Acts 24:1

Acts 24:1 . After five days, Ananias — Who would spare no trouble on the occasion; descended — To Cesarea, seventy miles from Jerusalem; with several of the elders — Members of the sanhedrim. It seems the commander of the horsemen, who brought Paul to Cesarea, was ordered, on his return, to inform the high-priest and elders at Jerusalem of the day which the governor should fix for hearing their accusation, and for trying the prisoner. With a certain orator named Tertullus — Whose business it was to open the cause, and to harangue the governor in the most agreeable manner that he could; who — That is, all who, as the word οιτινες implies, not referring to Tertullus only, but to the high-priest and elders also; informed the governor against Paul — Advanced a general accusation against him, on which they desired to be more particularly heard.

Acts 24:1 . Πέντε , fire ) They make all haste. A Sabbath seems to have intervened.— Ἀνανίας , Ananias ) who was hostile to Paul.— ῥήτορος , orator ) This is the only passage in the whole of Scripture in which an orator , and the term orator , present themselves.— Τερτύλλου , Tertullus ) He seems to have been an Italian.— ἐνεφάνισαν ) Intransitive: ch. Acts 25:2 ; Acts 25:15 , Acts 23:15 , ἐμφανίσατε : 2Ma 3:1 ; 2Ma 11:29 .

And {1} after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul. (1) Hypocrites, when they can not do what they want to do by force and deceit, at length they go about to accomplish it by a show of law.

CHAPTER 24 Ac 24:1-27. Paul, Accused by a Professional Pleader before Felix, Makes His Defense, and Is Remanded for a Further Hearing. At a Private Interview Felix Trembles under Paul's Preaching, but Keeps Him Prisoner for Two Years, When He Was Succeeded by Festus. 1. after five days—or, on the fifth day from their departure from Jerusalem. Ananias … with the elders—a deputation of the Sanhedrim. a certain orator—one of those Roman advocates who trained themselves for the higher practice of the metropolis by practicing in the provinces, where the Latin language, employed in the courts, was but imperfectly understood and Roman forms were not familiar. informed … against Paul—"laid information," that is, put in the charges.Acts 24:1-9 Paul is accused before Felix by Tertullus in the nameof the Jews.Acts 24:10-21 He answereth in defence of his life and doctrine.Acts 24:22,23 The hearing is deferred.Acts 24:24,25 Paul preaching freely before the governor and hiswife; Felix trembleth.Acts 24:26,27 Felix hopeth for a bribe to release Paul, but invain; and going out of his office leaveth him bound.After five days, from the time that Paul was come to Caesarea: the malice and fury of the persecutors was very great, they stick not at any travail and pains to do mischief; and surely we ought to be as earnest in doing good, or their zeal will condemn us. A certain orator; a lawyer to form the indictment against Paul, or to aggravate his fault, and to desire judgment upon him.

Verse 1. - The high priest Ananias came down for Ananias the high priest descended , A.V.; certain elders for the elders , A.V. and T.R.; an orator, one Tertullus for a certain orator named Tertullus , A.V.; and they for who , A.V. After five days . Of which the first was the day on which St. Paul left Jerusalem, and the fifth that on which Ananias and his companions appeared before Felix (see ver. 11, note). Tertullus . A Latin name, formed from Tertius , as Lucullus from Lucius , Catullus from Catius , etc. Informed ; ἐμφανίζω , in the sense of "laying an information" before a magistrate, only occurs elsewhere in Acts 25:2, 15 (see above, Acts 23:15 , note). Acts 24:1

Acts 24:1 . Μετὰ δὲ πέντε ἡμέρ .] The point of commencement is not to be reckoned, with Cajetanus, Basnage, Michaelis, Stolz, Rosenmüller, Morus, Hildebrand, as the arrest of Paul in Jerusalem,—an opinion which has arisen from an erroneous computation of the twelve days in Acts 24:11 ,—nor yet with Calovius, Wetstein, and others, as the arrival of Paul at Caesarea , but as (see on Acts 24:11 ) his departure for Caesarea. We may add that the popular mode of expression does not necessarily denote that the fifth day had already elapsed, but may just as well denote on the fifth day (comp. Matthew 27:63 , and see on Matthew 12:40 ). That the latter view is to be assumed here, see on Acts 24:11 . μετὰ τῶν πρεσβ .] of course, not the whole Sanhedrists, but deputies who represented the council. It is obvious, withal, that the two parties in the Sanhedrim, after the variance temporarily aroused between them ( Acts 23:6 ff.), had in the interval bethought themselves of the matter, and united against the common enemy, in order to avert his eventual acquittal by the Roman authority. Tertullus (a common Roman name, see Wetstein) was an orator forensis (see Barth, ad Claudian. p. 76), a public causidicus. Such speakers, who were very numerous in Rome and in the provinces, bore the classical name of the public orators: ῥήτορες (see Photius, p. 488, 12; Thomas Mag., Suidas), in the older Greek συνήγοροι (Dem. 1137. 5, 1349. pen.; Lucian.

Tox. 26; Hermann, Staatsalterth. § 142, 14),the advocates of the accusers. ἐνεφ . τῷ ἡγ . κατὰ τοῦ Π .] they laid information before the procurator against Paul. That this took place in writing , by a libel of accusation (Camerarius, Grotius), is not affirmed by the text, which, by κατέβη and the κληθέντος δὲ αὐτοῦ immediately following, does not point to more than oral accusation. Comp. Acts 23:15 , Acts 25:2 ; Acts 25:15 . The reciprocal rendering, comparuerunt (Beza, Luther, Castalio, Wolf, and others, following the Vulgate), is an unnecessary deviation from the usage in the N.T., Acts 23:15 ; Acts 23:22 , Acts 25:2 ; Acts 25:15 ; John 14:21 f.; Hebrews 11:14 , and elsewhere also not capable of being made good. Comp. Borne-mann in Rosenmüller, Repert . II. p. 271; Krebs, p. 252 f.

Acts 24:1-9 . Arrival of the Accusers. Speech of Tertullus, their advocate 1 . And after five days ] Most naturally this means after St Paul’s arrival in Cæsarea, and the events narrated at the end of chap. 23 But it may mean five days after the departure of the Apostle from Jerusalem. The chief captain would give notice to the high priest of what he had done as soon as it was safe to do so. After learning that they must go to Cæsarea with their accusation, the enemies of St Paul would spend some little time in preparing their charge for the hearing of Felix, and in providing themselves with an advocate. And as they would not probably travel with as much haste as St Paul’s convoy did, five days is not a long interval to elapse before they arrived in Cæsarea. Ananias the high priest ] He would be sure to be hot against the Apostle after that speech about the “whited wall.” descended ] Rev. Ver. [came down], i.e. from the capital to the sea-coast city of Cæsarea. with the elders ] The best MSS. have “ with certain elders .” It is not likely that all the elders came. There would be some, who belonged to the Pharisees, who would rather have spoken in favour of St Paul. Those who came would be Sadducees, and so only a portion of the Council. and with a certain orator named Tertullus ] Rev.

Ver. “and with an orator, one Tertullus .” This man, as we may judge from his name, which is a modification of the Latin Tertius , was a Roman, and would be chosen because of his knowledge of Roman law, and his ability to place the case before Felix in such a light as to make it seem that Paul was dangerous to the Roman power, and not merely a turbulent and renegade Jew. We see below that he endeavoured to do this. who informed , &c.] Better with Rev. Ver. “And they informed.” Thus it is shewn that the relative in the original refers not merely to Tertullus but to the whole deputation. The verb is one which St Luke uses in other places ( Acts 25:2 ; Acts 25:15 ) of the laying a formal information before a judge. It is also used, Esther 2:22 , of Esther laying the information of the plot of the two chamberlains before king Ahasuerus.

XXIV. (1) After five days.—The interval may have just allowed time for messengers to go from Cæsarea to Jerusalem, and for the priests to make their arrangements and engage their advocate. Possibly, however, the five days may start from St. Paul’s departure from Jerusalem and this agrees, on the whole, better with the reckoning of the twelve days from the Apostle’s arrival there, in Acts 24:11. Descended.—Better, came down, in accordance with the usage of modern English. A certain orator named Tertullus.—Men of this class were to be found in most of the provincial towns of the Roman empire, ready to hold a brief for plaintiff or defendant, and bringing to bear the power of their glib eloquence, as well as their knowledge of Roman laws, on the mind of the judge. There is not the slightest ground for supposing, as some have done, that the proceedings were conducted in Latin, and that while the chief priests were obliged to employ an advocate to speak in that language, St. Paul, who had never learnt it, was able to speak at once by a special inspiration. Proceedings before a procurator of Judæa and the provincials under him were almost of necessity, as in the case of our Lord and Pilate, in Greek. Had St. Paul spoken in Latin, St. Luke, who records when he spoke in Hebrew (Acts 21:40), and when in Greek (Acts 21:37), was not likely to have passed the fact over; nor is there any evidence, even on that improbable assumption, that St.