variety of places, calls the sect of the _Pharisees,_ almost in the very words which the apostle uses. They were in many respects stricter than the _Essenes._ It appears from the gospels, that many rigorous severities were used b... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO WHICH PROMISE, &C.— Great numbers of the ten tribes returned with the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin from the Babylonish captivity, Ezra 6:16; Ezra 8:35. Luke 2:36 and many of them who did not return to the land of Canaan, did nevertheless entertain hopes of the coming of the Messiah, and of... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY SHOULD IT BE THOUGHT A THING INCREDIBLE, &C.— Beza, with the Greek scholiast, would place a mark of interrogation after the word τι, and read it, _What? is it thought incredible,_ &c.? which is indeed well suited to the animated manner of St. Paul's speaking.... [ Continue Reading ]
I GAVE MY VOICE AGAINST THEM.— St. Paul had no vote in the sanhedrim, nor do we certainly know that he was personally concerned in the death of any except Stephen, in whose condemnation there was no voting at all. But the meaning plainly is, that _he instigated the people against them_ as much as he... [ Continue Reading ]
COMPELLED THEM TO BLASPHEME;— A known passage in Pliny, lib. 10: ep. 97 proves that the Heathen persecutors obliged Christians who fell under their trial, not only to renounce Christ, but also to curse him; and it appears from this passage, that the Jews imposed the like test upon them. See ch. Acts... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREUPON— That is, _In this view as I was going to Damascus,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO KICK AGAINST THE PRICKS.— Or, _Against the goad._... [ Continue Reading ]
DELIVERING THEE FROM THE PEOPLE, &C.— "And thou shalt experience my gracious presence with thee, delivering thee from the rage and malice of the Jewish people; and also from the dangers which thou shalt encounter among the Gentiles, to whom I now send thee.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO TURN THEM— _That they may turn,_ seems to be the sense of the original, which may properly be rendered thus, without the need of any supplement; and this will best agree with the construction, and with the sense in which the word επιστρεψαι is generally used in other places. See Acts 26:20 ch. Ac... [ Continue Reading ]
THE JEWS—WENT ABOUT TO KILL ME.— The proper import of the word διαχειρισασθαι is, _to kill with their own hands;_ which was with peculiar propriety used here, as there was reason to apprehend that St. Paul would have been actuallypulled to pieces in another assembly, which was, as it seems, less num... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVING THEREFORE OBTAINED HELP OF GOD, &C.— "I impute it therefore to an extraordinary providence that I am yet alive, and publicly declare it with all thankfulness, that it is by having obtained help from God that I continue until this day; and I endeavour to employ my life to the purposes for whic... [ Continue Reading ]
PAUL, THOU ART BESIDE THYSELF;— _Thou art distracted, much study drives thee to madness._ Perhaps Festus might know that St. Paul, in his present confinement, spent a great deal of time in reading; and this was the most discreet turn which could have been given to such a charge. Besides, it would ap... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE SAID, I AM NOT MAD, &C.— This answer, in this connection, appears inexpressiblybeautiful; when great and good men, who meet with rude and insolent treatment in the defence of the gospel, (which is often the case,) behave with such moderation, it proves a great accession of strength to the Chr... [ Continue Reading ]
ALMOST THOU PERSUADEST ME, &C.— There can be no doubt that these words were delivered in the most serious manner by Agrippa. It plainly appears by St. Paul's answer, and from the sense in which he there uses εν ολιγω, _almost,_ in opposition to εν πολλω, _altogether,_ that he understood him to mean... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PAUL SAID, I WOULD TO GOD, &C.— "When I consider this apostle (says that great enemy of Christianity himself—Lord Shaftesbury,) as appearing either before the _witty Athenians,_ or the _Roman court of Judicature,_ in the presence of their great men and ladies, I see how handsomely he accommodate... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS MAN MIGHT HAVE BEEN SET AT LIBERTY, IF, &C.— Though this declaration of Agrippa would not secure St. Paul's deliverance, yet it might do him some service, that a testimony to his innocence was pronounced by so learned and honourable a person of the Jewish nation and religion. Festus would proba... [ Continue Reading ]