XXVI: 1-3. Festus having stated the case, and the assembly being in waiting, the king assumed the presidency of the assembly. (1) "_ Then Agrippa said to Paul, You are permitted to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched forth his hand, and offered his defense:_ (2) _I think myself happy, King Agrip... [ Continue Reading ]
XXVI: 1 3. Festus having stated the case, and the assembly being in waiting, the king assumed the presidency of the assembly. (1) “_ Then Agrippa said to Paul, You are permitted to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched forth his hand, and offered his defense:_ (2) _I think myself happy, King Agrip... [ Continue Reading ]
4-8. After the exordium, he proceeds to state, first, his original position among the Jews, and to show that he was still true to the chief doctrine which he then taught. (4) "_ My manner of life from my youth, which was from the beginning among my own nation in Jerusalem, all the Jews know,_ (5) _w... [ Continue Reading ]
9-11. To still further illustrate his former standing among the Pharisees, he describes his original relation toward the cause of Christ. (9) "_ I thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus, the Nazarene,_ (10) _which I also did in Jerusalem. Many of the saints... [ Continue Reading ]
12-18. (12) "_ Whereupon, as I was going to Damascus, with authority and commission from the high priests,_ (13) _at midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining around me and those who were journeying with me._ (14) _And when we had all fallen to th... [ Continue Reading ]
19-21. By these facts the speaker proceeds to justify his change of position, and his subsequent career. (19) "_ Whereupon, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision;_ (20) _but announced, first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and in all the country of Judea, and to the Gen... [ Continue Reading ]
22, 23. That the Jews had not succeeded, with all their mobs, and conspiracies, and corruption of rulers, in destroying his life, was a matter of astonishment, and Agrippa might well admit that it was owing to the protecting providence of God. (22) "_ Having, however, obtained help from God, I have... [ Continue Reading ]
24. At this point in his speech, Paul was interrupted by Festus. It was a very strange speech in the ears of that dissolute heathen. It presented to him a man who from his youth had lived in strict devotion to a religion whose chief characteristic was the hope of a resurrection from the dead; who ha... [ Continue Reading ]
25. Paul saw at once, from the tone and manner of Festus, as well as from the admission of his great learning, that the charge of insanity was not intended as an insult; but that it was the sudden outburst of a conviction which had just seized the mind of the perplexed and astonished governor. His a... [ Continue Reading ]
26, 27. In Agrippa Paul had a very different hearer. His Jewish education enabled him to appreciate Paul's arguments, and to see repeated, in that noble self-sacrifice which was an enigma to Festus, the heroism of the old prophets. As Paul turned away from Festus and fixed his eye upon the king, he... [ Continue Reading ]
28. With matchless skill the apostle had brought his proofs to bear upon his principal hearer, and with the boldness which only those can feel who are determined upon success, he pressed this direct appeal so unexpectedly, that the king, like Festus, was surprised into a full expression of his feeli... [ Continue Reading ]
29. Paul's reply, for propriety of wording and magnanimity of sentiment, is not excelled in all the records of extemporaneous response: (29) "_ And Paul said, I could pray to God, that not only you, but all who_ _hear me this day, were both almost and altogether_ _such as I am, except these bonds. ... [ Continue Reading ]
30-32. The course of remark and the feeling of the audience had now reached that painful crisis in which it was necessary either to yield at once to the power of persuasion, or to break up the interview. Unfortunately for the audience, and especially for Agrippa, the latter alternative was chosen. T... [ Continue Reading ]