_AS PAUL PLEADETH HIS CAUSE, ANANIAS COMMANDETH TO SMITE HIM: DISSENTION AMONG HIS ACCUSERS: GOD ENCOURAGETH HIM. THE JEWS' DESIGN TO LAY WAIT FOR PAUL, IS DECLARED UNTO THE CHIEF CAPTAIN. HE SENDETH HIM TO FELIX THE GOVERNOR._ _Anno Domini 61._... [ Continue Reading ]
MEN AND BRETHREN, I HAVE LIVED, &C.— St. Paul could not intend by this to intimate, that he thought himself free from guilt while persecuting the Christians, since he so expressly declares the contrary elsewhere. See 1 Timothy 1:13. 1 Corinthians 15:9. Galatians 1:13. He was only examined with respe... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HIGH PRIEST ANANIAS— He was the son of _Nebedoeus,_ and by his station head of the sanhedrim. He had before this been sent in chains to Rome, to give an account to Claudius Caesar of his behaviour in the quarrel which had happened between the Jews and Samaritans, during the government of Cumanus... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD SHALL SMITE THEE, THOU WHITED WALL, &C.— Alluding to the beautiful outside of some walls which are full of dirt and rubbish within. See on Matthew 23:27 and Luke 11:44. The account which Josephus gives of the character and fate of Ananias, abundantly illustrates this prophetic speech of St. Paul... [ Continue Reading ]
I WIST NOT, BRETHREN, THAT HE WAS THE HIGH PRIEST:— Animated on a sudden by the secret impulse of a prophetic Spirit, which bore him, as it were, for that moment beyond himself, St. Paul delivered the words of Acts 23:3 which being urged against him, he chose not to enter upon a question so difficul... [ Continue Reading ]
OF THE HOPE AND RESURRECTION, &C.— The apostle here refers particularly to the resurrectionof Jesus, and, by him, of all mankind. All the Jews, long before, knew this to be the Christian doctrine; and therefore here was no fraud nor artful gloss to obtain favour with the Pharisees; but only an appea... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE SADDUCEES, &C.— "For, on one hand, the Sadducees, those freethinkers of the age, deny that there will be a resurrection of the dead, or that there is any such permanent being, as an angel, in the invisible world, or a separate spirit of man that survives the death of the body, and subsists i... [ Continue Reading ]
LET US NOT FIGHT AGAINST GOD.— When they mentioned it as a supposable case, that an angel might have spoken to him, they might probably allude to the many visions and revelations which St. Paul, in his late speech to the people, had professed to have received. Gamaliel was now dead, otherwise one wo... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD STOOD BY HIM, &C.— This plainly shews that our Lord approved of the part which St. Paul had acted before the sanhedrim, though some had censured it without understanding or considering the circumstance of it. Witsius observes, that it must have been a greater consolation to so faithful a so... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAVE BOUND OURSELVES UNDER A GREAT CURSE,— _We have bound ourselves by a solemn anathema,_ seems a proper rendering of the emphatic original. Such execrable vows as these, were not unusual with the Jews, who challenged to themselves a right of punishing those without any legal process, whom they... [ Continue Reading ]
OR EVER HE COME NEAR,— That is, _before he come near._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN PAUL CALLED ONE OF THE CENTURIONS UNTO HIM,— Though St. Paul had an express promise from Christ for his security, Acts 23:11 yet he did not neglect any proper means of safety. Comp. ch. Acts 27:24; Acts 27:31.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE CHIEF CAPTAIN TOOK HIM BY THE HAND,— It is observable, that Lysias seems to have conducted this whole affair like a man of integrity, prudence, and generosity.... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH AN ARMY,— That is, _With a band of soldiers._ By the latter clause Lysias seems in general to intimate that he had, on the whole, been more solicitous to provide for St. Paul's security, out of regard to his being a Roman citizen.... [ Continue Reading ]
ANTIPATRIS.— Very different accounts are given of the situation of Antipatris, which must however have been north-west of Jerusalem, as it was in the way from thence to Caesarea. Its ancient name was _Caphar Salama,_ Genesis 7:31. But Herod the Great rebuilt it, and gave it the name of _Antipatris,_... [ Continue Reading ]