Comentarios bíblicos

CHAPTER 26

Acts 26:1. ὑπέρ] Lachm. Tisch. Born. read περί, upon decisive evidence.

Acts 26:3. After δέομαι Elz. Scholz have σου, which is deleted by Lachm. Tisch. Born., according to A B E א, min. Aeth. Syr. p. Arm. Vulg. A supplementary addition.

Acts 26:6. εἰς] Elz. Scholz have πρός. εἰς has A B E א, min. in its favour; is recommended by Griesb., and adopted by Lachm. Tisch. Born.; πρός is explanatory, in accordance with Acts 13:32.

After πατ. A B C E א, min. Chrys. Theophyl. and many vss. have ἡμῶν. Adopted by Griesb. Scholz, Lachm., and, in view of the considerable preponderance of testimony, rightly. The unnecessary pronoun was easily passed over.

Acts 26:7. The critically established order of the words is: ἐγκαλοῦμαι ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων (not ὑπὸ τῶν ʼΙουδ., as Elz. has) βασιλεῦ. So Lachm. Born. Tisch. Ἀγρίππα, which Elz. and Scholz have after βασιλεῦ, is an addition opposed to greatly preponderant testimony.

Acts 26:10. φυλακαῖς] decisive witnesses have ἐν φυλ.; so Griesb. Scholz, Lachm. Tisch. Born.

Acts 26:12. ἐν οἷς καί] καί is wanting in A B C E J א, min. and several vss. Deleted by Lachm. and Born.; and on that preponderating testimony with the more right, as the frequent καί after the relative was easily added mechanically.

τῆς παρὰ τῶν] Lachm. and Born. have merely τῶν, according to A E J, min. vss. (B א omit only παρά). But τῆς might be just as easily left out after the syllable πης, as παρά might be overlooked as superfluous. If only τῶν stood originally, there was no reason why it should be completed from Acts 26:10. Therefore the Recepta is to be retained.

Acts 26:14. λαλοῦσαν πρός με κ. λέγουσαν] Lachm. and Born. read λέγουσαν πρός με, following A B C J א, min. vss., to which also E, min., having φωνῆς λεγούσης πρός με, are to be added. But the comparison of Acts 9:4, Acts 22:7, occasioned the abbreviation.

Acts 26:15. ὁ δέ] Lachm. Tisch. Born. read ὁ δὲ Κύριος, according to very considerable testimony. The Recepta is from Acts 9:5 (see the critical remarks thereon).

Acts 26:16. εἶδες] B C* (?) 137, Arm. Syr. p. Ambr. Aug. have εἶδές με. More precise definition, although defended by Buttmann in the Stud. u. Krit. 1860, p. 360.

Acts 26:17. Instead of ἐγώ, Elz. Scholz have νῦν, against decisive testimony.

Acts 26:20. After πρῶτον Lachm. Born. Tisch. have τε, as in A B א. Inserted for closer connection with καὶ Ἱεροσ. Comp. the following τε … καί.

εἰς πᾶσαν] εἰς is wanting in A B א, and is deleted by Lachm., but is indispensable, and might be easily enough passed over after the syllable οις.

Acts 26:21. The article is wanting before Ἰουδαῖοι in B G א*, which Buttmann approves; it was easily overlooked on account of the similarity of the following syllable, but would hardly be added, comp. Acts 26:2-3; Acts 26:7.

Acts 26:22. παρά] ἀπό has the stronger attestation (Lachm. Tisch. Born.).

μαρτυρούμενος] A B G H א, min. Chrys. Theophyl. have μαρτυρόμενος. Approved by Griesb., adopted by Lachm. Tisch. Born. A correction. See the exegetical remarks.

Acts 26:25. ὁ δέ] Lachm. and Born. read ὁ δὲ Παῦλος, which, indeed, has important attestation, but has the suspicion of having arisen from the very usual practice of writing the name on the margin.

Acts 26:28. ἔφη] is to be deleted, with Lachm. Tisch., according to important witnesses (including א).

γενέσθαι] Lachm. and Born. read ποιῆσαι, after A B א, loti three min. Copt. Syr. p. (on the margin). This variation is connected with the reading ΠΕΙΘΗΙ (instead of πείθεις), but which is found only in A, and along with ποιῆσαι is of the nature of a gloss.[159]

Acts 26:29. πολλῷ] Lachm. Tisch. Born. read ΜΕΓΆΛῼ, after A B א, min. Syr. utr. Copt. Arm. Vulg. Rightly; ΠΟΛΛῷ involuntarily intruded itself as a contrast of ὈΛΊΓῼ.

Acts 26:30. ἈΝΈΣΤΗ ΤΕ] Elz. has ΚΑῚ ΤΑῦΤΑ ΕἸΠΌΝΤΟς ΑὐΤΟῦ ἈΝΈΣΤΗ, against A B א, min. Syr. Erp. Aeth. Arm. Vulg. An amplification.

[159] Expressing the meaning: thou believest to make me a Christian. Nevertheless Lachmann, Praef. p. x., considers the reading of A as correct.

Acts 26:1-3. Ἐπιτρέπεταί σοι] it is (herewith) permitted to thee to speak for thyself, i.e. to defend thyself. Comp. Soph. Aj. 151, El. 545; Xen. Hist. i. 7. 16.

ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα] after stretching forth his hand, is not equivalent to the κατασείσας τῇ χειρί, Acts 12:17, Acts 13:16 (in opposition to Er. Schmid and Hammond), because this latter had for its object the σιγᾶν of the hearers (Acts 12:17); but it conveys a trait descriptive of the solemnity of this moment: Paul comes forward in the attitude of an orator, with all the ingenuousness and candour of a good conscience, although the chain hung on his hands, Acts 26:29. Comp. in contrast to the simple gesture of Paul, the artificially rhetorical one in Apuleius, Metamorph. ii. p. 54: “Porrigit dextram et ad instar oratorum conformat articulum, duobusque infimis conclusis digitis ceteros eminentes porrigit.” According to Lange’s fancy, it is an intimation that “he stretched out his hand at length for once to an intelligent judge.”

How true and dignified is also here (comp. Acts 24:10) the conciliatory exordium, with which Paul commences his speech!

ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων] by Jews (generally), not: by the Jews, comp. Acts 25:10. In regard to Jewish accusations, Paul esteemed himself fortunate that he was to defend himself before Agrippa, as the latter was best informed about Jewish customs and controversies.

Acts 26:3. μάλιστα γνώστην ὄντα σε] as thou art most (more than all other authorities) cognizant. The speech, continuing by a participial construction, is joined on in an abnormal case, as if an accusative expression had been previously used (such as πρός σε … ἀπολογεῖσθαι, Plat. Apol. p. 24 B). Less simply Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 272 [E. T. 317]. See on Ephesians 1:18, and Stallb. ad Plat. Rep. p. 386 B. The view of Bornemann is very harsh (as διὸ δέομαι entirely closes the previous construction, and commences a new sentence of the speech): that Paul has put the accusative, because he had it in view to continue subsequently with αἰτῶ … ἀκοῦσαί μου, but omitted to do so on account of πάντων … ζητημάτων.

κατὰ Ἰουδ.] among Jews throughout. See Winer, p. 374 [E. T. 499].

Acts 26:4-5. Μὲν οὖν] introduces, in connection with the preceding exordium, the commencement now of the defence itself. See Bäumlein, Partik. p. 181.

βίωσιν] manner of life. Ecclus. Praef. 1, Symm. Psalm 38:6. Not preserved in Greek writers.

τὴν ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς … Ἱεροσ.] a significant epexegesis of τὴν ἐκ νεότητος, for the establishment of the following ἴσασι κ.τ.λ.

προγινώσκοντες … Φαρισαῖος] my manner of life … know all Jews, since they knew me from the outset (since the first time of my becoming known)—namely, that I, according to the strictest (Acts 22:3) sect of our religion (θρησκείας), have lived as Pharisee. This Φαρισαῖος, calling that ἀκριβ. αἵρεσιν by its name, stands with great emphasis at the close. Notice generally the intentional definiteness with which Paul here describes all the circumstances of the case, to which belongs also the emphatic repetition of τήν (see Bornemann in loc.).

In προγινώσκ., προ, before, contains the same conception, which is afterwards still more definitely denoted by ἄνωθεν. They knew Paul earlier than merely since the present encounter, and that indeed ἄνωθεν, from the beginning (Luke 1:3), which therefore, as it refers to the knowing, and not to ἔζησα, may not be explained: from my ancestors (Beza).

ἐὰν θέλωσι μαρτυρεῖν] if they do not conceal or deny, but are willing to testify it. “Nolebat autem, quia persentiscebant, in conversione Pauli, etiam respectu vitae ante actae, efficacissimum esse argumentum pro veritate fidei Christianae,” Bengel. Comp. Acts 22:19 f.

Acts 26:6-7. As I was known from of old by every one as a disciple of the strictest orthodoxy, so it is also now far from being anything heterodox, on account of which I stand accused (ἕστηκα κρινόμενος),—it is the universal, ardently-cherished, national hope, directed to the promise issued by God to our fathers.

ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι] on account of hope toward the promise, etc. That Paul means the hope of the Messianic kingdom to be erected, the hope of the whole eternal κληρονομία (Hebrews 9:15), not merely the special hope of the resurrection of the dead (Grotius), the following more precise description proves, in which the universal and unanimous solicitude of the nation is depicted. He had preached of this hope, that the risen Jesus would realize it (comp. Acts 13:32 f.), and this was the reason of his persecution. See also Acts 28:20.

εἰς τοὺς κατέρας ἡμῶν] issued to our fathers. On the order of the words, the participle after the substantive, see Kühner, ad Xen. Anab. v. 3. 4.

εἰς ἥν refers to the ἐπαγγελία.

τὸ δωδεκάφυλον ἡμῶν] our twelve-tribe-stock (a theocratically honourable designation of the nation as a whole, comp. Jam 1:1). The word is also found in the Protevang. Jacobi, 1 (see Thilo in loc., p. 166 f.); Clem. 1 Cor. 55, comp. chap. 31, p. 76: τὸ δωδεκάσκηπτρον τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Quite analogous is δεκάφυλος, Herod. v. 66 (comp. τετράφυλος in the same place). To understand the expression historically, it need only be remarked, that even after the exile the collective body of the people actually consisted of the twelve tribes; in which view the circumstance, that ten tribes did not return from the exile, did not alter anything in the objective relation, and could not destroy the consciousness, deeply interwoven and vividly bound up by history and prophecy with the whole national character, that every Jew (wherever he was) belonged to the great unity of the δωδεκάφυλον,—to say nothing of the fact that all the members of the ten tribes did not go into exile, and of the exiled all did not jointly and severally remain in exile. The question, therefore, as to the later fate of the ten tribes (see especially, Baumgarten) does not belong to this place.

ἐν ἐκτενείᾳ κ.τ.λ.] with constancy attending to the worship of God, as well by the תָּמִיד (sacrificium juge; see Ewald, Alterth. p. 171) as by prayer and every kind of adoration. Comp. on Luke 2:37, where also, in order at once to give prominence to the earnestness of the constant worship, νύκτα precedes.—ͅκαταντῆσαι] to arrive, as if at a goal, which is the contents of the promise. Comp. on Php 3:7. The conception λαμβάνειν τὴν ἐπαγγελ., Acts 2:23, Galatians 3:14, Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 11:13, is analogous. The realization of the Messianic promise is also here represented as attaching itself to the pious preparation of the nation. Comp. Acts 3:20 f.

ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων] by Jews! placed at the end, brings into emphatic prominence the contrast. The absurdity and wickedness of being impeached by Jews concerning the hope of the Messianic kingdom were to be made thoroughly palpable.

Acts 26:8. The circumstance that Paul made the resurrection of Jesus the foundation of his preaching of the Messianic kingdom, had specially provoked the hatred of the Jews. This resurrection they would not recognise (Acts 25:19), and therefore he continues—in his impassioned address breaking away from what had gone before, and in the person of the Jewish king addressing the Jews themselves as if present (παρʼ ὑμῖν)—with the bold inquiry: Why is it esteemed as incredible with you? etc. Beza and others (also de Wette and Lange) place after τί a note of interrogation: How? Is it incredible? etc. But it tells decisively against this view that the mere τί is not so used; τί γάρ, τί οὖν or τί δέ would be employed.

εἰ ὁ Θεὸς νεκρ. ἐγείρει] if God (as He has done in the instance of Jesus) raises the dead. Comp. Vulgate, Erasmus, and others, εἰ is neither equivalent to ὅτι (Luther, Beza, Grotius, and others), nor is it the problematic whether (de Wette and others); the more especially as the matter under discussion is not that of doubt or uncertainty on the part of the Jews, but that of their definite unbelief, which is absurd.

Acts 26:9-10. In consequence of this unbelief (μὲν οὖν), I myself was once a decided opponent of the name of Jesus.

ἔδοξα ἐμαυτῷ] mihi ipsi videbar. See examples in Wetstein. The view of Erasmus, Calovius, de Dieu, and Vater, who connect ἐμαυτῷ with δεῖν, is to be rejected; for δεῖν with the dative, although not without example in classical writers (Xen. Mem iii. 3. 10, Anab. iii. 4. 35, Oecon. vii. 20; see Kühner, § 551, note 5; Schoem. ad Is. p. 380), is foreign to the N.T. ἐμαυτῷ has the emphasis of his own personal opinion: I had the self-delusion, that I ought to exert myself. “Tanta vis errantis conscientiae,” Bengel.

πρὸς τὸ ὄνομα] in reference to the name, namely, in order to suppress the confession and invocation of it. Observe how Paul uses Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Ναζωρ. according to his standpoint as Saul.

ὅ] which πολλὰ ἐναντία πρᾶξαι I also actually did. Comp. Galatians 2:10. This is then more particularly set forth by καὶ (and indeed) πολλοὺς κ.τ.λ. Mark the difference between πράσσειν and ποιεῖν; see on John 3:20.

τῶν ἁγίων] spoken from the Christian standpoint of the apostle, with grief. The ἐγώ also has painful emphasis.

ἀναιρ. τε αὐτ. κατήνεγκα ψῆφον] and when they were put to death (when people were on the point of executing them) I have given vote (thereto), calculum adjeci, i.e. I have assented, συνευδόκησα, Acts 22:20. The plural ἀναιρ. αὐτ. is not, with Grotius, Kuinoel, and others, to be referred merely to Stephen, but also to other unknown martyrs, who met their death in the persecution which began with the killing of Stephen. Comp. Acts 8:1, Acts 9:1. Elsner and Kypke make the genitive dependent on κατήνεγκα, and in that, case take κατα- in a hostile reference (comp. καταψηφίζειν). Harsh, and without precedent in linguistic usage; ἀναιρ. αὐτ. is the genitive absolute, and κατήν. is conceived with a local reference, according to the original conception of the ψῆφος (the voting-stone), which the voter deposits in the urn. Classical authors make use of the simple φέρειν ψῆφον (Plat. Legg. vi. p. 766 B, p. 767 D, and frequently), also of διαφέρειν, or ἐπιφέρ., or ἀναφέρ., or ἐκφέρ. ψ. But to καταφέρειν in our passage corresponds the classical τιθέναι ψῆφον (Plat. Tim. p. 51 D; Eur. Or. 754; Dem. 362. 6, and frequently).

Acts 26:11-13. Κατὰ πάσας τ. συναγ.] throughout all the synagogues (in Jerusalem), going from one to another and searching out the Christians in all; comp. Acts 22:19.

τιμωρῶν αὐτούς] taking vengeance on them, dragging them to punishment, Soph. O. R. 107. 140; Polyb. ii. 56. 15. Comp. Acts 22:5, and Wetstein in loc. The middle is more usual.

βλασφημεῖν] namely, τὸν Ἰησοῦν, which is obvious of itself, as the object of the specific reverence of Christians (Jam 2:7). Comp. Plin. Ep. x. 97; Suicer, Thes. I. p. 697. Whether and how far this ἠνάγκαζ. βλασφ. was actually successful, cannot be determined.

ἕως καὶ εἰς τὰς ἔξω πόλεις] till even unto the extraneous cities (outside of Palestine). By this remark the following narrative has the way significantly prepared for it.

ἐν οἷς] in which affairs of persecution. Comp. Acts 24:18.

μετʼ ἐξουσ. κ. ἐπιτρ.] with power and plenary authority (Polyb. iii. 15. 7; 2Ma 13:14). “Paulus erat commissarius,” Bengel.

ἡμέρας μέσας] At noon, μεσημβρίας (comp. Acts 22:6), genitive of the definition of time, Bernhardy, p. 145. On the non-classical Greek expression μέση ἡμέρα, see Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 55 f.

κατὰ τὴν ὁδόν] along the way, Acts 25:3, Acts 8:36.

ὑπὲρ τ. λαμπρ. τ. ἡλίου] surpassing the brightness of the sun. See Winer, p. 376 [E. T. 502].

Acts 26:14-15. See on Acts 9:4 ff.; comp. Acts 22:7 f.

τῇ Ἑβρ. διαλ.] It was natural that the exalted Christ should make no other language than the native tongue of the person to be converted the medium of his verbal revelation. Moreover, these words confirm the probability that Paul now spoke not, as at Acts 21:40, in Hebrew, but in Greek.

σκληρόν σοι πρὸς κέντρα λακτίζειν] hard for thee, to kick against goads! i.e. it is for thee a difficult undertaking, surpassing thy strength, and not to be accomplished by thee (compare Gamaliel’s saying, Acts 5:39), that thou (as my persecutor) shouldest contend against my will. Ἡ δὲ τροπὴ ἀπὸ τῶν βοῶν· τῶν γὰρ οἱ ἄτακτοι κατὰ τὴν γεωργίαν κεντριζόμενοι ὑπὸ ἀροῦντος, λακτίζουσι τὸ κέντρον καὶ μᾶλλον πλήττονται, Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. ii. 173. Comp. Aesch. Agam. 1540 (1624): πρὸς κέντρα μὴ λάκτιζε. See other examples from Greek and Roman writers in Grotius and Wetstein; also Blomfield, ad Aesch. Prom. 331; Elmsl. ad Eur. Bacch. 794.