CHAPTER XXIV. _After five days, Ananias the high priest, the elders, and one_ _Tertullus, an orator, come to Caesarea to accuse Paul_, 1. _The oration of Tertullus_, 2-9. _Paul's defence_, 10-21. _Felix, having heard his defence, proposes to leave the final_ _determination of it till Claudius... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:2. _TERTULLUS BEGAN TO ACCUSE HIM_] There are three parts in this oration of Tertullus:- 1. The _exordium_. 2. The _proposition_. 3. The _conclusion_. The _exordium_ contains the praise of Felix and his administration, merely for the purpose of conciliating his esteem, Acts 24:2; T... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:3. _WE ACCEPT_ IT _ALWAYS, AND IN ALL PLACES_] We have at _all_ _times_ a grateful sense of thy beneficent administration, and we talk of it _in all places_, not only before thy face, but behind thy back.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:4. _THAT I BE NOT FARTHER TEDIOUS UNTO THEE_] That I may neither trespass on thy _time_, by dwelling longer on this subject, nor on thy _modesty_, by thus enumerating thy beneficent deeds. _HEAR US OF THY CLEMENCY_] Give us this farther proof of thy kindness, by hearkening to our pre... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:5. _FOR WE HAVE FOUND THIS MAN_, c.] Here the _proposition_ of the orator commences. He accuses Paul, ant his accusation includes _four_ particulars:- 1. He is a _pest_, λοιμος an exceedingly bad and wicked man. 2. He excites disturbances and seditions against the Jews. 3. He is the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:6. _HATH GONE ABOUT TO PROFANE THE TEMPLE_] This was a heavy charge, if it could have been substantiated, because the Jews were permitted by the Romans to put any person to death who profaned their temple. This charge was founded on the gross calumny mentioned, Acts 21:28; for, as they... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:7. _WITH GREAT VIOLENCE_] μετα πολλης βιας, I rather think, means _with an armed force_. Tertullus intimates that Lysias interfered contrary to law, and brought soldiers to support him in his infringement on their constitution. This is what he seems to say and complain of; for the Jews... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:8. _COMMANDING HIS ACCUSERS TO COME_, c.] Here Tertullus closes his _opening_ and _statement_ of the case and now he proceeds to _call_ and examine his _witnesses_; and they were no doubt examined one by one, though St. Luke sums the whole up in one word -_The Jews_ _also assented, say... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:10. _THEN PAUL - ANSWERED_] The apostle's _defence_ consists of _two parts_: - 1. The _exordium_, which has for its object the praise of his judge, whose qualifications to discern and decide on a question of this nature he fully allows; and expects, from this circumstance, to have a f... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:11. _THERE ARE YET BUT TWELVE DAYS_] This is his _reply_ to their charge of _sedition_; the improbability of which is shown from the _short time_ he had spent in Jerusalem, quite insufficient to organize a sedition of any kind; nor could a single proof be furnished that he had attempte... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:14. _THAT AFTER THE WAY WHICH THEY CALL HERESY_] See the explanation of this word in _Clarke's note on "_Acts 5:17_"_, and see before, Acts 24:5, where what is here translated _heresy_, is there rendered _sect_. At this time the word had no bad acceptation, in reference to religious o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:15. _AND HAVE HOPE TOWARD GOD_, c.] I not only do not hold any thing by which the general creed of this people might be altered, in reference to the _present state_ but, also, I hold nothing different from their belief in reference to a _future_ _state_; for, if I maintain the doctrine... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:16. _AND HEREIN DO I EXERCISE MYSELF_] And this very tenet is a pledge for my good behaviour; for as I believe there will be a resurrection, both of the _just_ and _unjust_, and that _every man_ shall be judged for the _deeds done in the body_, so _I exercise_ _myself day and night, th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:17. _NOW, AFTER MANY YEARS_, c.] And as a full proof that I act according to the dictates of this Divine and beneficent creed, though I have been many years absent from my own country, and my political relation to it is almost necessarily dissolved, yet, far from coming to disturb the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:18. _FOUND ME PURIFIED IN THE TEMPLE_] And the Jews of Asia, who stirred up the persecution against me in Jerusalem, found me purified in the temple, regularly performing the religious vow into which I had entered; giving no cause for suspicion; for I made no _tumult_, nor had I any _n... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:20. _ANY EVIL DOING IN ME WHILE I STOOD BEFORE THE COUNCIL_] The Jews of Asia, the most competent witnesses, though my declared enemies, and they who stirred up the persecution against me, should have been here: why are _they_ kept back? Because they could prove _nothing_ against me. L... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:21. _EXCEPT IT BE FOR THIS ONE VOICE_] The Sadducees who belong to that council, and who deny the resurrection of the dead, may indeed blame me for professing my faith in this doctrine; but as this is a doctrine credited by the _nation_ in general, and as there can be nothing criminal... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:22. _AND WHEN FELIX HEARD THESE THINGS_] There is considerable difficulty in this verse. Translators greatly vary concerning the sense; and the MSS. themselves read variously. Mr. Wakefield's translation appears to be as proper as most: _Now_ _Felix, upon hearing these things, put them... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:23. _HE COMMANDED A CENTURION TO KEEP PAUL_] He gave him into the custody of a captain, by whom he was most likely to be well used: _and to let him have liberty_; he freed him from the chains with which he was bound to the soldiers, his keepers. Acts 21:33. _And that he should forbid n... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:24. _HIS WIFE DRUSILLA_] We have already seen that Felix was _thrice_ married: two of his wives were named _Drusilla_; one was a Roman, the niece or grand-daughter of Antony and Cleopatra, mentioned by Tacitus, lib. v. cap. 9. The other, the person in the text, was a _Jewess_, daughte... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:25. _AS HE REASONED OF RIGHTEOUSNESS_] δικαιοσυνης; The principles and requisitions of _justice_ and _right_, between God and man; and between man and his fellows, in all _relations_ and _connections_ of life. _TEMPERANCE_] εγκρατειας, _Chastity; self-government_ or _moderation_ with... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:26. _HE HOPED ALSO THAT MONEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN HIM_] Bp. Pearce asks, "How could St. Luke know this?" To which I answer: From the report of St. Paul, with whom Felix had frequent conferences, and to whom he undoubtedly expressed this wish. We may see, here, the most unprincipled... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Acts 24:27. _AFTER TWO YEARS_] That is, from the time that Paul came prisoner to Caesarea. _PORCIUS FESTUS_] This man was put into the government of Judea about A.D. 60, the _sixth_ or _seventh_ year of Nero. In the succeeding chapter we shall see the part that _he_ took in the affairs of St.... [ Continue Reading ]