1007 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when it was told me,.... As it was by Paul's sister's son, how that the Jews laid wait for the man; had formed a conspiracy to take away his life, and laid a scheme in order to it, and at least intended, if they were not actually in ambush, to seize him as he should be brought from the castle to the sanhedrim: I sent straightway to thee; the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul,.... Out of the castle, and put him upon a beast, as the chief captain had ordered the centurions, and they had directed the soldiers to do: and brought him by night to Antipatris: they set out from Jerusalem at the third hour, or about nine o'clock at night, and travelled all night, and by...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
On the morrow they left the horsemen to go with him,.... That is, the two hundred soldiers, and the two hundred spearmen, who were all on foot, left the seventy horsemen to conduct Paul to Caesarea; for being come to Antipatris, all danger from the Jews was over: and returned to the castle; the castle Antonia in Jerusalem, from whence they set out.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Who, when they came to Caesarea,.... The seventy horsemen: and delivered the epistle to the governor; to Felix, governor of Judea, who was now at Caesarea; namely, the letter which Claudius Lysias, the chief captain, sent to him; the form and contents of which are before given: these presented Paul also before him; concerning whom, and whose...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the governor, had read the letter,.... Which he doubtless opened and read as soon as he had received it, not knowing what important business might be contained in it, or of what dangerous consequence a neglect of reading it might be; this showed care and diligence in him: he asked of what province he was; since he perceived by the letter...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I will hear thee, said he,.... The Arabic and Ethiopic versions read, "we will hear", which is a grand courtly way of speaking: when thine accusers are come; which Lysias, in his letter, informed him that he had ordered them to come; which shows the governor to have some sense of justice and integrity, being desirous to hear both sides before he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders,.... From Jerusalem to Caesarea: these five days are to be reckoned not from the seizing of Paul in the temple, but from his coming to Caesarea; the Alexandrian copy reads, "after some days", leaving it undetermined how many: the high priest, with the elders, the members of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when he was called forth,.... Not Tertullus the orator; for this is not to be understood of him, and of his being admitted to speak, as is thought by some, but the Apostle Paul; which is put out of doubt by the Vulgate Latin version, which reads, "and Paul being cited"; he was ordered to be brought out of custody into the court, to hear his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
We accept it always, and in all places,.... The sense is, that the Jews observed with pleasure the provident care the governor took of their nation, and at all times spoke well of him; and wherever they came commended his conduct, and owned the favours they received from him, and the blessings they enjoyed under his government: and then giving him...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Notwithstanding, that I be not further tedious unto thee,.... Suggesting, that he could say a great deal more under this head, but, for brevity sake, should omit it; and because he would not tire his patience, and hinder business going forward: I pray thee, that thou wouldst hear us of thy clemency a few words; he praises him for his humanity and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For we have found this man a pestilent fellow,.... Pointing to Paul, the prisoner at the bar; the word here used signifies the "pest" or "plague" itself; and it was usual with orators among the Romans, when they would represent a man as a very wicked man, as dangerous to the state, and unworthy to live in it, to call him the pest of the city, or...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Who also hath gone about to profane the temple,.... By introducing a Greek into it; see Acts 21:28 which was only a supposition and conjecture of the Asiatic Jews, and was a false and groundless one: whom we took; as they did in the temple, and dragged him out of it: and would have judged according to our law; which was another untruth, for they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But the chief captain Lysias came upon us,.... Suddenly, and at unawares, immediately, and with great haste, before they could execute their designs; which were not to judge Paul according to law, but to kill him, in the manner the zealots did: and with great violence took him away out of our hands; for he came with an army, and rescued him, Acts...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Commanding his accusers to come unto thee,.... But this was not done till after Paul had set forth his case before the people, upon the stairs leading to the castle: and after he had pleaded his own cause before the sanhedrim; and after the chief captain had had intelligence of the Jews lying in wait to kill him: Tertullus would insinuate that the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Jews also assented,.... That is, Ananias the high priest, and the elders that were with him, agreed to what Tertullus said, and confirmed the same. Saying, that these things were so; that Paul was such a person, and was guilty of the crimes he had set forth; and that the chief captain had taken the steps, and done the things he had related.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Paul, after the governor had beckoned unto him to speak,.... Tertullus having finished his account, Paul was silent to his charge and calumnies, until the governor beckoned with his hand or head, or made some sign to him to speak for himself; which he might not do, until leave was given him; and then he answered as follows: forasmuch as I...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Because that thou mayest understand,.... By what Paul now asserted, and by the witnesses which he could produce to certify the truth of it: that there are yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship; that is, from the time that he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, to the present time, in which he stood before Felix, pleading...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man,.... Either about civil or religious affairs: not that it was criminal to dispute in the temple; it was a common thing for the doctors to dispute about matters of religion, in the porches, and courts, and chambers of the temple, as it may be observed they often did with Christ; but the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. As that he was a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition, and a profaner of the temple these things they could not set forth in any clear light, and bring testimonies, or give demonstration of; they could not make them appear to be true, which it lay upon them to do, or otherwise in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But this I confess unto thee,.... What was truth he was not ashamed of, but ready to own, and bear his testimony for, whatever was the consequence of it: that after the way which they call heresy; referring to the charge of his being a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes, Acts 24:5 and meaning by the way the Christian religion, or the...