XXIII. (1) AND PAUL, EARNESTLY BEHOLDING THE COUNCIL. — We note once more the characteristic word for the eager anxious gaze with which St. Paul scanned the assembly. He had not seen it since he had stood there among Stephen’s accusers, a quarter of a century ago. Many changes, of course, had come... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HIGH PRIEST ANANIAS. — See Note on Acts 22:5. The son of Nebedæus was conspicuous for his cruelty and injustice, and had been sent to Rome as a prisoner to take his trial before Claudius (A.D. 52). He had been acquitted, or at least released, and had returned to Judæa. To him this assertion of a... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD SHALL SMITE THEE, THOU WHITED WALL. — The phrase is interesting as showing either that our Lord, in likening the Pharisees to “whitened sepulchers” (see Notes on Matthew 23:27; Luke 11:44), had used a proverbial comparison, or else, as seems equally probable, that it had become proverbial among... [ Continue Reading ]
I WIST NOT, BRETHREN, THAT HE WAS THE high priest. — These words admit of three different explanations: — (1) We may take them as stating that St. Paul, either from defective sight (see Notes on Acts 9:18; Acts 14:9), or because the high priest was not sitting as president of the Sanhedrin, literall... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WHEN PAUL PERCEIVED THAT THE ONE PART WERE SADDUCEES... — We recognise the same parties in the council as there had been twenty-five years before. Whether they sat in groups on different sides, after the manner of the Government and Opposition benches in the House of Commons, or whether St. Paul... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE AROSE A DISSENSION BETWEEN THE PHARISEES AND THE SADDUCEES. — As a strategic act St. Paul’s words had immediately the effect which he desired. They prevented the hasty unanimous vote which might otherwise have united the two parties, as they had been united in the case of Stephen, in the conde... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SADDUCEES SAY THAT THERE IS NO RESURRECTION. — On the general teaching of the Sadducees, see Note on Matthew 22:23. Their denial of the existence of angels and spirits seems at first inconsistent with the known facts that they acknowledged the divine authority of the Pentateuch, which contains s... [ Continue Reading ]
LET US NOT FIGHT AGAINST GOD. — If we could receive these words as part of the original text, they would be a singularly characteristic reproduction of the counsel of St. Paul’s master (Acts 5:39). They are, however, wanting in many of the best MSS. and versions, and were apparently added to complet... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHIEF CAPTAIN, FEARING... — We may well believe that the priest who had been rebuked as a “whited wall” would not willingly forego his revenge. He, and the Sadducees generally, would now be able to assume the position of being more devoted defenders of the Law and of the Temple than the Pharisee... [ Continue Reading ]
BE OF GOOD CHEER, PAUL. — The day had been one of strange excitement, and most have roused many anxieties. Personal fear as to suffering or death he was, more than most men, free from; but was his work to be cut short? Was he to fall a victim to the malice of the Jews? Was the desire, which he had c... [ Continue Reading ]
CERTAIN OF THE JEWS BANDED TOGETHER... — The casuistry of the more fanatic Jews led them to the conclusion that a blasphemer or apostate was an outlaw, and that, in the absence of any judicial condemnation, private persons might take on themselves the execution of the divine sentence. So, they may h... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CAME TO THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND ELDERS. — It will be remembered that the high priest Ananias had already shown the rough brutality of his nature in his treatment of St. Paul, and was now, we can scarcely doubt, impelled by the spirit of revenge. It lies on the surface that those to whom the consp... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THEREFORE YE WITH THE COUNCIL... — The plot was necessary, either (1) because the Sanhedrin had lost, under Roman rule, its power to inflict capital punishment (see Notes on Acts 7:59; John 18:31); or (2) because, even if they possessed that power, the chiliarch was not likely to allow its exerc... [ Continue Reading ]
PAUL’S SISTER’S SON. — The passage is note worthy as being the only reference to any of St. Paul’s relations in the Acts. The fact that St. Paul lodged with Mnason, as far as it goes, suggests the probability that neither the sister nor the nephew resided permanently in Jerusalem. We do not even kno... [ Continue Reading ]
PAUL THE PRISONER... — We may well believe that at the time he little thought how long that name would be used of him, first by others and then by himself, until it became as a title of honour in which he seemed to glory almost more than in that of Apostle. (Comp. Ephesians 3:1; Ephesians 4:1; Phile... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THE CHIEF CAPTAIN. — The chiliarch is obviously glad of the intelligence. His sympathies are clearly with St. Paul personally as against the high priest and his followers. He welcomes an opportunity for showing his zeal for the safe-keeping of a Roman citizen, and for making a statement of the wh... [ Continue Reading ]
SPEARMEN TWO HUNDRED... — Literally, _right hand graspers._ The word was a strictly technical one, and seems to have been applied to those light armed troops who carried a light spear or javelin in their right hands, as contrasted with those who carried the old spear, with a heavier shaft, which had... [ Continue Reading ]
FELIX THE GOVERNOR. — The career of the procurator so named is not without interest as an illustration of the manner in which the Roman empire was at this time governed. In the household of Antonia, the mother of the Emperor Claudius, there were two brothers, first slaves, then freed-men, Antonius F... [ Continue Reading ]
CLAUDIUS LYSIAS UNTO THE MOST EXCELLENT GOVERNOR FELIX. — The letter may have been sent unsealed, or a copy of it may have been given to St. Paul or St. Luke after his arrival. What we have obviously purports to be a verbal reproduction of it. We note (1) that the epithet “most excellent” is that wh... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN CAME I WITH AN ARMY. — Better, _with my troops._ The chief captain ingeniously colours his statement so as to claim credit for having rescued a Roman citizen, though, as a matter of fact, he did not discover that he was a citizen until he was on the point of scourging him without a trial. That... [ Continue Reading ]
ACCUSED OF QUESTIONS OF THEIR LAW. — The points which probably presented themselves to the chiliarch’s mind as the result of his inquiries were — (1) that the prisoner was accused of transgressing the rules of the Temple; (2) that the question at issue seemed to be whether he had seen a teacher name... [ Continue Reading ]
FAREWELL. — The closing formula, like the opening one, agrees with that used in the letter of the Council of Jerusalem. The “commandment” given to the accusers to go down to Cæsarea was probably given in answer to the high priest’s application for another inquiry before the Sanhedrin. We are not tol... [ Continue Reading ]
ANTIPATRIS. — The town, built by Herod the Great, and named after his father, is represented by the modern _Kefr-Saba,_ answering to the _Caphar Saba_ of Josephus (_Ant. xvi._ 5, § 2). It was about forty-two miles from Jerusalem and twenty-six from Cæsarea. Traces of a Roman road have been discovere... [ Continue Reading ]
HE ASKED OF WHAT PROVINCE HE WAS. — The question was a natural one for a procurator of Judæa to ask as to any prisoner brought before him. (Comp. Pilate’s question in Luke 23:6.) It does not appear why Felix was ready to take cognisance of a matter which apparently, to judge by the precedent set by... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL HEAR THEE. — The Greek verb expresses the idea of a thorough hearing. HE COMMANDED HIM TO BE KEPT IN HEROD’S JUDGMENT HALL. — The Greek word is _prætorium,_ a word somewhat elastic in its application, and ranging from a palace to a barrack. “Judgment hall” hardly gives the meaning here. The... [ Continue Reading ]