Acts 23:3

Shall smite thee (τύπτειν σε μέλλει) More strictly, is about to smite. The words are not an imprecation, but a prophecy of punishment for his violent dealing. According to Josephus, in the attack of the Sicarii upon Jerusalem, he was dragged from his hiding-place, in a sewer of the palace, and murdered by assassins. Thou whited wall Compare Matthew 23:27. Contrary to the law (παρανομῶν) A verb. Lit., transgressing the law.

Thou whited wall; an excellent similitude to represent wicked men, especially hypocrites, by, who counterfeit God’s glory and worship, whilst they intend only their own profit or grandeur. Thus our Saviour compared the scribes and Pharisees unto whited sepulchres, Matthew 23:27 . Whited sepulchres and walls, though they seem fair and comely, have within nothing but rottenness and useless rubbish. Now these words are not to be looked upon as a curse or imprecation upon the high priest, which does not consist with the temper of the gospel; but they are rather to be taken as a prophecy or prediction, St. Paul having on occasion had the gift of prophecy amongst the other gifts of the Holy Ghost. And accordingly it is observed, that this high priest either died, or was put out of his place, soon after. And thus Paul’s imprecation upon Alexander the coppersmith, mentioned 2 Timothy 4:14 , is to be understood; as also several other curses (seemingly wished) by holy men, especially in the Psalms, as Psalm 109:6,7 , &c., and many other places, which are by no means for our imitation; neither were they spoken so much as the wishes or prayers of such as uttered them, as their prophecies or prections; which we know came to pass; as that now mentioned was fulfilled in the person of Judas.

Contrary to the law; it was contrary to all law, Divine and human, that any should be punished before that he was heard; and especially to their own judicial law, which in matters of this nature they were yet governed by under the Romans. Now the Jews were first to hear and inquire diligently, whether the matter any were accused of were true, before they might give sentence, or inflict any punishment upon them, Deu 17:4 .

Acts 23:3 . Τύπτειν μέλλει , shall smite thee ) Retribution in kind is predicted by Paul.— τοῖχε κεκονιαμένε ) Thou whited wall , having outside a white coating of chalk, but within clay. The chalk is the appearance and colour of justice; the part within is injustice. The High Priest himself had his eyes so dulled (held fast) by the whiteness of that chalk, that he embraced wrong rather than right. Perhaps also he had hoary hairs or a white robe.— καὶ , dost thou also ) Καὶ in the very beginning of a reproving speech is equivalent to therefore : but here at the beginning, it has the strict meaning, also. Dost thou also , not merely the rest; thou, who dost wish to be looked upon as a defender of the law.

{3} Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou {b} whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten {c} contrary to the law? (3) It is lawful for us to complain of injuries, and to summon the wicked to the judgment seat of God, but yet we must do it without hatred, and with a quiet and peaceable mind. (b) This is a vehement and severe speech, but yet not reproachful: for the godly may speak severely, and yet be void of the bitter affection of a severe and angry mind. (c) For the Law commands the judge to hear the person that is accused patiently, and to pronounce the sentence judiciously.

3, 4. God shall smite thee—as indeed He did; for he was killed by an assassin during the Jewish war [Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 2.17.9]. thou whited wall—that is, hypocrite (Mt 23:27). This epithet, however correctly describing the man, must not be defended as addressed to a judge, though the remonstrance which follows—"for sittest thou," &c.—ought to have put him to shame.

Verse 3. - And for for , A.V.; according to for after , A.V. God shall smite thee ( τύπτειν σε μέλλει ). A distinct announcement of something that would happen. (For the incident itself, comp. 1 Kings 22:24, 25 ; Jeremiah 28:15, 17 ; and Acts 12:1, 2, 23 ) Ananias perished by the daggers of the Sicarii (Josephus, 'Bell. Jud,' 2. 17:9), at the beginning of the Jewish war under the procuratorship of Florus, in the year A.D. . He had been previously deposed from the high priesthood by King Agrippa toward the close of the government of Felix ('Ant. Jud.,' 20. 8:8), about A.D. , or early in A.D. , less than two years from the present time. Thou whited wall . This expression is admirably illustrated by the quotations from Seneca in Kuinoel: "These base and sordid spirits are like the walls of their own houses, only beautiful on the outside." "What are our gilt roofs hut lies? for we well know that under the gilding unseemly beams are concealed." "It is not only our walls which are coated with a thin outward ornament; the greatness of those men whom you see strutting in their pride is mere tinsel; look beneath the surface, and you will see all the evil that is hid under that thin crust of dignity" ('De Provid.,' 6, and 'Epist.' 115).

Ananias was sitting in his priestly robes of office, presiding over the council in power and dignity, and presumably a righteous judge, but his heart within was polluted with injustice, selfishness, and a corrupt disposition, which made him act unrighteously (comp. Matthew 23:27 ). Contrary to the Law ; or, acting illegally ; παρανομῶν , only found here in the New Testament, but common in classical Greek. St. Paul's temper was very excusably roused by the brutality and injustice of Ananias. But we may, perhaps, think that he did not quite attain to "the mind that was in Christ Jesus," who "when he was reviled, reviled not again," but was "led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, he opened not his mouth" ( Acts 8:32 ). Acts 23:3

Acts 23:3 . The words contain truth freely expressed in righteous apostolic indignation , and require no excuse, but carry in themselves ( καὶ σὺ κάθῃ κ . τ . λ .) their own justification. Yet here, in comparison with the calm meekness and self-renunciation of Jesus ( John 18:22 ; comp. Matthew 5:39 ), the ebullition of a vehement temperament is not to be mistaken. τύπτειν [143] σὲ μέλλει ὁ Θεός is not to be understood as an imprecation (Camerarius, Bolten, Kuinoel), but—for which the categorical μέλλει is decisive—as a prophetic announcement of future certain retribution; although it would be arbitrary withal to assume that Paul must have been precisely aware of the destruction of Ananias as it afterwards in point of fact occurred (he was murdered in the Jewish war by sicarii, Joseph. Bell . ii. 17. 9). τοῖχε κεκον .] figurative designation of the hypocrite , inasmuch as he, with his concealed wickedness, resembles a wall beautifully whitened without, but composed of rotten materials within. See Senec. de provid . 6; Ep . 115; Suicer, Thes . II. p. 144. Comp. Matthew 23:27 . καὶ σύ ] thou too , even thou, who yet as high priest shouldest have administered thine office quite otherwise than at such variance with its nature. κρίνων ] comprises the official capacity, in which the high priest sits there; hence it is not, with Kuinoel, to be taken in a future sense, nor, with Henry Stephanus, Pricaeus, and Valckenaer, to be accented κρινῶν .

The classical παρανομεῖν , to act contrary to the law , is not elsewhere found in the N.T. [143] Observe the prefixing of tie τύπτειν , which returns the blow just received in a higher sense on the high priest. That the command of the high priest was not executed (Baumgarten, Trip), is an entirely arbitrary assumption. Luke would have mentioned it, because otherwise the reader could not but understand the execution as having ensued.

3 . God shall smite thee, thou whited wall ] Here we may see how very far even the excellence of St Paul comes short of the behaviour of the Divine Master, who when he suffered threatened not, and when reviled, reviled not again. We need not however consider that St Paul’s language here was a wish for evil upon the high priest, but only an expression of confidence in God that such conduct as that of Ananias would not be allowed to go unpunished. We know from Josephus ( Wars , ii. 17. 9) that Ananias did come to a violent end. St Paul calls him “whited wall” because he bore the semblance of a minister of justice, but was not what he seemed. Cp. “whited sepulchres” ( Matthew 23:27 ). for sittest thou , &c.] The original has merely the copulative conjunction, which the Rev. Ver. consequently represents by “ and sittest thou , &c.” The translation misses the force of the Greek, which has the pronoun emphatically expressed. The connexion seems to be this. The Apostle had just named the high priest “a whited wall;” he then continues “and dost thou (such an one) sit, &c.” after the law ] i.e. according to the law (as Rev. Ver. ). Cp. Pr. Bk . “Deal not with us after our sins.” contrary to the law ] For St Paul had not yet been heard. Cp. John 7:51 .

(3) God shall smite thee, thou whited wall. —The phrase is interesting as showing either that our Lord, in likening the Pharisees to “whitened sepulchers” (see Notes on Matthew 23:27 ; Luke 11:44 ), had used a proverbial comparison, or else, as seems equally probable, that it had become proverbial among His disciples as having been so used by Him. The whole utterance must be regarded by St. Paul’s own confession as the expression of a hasty indignation, recalled after a moment’s reflection; but the words so spoken were actually a prophecy, fulfilled some years after by the death of Ananias by the hands of the sicarii. (Jos. Wars, ii. 17, §§ 2-9).