Acts 23

1. I have lived, etc. Or, “I have conducted myself towards God” as a member of that kingdom of which He is Sovereign.

2. Ananias. See on xxii. 5. Ananias seems to have been high priest from about A.D. 48 to A.D. 59, with one interruption (A.D. 52), when his cruelty and avarice had caused him to be sent to Rome for trial.

to smite him on the mouth. An Eastern mode of silencing a speaker; intimating that what he said was false and insulting.

3. God shall smite thee. This prediction was fulfilled; for at the beginning of the great Jewish war this Ananias was assassinated.

whited wall. Fair outside, but coarse clay within. Cp. Matt. xxiii. 24-27, and note.

to judge, etc. Ananias, by his command to smite Paul, had illegally decided the case before it was heard.

5. I wist not, etc. Paul’s reply has been variously explained. Lewin’s explanation is that Paul had probably never seen Ananias, as he was absent from Jerusalem, except for one brief visit, during the high priesthood of the latter. The high priest was not necessarily president. Ramsay (Recent Discovery, etc., ch. vii.), says that it was not a formal meeting of the Council at all, but an assemblage of leading men hastily summoned as advisers by the Roman officer in command at Jerusalem, and that he and not the high priest, presided.

6 when Paul perceived. Rather, “Paul knowing.” He knew well that the Sadducees opposed him for preaching the resurrection of the dead; and that as to this essential doctrine the belief of the Pharisees agreed to some extent with the teachings of the gospel.

8. Sadducees. See notes on Matt. iii. 7; xxii. 23.

9 let us not fight against God. The words, added by some transcriber, seem to have been a reminiscence of ch. v. 38, inserted with reference to Paul’s statement xxii. 17, 18.

11. Be of good cheer, etc. This is the same Greek word, θάρσαι, used by our Lord in Matt. ix. 2, 22; xiv. 27; John xvi. 33. Paul’s reward was that of the faithful soldier, to be put in a place of greater responsibility and even danger.

12 a curse. “An anathema,” implying the invocation of divine wrath.

14 chief priests and elders. The conspirators reckoned only too correctly upon the connivance of these professed guardians of religion.

15 signify. A legal word, meaning, “to give notice.”

inquire something more perfectly, etc. Or, “ascertain more exactly the things concerning him”: see R.V.

or ever. That is, before he comes near.

16. Paul’s sister’s son. Many conjectures have been made about this young man. We only know enough of him to show that all Paul’s family were not alienated from him.

23 spearmen. “Light infantry.” The strength of the escort shows that Lysias knew the desperate fanaticism of the Jews; besides which the way was infested at many points by bands of robbers.

24 provide [them] beasts. “Them” is not in the Greek. The beasts were probably mules (Spanish version: cabalgaduras). More than one mule was needed for Paul, as the journey was long, and needed to be rapid.

Felix. Antonius Felix was brother of Pallas, a favourite of Nero, and a freedman of Antonia, the mother of the Emperor Claudius. He had been procurator of Judæa for nearly six years; his government was vigorous; but, as Tacitus says (Hist. v. 9, 7), “he used the power of a king with the disposition of a slave, through every kind of cruelty and licentiousness.”

26 most excellent. An official title: “his Excellency”; see xxiv. 3; xxvi. 25; Luke i. 3.

27 should have been killed. Or, “was on the point of being killed by them.” That Lysias claims overmuch credit to himself is an indirect proof, as Meyer remarks, of the genuineness of the letter.

with an army. Rather, “with the troops.”

31 to Antipatris. A rapid march of about thirty-eight miles. The ruins of an ancient Roman road still indicate the route.

32 left the horsemen. The dangerous part of the journey being over.

33. Cæsarea. See note on viii. 40.

35. I will hear thee. “I will hear thy cause,” R.V.: the word used implying a thorough judicial hearing. The Roman law required that when a case was sent up from an inferior to a higher tribunal, the whole should be heard anew.

Herod’s judgement hall. The “prætorium,” or palace; built by Herod the Great, now the governor’s official residence.