Bible Commentaries

Acts 24:1. Ananias—descended— Or, Went down.

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Acts 24:2. Tertullus began to accuse him,— Almost every word of this oration is false,—the accusation of St. Paul, the encomium on the government of Felix, and the declaration of a lawful intention in what they had done and attempted. When he says, We enjoy great quietness by thee, he probably refers to what Felix had done to clear the country of robbers and impostors; for all the historians agree that he was in every other respect a man of so bad a character, that his government was a plague to all the provinces over which he presided; and as for Judea, its state under Felix was so far from being what Tertullus here represents, that Josephus, besides what he says of the barbarous and cowardly assassination of Jonathan the high-priest by his means, declares, that the Jews accused himbefore Nero of unsufferable oppressions; and had certainly ruined him, if his brother Pallas had not interposed in his favour. We may read the next clause, and illustrious deeds are happily done to this nation by your prudent administration, which is the exact rendering of the original.

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Acts 24:4. Notwithstanding,— Or, But.

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Acts 24:6. Who also hath gone about to profane the temple:— Tertullus artfully mentions this as the most express fact he had to charge upon him, well knowing that the Romans allowed the Jews a power of executing, even without forms of law, any person who should be found in any such act of profanation; and he seems to have designed to make a merit of their moderation, that they intended, nevertheless, fairly to have tried him, and not to have destroyed him on the spot, as Lysias had justly charged them with attempting: and it is observable, that Tertullus no where expressly avows so much as a design to have put St. Paul to death, though it was undoubtedly intended, The expression, with great violence took him, Act 24:7 is another base and false insinuation of this orator, as if Lysias's just care of the life of a man had stopped the course of justice, and been an act of the highest outrage.

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Acts 24:10. Then Paul—answered, Forasmuch, &c.— It was now about seven years since Felix entered on his government. The three articles of Tertullus's charge were sedition,—heresy,—and a profanation of the temple. St. Paul's answer exactly corresponds to each of these. As to the first he suggests, that he had not been long enough at Jerusalem to form a party, and attempt an insurrection; and challenges his accusers, in fact, to produce any evidence of such practices, Acts 24:11-13. As to the second, he confesses himself to be a Christian, but maintains that Christianity is a religion perfectly agreeable to the revelation of Moses and all the prophets, and consequently not deserving to be branded with any infamous or invidious title, Acts 24:14-16. And as for the profanation of the temple, he tells them, that on the contrary he had entered it with some peculiar rites of religious purification, and had behaved himself therein in a most peaceful and regular manner; so thathis innocence had been evident even before the sanhedrim, where the authors of the tumult did not dare to appear against him; Acts 24:17-21.

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Acts 24:14. So worship I the God of my fathers,— This was a very proper plea before a Roman magistrate, as it proves that he was under the protection of the Roman laws, since the Jews were so; whereas, had he introduced the worship of new gods, he had forfeited that protection.

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Acts 24:16. And herein— Εν τουτω, that is, in this work do I employ myself; or, as others render it; "In the mean time, whilst I am in this world;" or as others, (I think most probably,) "for this cause, or on this account, because I believe a resurrection, therefore, I have a conscientious care of my life, and all the actions of it." That the phrase εν τουτω sometimes signifies on this account, is shewn by Raphelius, Annot. ex Xen. p. 185.

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Acts 24:18. Neither with multitude, nor with tumult:— If the apostle had disturbed other people in their religious worship, whether Jews or Gentiles, invaded their civil rights, or made any tumult, sedition, or insurrection, the Roman law would have condemned him: but as there were already several sects among the Jews, the Christians might, if considered as a new sect, differ from them all, and yet remain under the protection of the Roman law.

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