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With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. 29 Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him and the chief captain also was afraid, i after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him. 30 On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.

XXIII. 1 And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, [m Men and] brethren, I have lived in all good

a

i render, when he bethought him. 1 render, wishing to know.

St. Paul's question to him, see ch. xvi. 37, note. 28.] Dio Cassius mentions that, in the reign of Claudius, Messalina used to sell the freedom of the city, and at very various prices at different times.

I was free born] literally, But I (besides having the privilege like thee of being a Roman citizen) was also born one. How was Paul a Roman citizen by birth? Certainly not because he was of Tarsus: for (1) that city had no such privilege, but was only a free city, not a colony nor a municipal town: and (2) if this had been so, the mention of his being a man of Tarsus (ch. xxi. 39) would have of itself prevented his being scourged. It remains, therefore, that his father, or some ancestor, must have obtained the freedom of the city, either as a reward for service or by purchase. It has been sug gested that the father of Saul may have been sold into slavery at Rome, when Cassius laid a heavy fine on the city of Tarsus for having espoused the cause of Octavius and Antony, and very many of the Tarsians were sold to pay it. He may have acquired his freedom and the citizenship afterwards. See Mr. Lewin, i. p. 4. But this is mere conjecture. afraid] There is no inconsistency (as De Wette thinks) in the tribune's being afraid because he had bound him, and then letting him remain thus bound. Meyer rightly explains it, that the tribune, having committed this error, is afraid of the possible consequences of it (for as Cicero says, it was an offence to bind a Roman citizen, and a crime to scourge him), and shews this by taking the first opportunity of either undoing it, or justifying his further detention, by loosing him, and bringing him before the Sanhedrim. His fear was

29. was

k render, that.

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momit: see on ch. i. 16.

on account of his first false step; but it was now too late to reverse it: and the same reason which leads him to continue it now, operates afterwards when the hearing was delayed. The centurion believed Paul's word, because a false claim of this nature, being easily exposed, and punishable with death, was almost an unprecedented thing.' Hackett. 30.] It

seems remarkable that the tribune in command should have had the power to summon the Sanhedrim: and I have not seen this remarked on by any Commentator.

brought Paul down] From Antonia to the council-room. According to tradition the Sanhedrim ceased to hold their sessions in the temple, about twenty-six years before this period. Had they done so now, Lysias and his soldiers could not have been present, as no heathen was permitted to pass the sacred limits. Their present council-room was in the upper city, near the foot of the bridge leading across the ravine from the western cloister of the temple.

XXIII. 1.] earnestly beholding seems to describe that peculiar look, connected probably with infirmity of sight, with which Paul is described before as regarding those before him: and may perhaps account for his not knowing that the person who spoke to him was the high priest, ver. 5. See ch. xiii. 9, note.-The purport of Paul's assertion seems to be this: being charged with neglecting, and teaching others to neglect the law of Moses, he at once endeavours to disarm those who thus accused him, by asserting that up to that day he had lived a true and loyal Jew,-obeying, according to his conscience, the law of that divine polity of which he was a covenant member. Thus I have lived before God

24. Jer. xx.

22.

conscience before God until this day. 2 And the high b1 Kings xxii. priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to 2. John xviii. smite him on the mouth. 3 Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to e Lev. xix. 35. judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? 4 And they that stood by said, d ch. xxiv. 17. Revilest thou God's high priest? 5 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that m he was the high priest; for it is

Deut. xxv. 1, 2. John vii. 51.

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(literally, have been a citizen before God) will have its full and proper meaning: and the words are no vain-glorious ones, but an important assertion of his innocence. 2. Ananias] He was at this time the actual high priest (ver. 4). He was the son of Nebedæus-succeeded Joseph son of Camydus-and preceded Ismael, son of Phabi. He was nominated to the office by Herod, king of Chalcis, in A.D. 48; and sent to Rome by Quadratus, the prefect of Syria, to give an account to the emperor Claudius; he appears, however, not to have lost his office, but to have resumed it on his return. This has been regarded as not certain, and the uncertainty has produced much confusion in the Pauline chronology. But as Wieseler has shewn, there can be no reasonable doubt that it was so, especially as Ananias came off victorious in the cause for which he went to Rome, viz. a quarrel with the Jewish procurator Cumanus,who went with him, and was condemned to banishment. He was deposed from his office not long before the departure of Felix, but still had great power, which he used violently and lawlessly: he was assassinated by the sicarii (see ch. xxi. 38, note) at last.

3.] It is perfectly allowable (even if the fervid rebuke of Paul be considered exempt from blame) to contrast with his conduct and reply that of Him Who, when similarly smitten, answered with perfect and superhuman meekness, John xviii. 22, 23. Our blessed Saviour is to us, in all His words and acts, the perfect pattern for all under all circumstances: by aiming at whatever He did in each case, we shall do best: but even the greatest of his Apostles are so far our patterns only as they followed Him, which certainly in this case Paul did not. That Paul thus answered, might go far to excuse a like fervent reply in a Christian or a minister of the gospel,-but must never be used to justify it: it may serve for an apology, but never for an example.

God shall (is about to, literally) smite thee] Some have seen a prophetic import

it.

in these words;-see above on the death of Ananias. But I would rather take them as an expression founded on a conviction that God's just retribution would come on unjust and brutal acts. thou whited wall] Lightfoot's interpretation, that St. Paul used this term because Ananias had only the semblance of the high priesthood and had lost the thing itself, is founded on the hypothesis (for it is none other) that the high priesthood was vacant at this time, and Ananias had thrust himself into it. The meaning is as in Matt. xxiii. 27; and in all probability Paul referred in thought to our Lord's saying. sittest

4.]

thou to judge me] This must not be taken as favouring the common interpretation of ver. 5 (see below): for the whole Sanhedrim were the judges, and sitting to judge him according to the law. Hence we see, that not only by the Jews, but by the tribune, who was present, Ananias was regarded as the veritable high priest. 5.] (1) The ordinary interpretation of these words since Lightfoot, is, that Ananias had usurped the office during a vacancy, and therefore was not recognized by Paul. They regard his being sent to Rome as a virtual setting aside from being high priest, and suppose that Jonathan, who was murdered by order of Felix, was appointed high priest in his absence. But (a) there is no ground whatever for believing that his office was vacated. He won the cause for which he went to Rome, and returned to Jerusalem : it was only when a high priest was detained as hostage in Rome, that we read of another being appointed in his room: and (b) which is fatal to the hypothesis, Jonathan himself the high priest was sent to Rome with Ananias. Jonathan was called by the title merely as having been previously high priest. He succeeded Caiaphas, and he was not high priest again afterwards, having expressly declined to resume the office. Nor can any other Jonathan have been elevated to it,-for Josephus gives, in every case, the elevation

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28. Eccles. x. 20. 2 Pet. ii. 10. Jude 8.

written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy Exod. xxi.. people. 6 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, [he] cried out in the council, [P Men and] brethren, 'I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead Ich. xxiv. 15, am called in question. 7 And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sad

render, Paul being aware. Pomit: see on ch. i. 16.

of a new high priest, and his whole number of twenty-eight from Herod the Great to the destruction of Jerusalem agrees with the notices thus given. So that this interpretation is untenable. (2) Chrysostom and most of the ancient commentators supposed that Paul, having been long absent, was really unacquainted with the person of the high priest. But this can hardly have been: and even if it were, the position and official seat would have pointed out, to one who had been himself a member of the Sanhedrim, the president of the council. (3) Calvin and others take the words ironically: I could not be supposed to know that one who conducted himself so cruelly and illegally, could be the high priest. This surely needs no refutation, as being altogether out of place and character. (4) Bengel and others understand the words as an acknowledgment of rash and insubordinate language, and render, 'I did not give it a thought,' 'I forgot:' and so Dr. Wordsworth. But this is never the meaning of the word here used in the original; and were any pregnant or unusual sense intended, the context (as at 1 Thess. v. 12) would suggest it. (5) On the whole then, I believe that the only rendering open to us, consistently with the simple meaning of the words, and the facts of history is, I did not know that it (or he) was the high priest: and that it is probable that the solution of his ignorance lies in the fact of his imperfect sight-he heard the insolent order given, but knew not from whom it proceeded. I own that I am not entirely satisfied with this, as being founded perhaps on too slight premises: but as far as I can see there is no positive objection to it, which there is to every other. The objection stated by Dr. Wordsworth, "If St. Paul could not discern that Ananias was high priest, how could he see that he sat there as his judge?' would of course be easily answered by supposing that Paul, who had himself been a member of the Sanhedrim, may have known Ananias by his voice: or indeed may not VOL. I.

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。 omit.

fch. xxvi. 5.

Phil. iii. 5.

21: xxvi. 6: xxviii. 20.

q read, Pharisees.

(as above) have known him at all personally. It is hardly worth while to notice the rendering given by some, I knew not that there was a high priest?' Had any such meaning been intended, it would have been further specified by the construction. Besides which, it renders Paul's apology irrelevant, by eliminating from it the person who is necessarily its subject. for it

is written] Implying in this, and the law is the rule of my life. Even in this we see the consummate skill of St. Paul. 6.] Surely no defence of Paul for adopting this course is required, but all admiration is due to his skill and presence of mind. Nor need we hesitate to regard such skill as the fulfilment of the promise, that in such an hour, the Spirit of wisdom should suggest words to the accused, which the accuser should not be able to gainsay. All prospect of a fair trial was hopeless: he well knew from fact, and present experience, that personal odium would bias his judges, and violence prevail over justice: he therefore uses, in the cause of Truth, the maxim so often perverted to the cause of falsehood, "divide, and govern." In one tenet above all others, did the religion of Jesus Christ and the belief of the Pharisees coincide: that of the resurrection of the dead. That they looked for this resurrection by right of being the seed of Abraham, and denied it to all others,-whereas he looked for it through Jesus whom they hated, in whom all should be made alive who had died in Adam,-this was nothing to the present point: the belief was common -in the truest sense it was the hope of Israel-in the truest sense does Paul use and bring it forward to confound the adversaries of Christ. At the same time by this strong assertion of his Pharisaic standing and extraction, he was further still vindicating himself from the charge against him. So also ch. xxvi. 7.

the son of Pharisees] i. e. a Pharisee of Pharisees,'' by descent from father, grandfather, and upwards, a pure Pharisee.' This meaning not having been appre

3 G

h Matt. xxii. 23. Mark

xx. 27.

i ch. xxv. 25: xxvi. 31.

18.

1 ch. v. 39.

m ch. xviii. 9: xxvii. 23, 24.

ducees and the multitude was divided. 8 h For the

:

i

xii. 18. Luke Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both. 9 And there arose a great cry and the scribes that were of the Pharisees' part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil k ch. xxii. 7,17, in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God. 10 And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle. 11 And m the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer[, Paul]: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. 12 And when it was day, [ certain of] the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. 13 And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy. 14 And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. 15 Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you [s to morrow], as though ye would tenquire something more perfectly concern

n ver. 21, 30. ch. xxv. 3.

n

I read, with all our oldest authorities, what if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him? omitting the rest.

$ omit, with all our oldest authorities.
trender, determine with greater accuracy.

hended, the plural was by the copyists
altered into the singular.
8.] See
note, Matt. iii. 7, for both Pharisees and
Sadducees: Josephus says that the latter
denied the future existence of the soul, and
rewards and punishments hereafter.

9. but what if a spirit or an angel have
spoken to him?] Perhaps in this they
referred to the history of his conversion, as
told to the people, ch. xxii. 10. should

have been pulled in pieces] to be taken
literally, not as merely meaning, 'should
be killed. The Pharisees would strive to
lay hold of him to rescue him: the Sad-
ducees, to destroy him, or at all events, to
secure him. Between them both, there
was danger of his being pulled asunder
by them.
11.] By these few words,
the Lord assured him (1) of a safe issue
from his present troubles; (2) of an ac-

complishment of his intention of visiting
Rome: (3) of the certainty that however
he might be sent thither, he should preach
the gospel and bear testimony there. So
that they upheld and comforted him (1)
in the uncertainty of his life from the
Jews (2) in the uncertainty of his libera-
tion from prison at Cæsarea: (3) in the
uncertainty of his surviving the storm in
the Mediterranean: (4) in the uncertainty
of his fate on arriving at Rome.
So may
one crumb of divine grace and help be
multiplied to feed five thousand wants and
anxieties. 12.] Wetstein and Light-
foot adduce instances of similar conspira-
cies, not to eat or drink till some object
be gained. See 1 Sam. xiv. 24 ff.
It is understood from the narrative that it
was to the Sadducees, among the chief
priests and elders, that the murderers went.

14.

:

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ing him and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him. 16 And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul. 17 Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him, and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain: for he hath a certain thing to tell him. 18 So he took him, and brought him to the chief captain, and said, Paul the prisoner called me unto him, and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto thee. 19 Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and went with him aside privately, and asked him, What is that thou hast to tell me? 20 And he said, The Jews o ver. 12. have agreed to desire thee that thou wouldest bring down Paul to morrow into the council, as though they would enquire somewhat of him more perfectly. 21 But do not thou yield unto them for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee. 22 So the chief captain then let the young man depart, and charged him, See thou tell no man that thou hast shewed these things to me. 23 And he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Cæsarea, and horsemen threescore and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night; 24 and provide them beasts, that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the I read, with most of our oldest authorities, thou wouldest.

:

y render, the.

That the high priest belonged to this sect, cannot be inferred with any accuracy. 15. determine with greater accuracy] or perhaps, neglecting the comparative sense, to determine accurately (not as A. V. enquire something more perfectly'). 16.] It is quite uncertain whether Paul's sister's son lived in Jerusalem, or had accompanied him thither. The us of ch. xx. 5, will include more than merely Luke. But from his knowledge of the plot, which presupposes other acquaintances than he would have been likely to make if he had come with St. Paul, I should suppose him to have been domiciled at Jerusalem, possibly under instruction,

as

for, not "a promise," as A. V., but the
promise (to that effect). 23. two cen-
turions] literally, some two centurions.
The soldiers here spoken of were the
ordinary heavy-armed legionary soldiers:
distinguished below from the horsemen and
spearmen. spearmen] The word thus
rendered has never been satisfactorily ex-
plained but spearmen seems to represent
it more nearly than any other term. See
in my Greek Test. 24. bring him
safe The full meaning of the word is,
escort him safe the whole way.
Felix FELIX was a freedman of the
Emperor Claudius: Suidas and Zonaras
gave him the prænomen of Claudius, but
Tacitus calls him Antonius Felix, perhaps
from Antonia, the mother of Claudius, as
he was brother of Pallas, who was a freed-

was formerly Paul himself, and thus likely, in the schools, to have heard the scheme spoken of. 21.] They waited

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