Acts 23:1. St Paul before the Sanhedrin. Disagreement between the Pharisees and Sadducees 1. _And Paul, earnestly beholding the council_ The verb is one which St Luke very frequently employs to note a speaker's expression at the commencement of a speech, and it is one of those features in the Acts... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the high priest Ananias_ This was Ananias the son of Nebedæus. (Joseph. _Ant_. xx. 5, 2.) In the time of the Emperor Claudius he had been suspended from his office for some offence and sent to Rome (_Ant_. xx. 6, 2) but afterwards seems to have been held in great reputation in Jerusalem (_Ant_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_God shall smite thee, thou whited wall_ Here we may see how very far even the excellence of St Paul comes short of the behaviour of the Divine Master, who when he suffered threatened not, and when reviled, reviled not again. We need not however consider that St Paul's language here was a wish for e... [ Continue Reading ]
_God's high priest_ So styled because he sat on the judgment-seat as God's representative, cp. Deuteronomy 17:8-13. In the Old Test. the priestly, and even other, judges are sometimes called by God's own name "Elohim." (See Exodus 21:6; Exodus 22:8-9 and cp. Psalms 82:1.)... [ Continue Reading ]
_I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest_ Several explanations have been given of this statement of St Paul. Some think that it may have been true that St Paul from defect of sight, with which he is supposed to have been afflicted, could not distinguish that the speaker was the high priest... [ Continue Reading ]
_But when Paul perceived_, &c. We are not told in what way the knowledge which the Apostle here acted on was gained. Perhaps the Pharisees, as in the parable of the Pharisee and publican, kept themselves apart; or to a Jewish eye some mark of their dress may have been enough to bespeak a difference... [ Continue Reading ]
_and the multitude_[_Rev. Ver._assembly] _was divided_ The verb in the original is that from which our English "schism" is derived, and this points to the character of the division. God made the division work for the safety of his servant, as He many times brings good out of evil.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection_ It is said that their teaching had its rise in the thought that "God's servants should not do service with the hope of reward." As the life to come would be a reward we are told that their doctrine developed into the denial of the Resurrection. As we... [ Continue Reading ]
_And there arose a great cry_[_Rev. Ver._clamour] The noise was of an excited mob. It is the same word that is used in the parable of the Ten Virgins, to describe the shout "the bridegroom cometh." _and the scribes that were of the Pharisees" part_ The best authorities read " SOME _of the scribes o... [ Continue Reading ]
_the chief captain_ He must have been in some position where he could watch all the proceedings, though we can hardly think that he was presiding in the Sanhedrin. _pulled in pieces of them_ The Pharisees had constituted themselves protectors of the Apostle, and so the possession of his person had... [ Continue Reading ]
Paul is cheered by a Vision. The Jews conspire to kill him 11. _And the night following_ The Apostle was now, though not rightly a prisoner, yet kept, that he might be out of harm's way, under the charge of the Roman soldiers. The hearing of his case having been interrupted, another time was to be... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when it was day_ While Paul was receiving comfort from the Lord, the Jews were plotting to secure his destruction and they let no time be wasted. Their plans are ready by the next day, and as soon as it arrived they set about their execution. _certain of the Jews banded together_ The best MSS.... [ Continue Reading ]
_more than forty_ Shewing the excited state of popular feeling at this moment among the Jews. They may have been prompted to this method of getting rid of the Apostle, because they had not the power of life and death any longer, and were not likely to procure Paul's death at the hands of the Roman a... [ Continue Reading ]
_they came to the chief priests and elders_ Who were most likely of the Sadducees" part, and who therefore would have no wish to save St Paul's life. _We have bound ourselves under a great curse_ Lit. "with a curse have we cursed ourselves." A Hebrew mode of expressing the intensity and earnestness... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now therefore ye with the council_, &c. _Rev. Ver. "do ye_," to mark more clearly the imperative. The chief priests and elders, of the Sadducees" party, were to use their influence in the council, that a request might proceed from the whole body of the Sanhedrin, that Paul should be again brought b... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when Paul's sister's son_, &c. The _Rev. Ver._keeps to the Greek construction, "But Paul's sister's son heard … and he came, &c." We have no other mention of the family of St Paul anywhere in the history. It seems improbable that the sister and her son were settled inhabitants of Jerusalem, or... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then Paul called one of the centurions_, &c. The Apostle was under the charge of a military guard, and so would have no difficulty in getting his message conveyed. And the knowledge that he was a Roman citizen, and that by birth, would have spread among the soldiery and would not be without its inf... [ Continue Reading ]
_he took him, and brought him_, &c. With soldier-like obedience and raising no questions. _Paul the prisoner_ A name which St Paul was often afterwards to apply to himself. Cp. Ephesians 3:1; Ephesians 4:1; Philemon 1:1; Philemon 1:9, &c. _and prayed me_ In the older English the verb "pray" as her... [ Continue Reading ]
_the chief captain took him by the hand_ The messenger from a Roman citizen was entitled to some consideration, and the action of the chief captain is meant to encourage the young man. The chief captain would naturally incline to favour Paul after his conversation with him, rather than his Jewish ac... [ Continue Reading ]
_as though they would inquire_ The oldest MSS. give "_as though_ THOU _wouldest inquire_." It is more probable that this older reading was altered to agree with the plural in Acts 23:15, than that the plural was changed into the singular. It was natural enough for the speaker among the Zealots to sa... [ Continue Reading ]
_But do not thou yield unto them_ More literally, "Do not thou therefore yield, &c." (with _Rev. Ver._). _which have bound themselves with an oath_ The Greek is the same as in Acts 23:12. It is better therefore to render as there "bound themselves under a curse." Beside which, the invocation implie... [ Continue Reading ]
_So the chief captain then let the young man depart_ There is but one conjunction in the original, which is doubly rendered here by _So_and _then_. It is better to omit the latter. _and charged him, See thou tell no man_, &c. The _Rev. Ver._has "charging him, Tell no man, &c." The Greek is literall... [ Continue Reading ]
_to go to Cesarea_ The residence of the Roman governor and the seat of the chief jurisdiction. The preposition is not the usual one. Hence the _Rev. Ver._gives "to go _as far as_Cæsarea." The distance between Jerusalem and Cæsarea is about 70 miles. _and spearmen_ The Greek word is an unusual one,... [ Continue Reading ]
_and provide them beasts_ Here is an infinitive, in dependence on the verb in the previous verse, to mark which the _Rev. Ver._inserts _he bade them_. _Felix the governor_ He was made procurator of Judæa by Claudius in a.d. 53. He was the brother of Pallas, the favourite freedman of Claudius, and it... [ Continue Reading ]
_a letter after this manner_ [_Rev. Ver._ FORM]. As both the writer and receiver of the letter were Romans, it is most likely that Latin would be the language of the original, and that St Luke has given us a representation of the substance of the document rather than its very words.... [ Continue Reading ]
Letter of Claudius Lysias to Felix 26. _the most excellent governor_ The title "most excellent" is that which is given by St Luke at the beginning of his Gospel to the Theophilus for whom he wrote it. Hence it is probable that Theophilus held some official position, it may be under the Romans in Ma... [ Continue Reading ]
_This man was taken of the Jews_ The verb implies a seizure or arrest. It is used (Matthew 26:55; Mark 14:48) of the party of men who came to seize our Lord, and (Acts 12:3) of Herod Agrippa's arrest of St Peter. It is to be noted that the chief captain employs the word for _man_, which in the orig... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when I would have known_, &c. The _Rev. Ver._more literally "and desiring to know, &c." The method by which the chief captain proposed to learn the charge against Paul was by scourging the prisoner. Cp. Acts 22:24.... [ Continue Reading ]
_whom I perceived_[_R. V._found] _to be accused_, &c. At first he would have discovered that the outcry against St Paul had something to do with the regulations of the temple, then that there was a dispute about the resurrection of those who were dead, and that on this point some of the Jewish leade... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when it was told me how that the Jews laid wait for the man_ In the oldest MSS. there is no mention made of "the Jews." The _Rev. Ver._therefore renders "and when it was shewn to me that there would be a plot against the man." _I sent straightway to thee_ i.e. I sent him. The pronoun is suppli... [ Continue Reading ]
Paul is brought to Cesarea, and kept prisoner by Felix 31. _Then_[SO] _the soldiers_, &c.… _took Paul_ i.e. they formed a party for his escort, and took him among them. _and brought him by night_ i.e. that same night, starting off early in the night and travelling during night-time, thus getting c... [ Continue Reading ]
_On the morrow_ The original has a conjunction which the _Rev. Ver._represents by "But." These men would return to Jerusalem again on the day of the intended plot. _they left the horsemen to go with him_ Now that they were far away from Jerusalem and in no fear of a surprise, seventy horsemen were... [ Continue Reading ]
_who, when they came to Cesarea_ The _Rev. Ver._breaks up the relative into a conjunction and a personal pronoun. "And they, when, &c." This makes the reference to the horsemen more clear. _and delivered the epistle_[LETTER] _to the governor_ It is not easy to see what led the A. V. to give "epistl... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when the governor had read the letter_ The oldest MSS. have nothing either for "the governor" or "the letter." Read (with _Rev. Ver._) "And when he had read it." _of what province he was_ Cilicia had been at one time, and perhaps still was, attached to the province of Syria. It was so in the t... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will hear thee_ The verb implies a complete and thorough hearing of a case. "I will give thee a full hearing." The _Rev. Ver._renders "I will hear thy cause." _when thine accusers are also come_ Assuming that they would appear, since they had been bidden to do so by the chief captain, as he had... [ Continue Reading ]