Chapter 23:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| McGarvey Pendleton
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 John Romans
Acts 23
Verse 1. And Paul earnestly beholding the council - Professing a clear
conscience by his very countenance; and likewise waiting to see
whether any of them was minded to ask him any question, said, I
have lived in all good conscience before God till this day - He
speaks chiefly of the time since he became a Christian. For none
questioned him concerning what he had been before. And yet
even in his unconverted state, although he was in an error, yet he
had acted from conscience, before God - Whatever men may think
or say of me.
Verse
3. Then said Paul - Being carried away by a sudden and prophetic
impulse. God is about to smite thee, thou whited wall - Fair
without; full of dirt and rubbish within. And he might well be so
termed, not only as he committed this outrage, while gravely
sitting on the tribunal of justice but also as, at the same time that
he stood high in the esteem of the citizens, he cruelly defrauded
the priests of their legal subsistence, so that some of them even
perished for want. And God did remarkably smite him; for about
five years after this, his house being reduced to ashes, in a tumult
begun by his own son, he was besieged in the royal palace; where
having hid himself in an old aqueduct, he was dragged out and
miserably slain.
Verse
5. I was not aware, brethren, that it was the high priest - He seems
to mean, I did not advert to it, in the prophetic transport of my
mind: but he does not add, that his not adverting to it proceeded
from the power of the Spirit coming upon him; as knowing they
were not able to bear it. This answer admirably shows the
situation of mind he was then in, partly with regard to the
bystanders, whom he thus softens, adding also the title of
brethren, and justifying their reproof by the prohibition of Moses;
partly with regard to himself, who, after that singular transport
subsided, was again under the direction of the general command.
Exod. xxii, 28.
Verse
6. I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: for the hope of the
resurrection of the dead am I called in question - So he was in
effect; although not formally, or explicitly.
Verse
8. The Pharisees confess both - Both the resurrection, and the
existence of angels and separate spirits.
Verse
9. And the scribes of the Pharisees' side arising - Every sect
contains both learned and unlearned. The former used to be the
mouth of the party. If a spirit - St. Paul in his speech from the
stairs had affirmed, that Jesus, whom they knew to have been
dead, was alive, and that he had spoken to him from heaven, and
again in a vision. So they add nothing, only they construe it in
their own way, putting an angel or spirit for Jesus.
Verse
11. And the night following, the Lord Jesus - What Paul had
before purposed in spirit, chap. xix, 21, God now in due time
confirms. Another declaration to the same effect is made by an
angel of God, chap. xxvii, 23. And from the 23rd chapter the sum
of this book turns on the testimony of Paul to the Romans. How
would the defenders of St. Peter's supremacy triumph, could they
find out half as much ascribed to him! Be of good courage, Paul -
As he laboured under singular distresses and persecutions, so he
was favoured with extraordinary assurances of the Divine
assistance. Thou must testify - Particular promises are usually
given when all things appear desperate. At Rome also - Danger is
nothing in the eyes of God: all hindrances farther his work. A
promise of what is afar off, implies all that necessarily lies
between. Paul shall testify at Rome: therefore he shall come to
Rome; therefore he shall escape the Jews, the sea, the viper.
Verse
12. Some of the Jews bound themselves - Such execrable vows
were not uncommon among the Jews. And if they were prevented
from accomplishing what they had vowed, it was an easy matter
to obtain absolution from their rabbis.
Verse
15. Now therefore ye - Which they never scrupled at all, as not
doubting but they were doing God service.
Verse
17. And Paul - Though he had an express promise of it from
Christ, was not to neglect any proper means of safety.
Verse
19. And the tribune taking him by the hand - In a mild,
condescending way. Lysias seems to have conducted this whole
affair with great integrity, humanity, and prudence.
Verse
24. Provide beasts - If a change should be necessary, to set Paul
on - So we read of his riding once; but not by choice.
Verse
27. Having learned that he was a Roman - True; but not before he
rescued him. Here he uses art.
Verse
31. The soldiers brought him by night to Antipatris - But not the
same night they set out. For Antipatris was about thirty-eight of
our miles northwest of Jerusalem. Herod the Great rebuilt it, and
gave it this name in honour of his father Antipater: Cesarea was
near seventy miles from Jerusalem, and about thirty from
Antipatris.
Verse
35. In Herod's palace - This was a palace and a court built by
Herod the Great. Probably some tower belonging to it might be
used for a kind of state prison.
Chapter 23:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Johnson
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| McGarvey Pendleton
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 John Romans
This version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1997, by Sulu D. Kelley. All rights reserved. Used by permission. It may not be modified or used commercially without permission of Wesleyan Heritage Publishing and Sulu Kelley. A special thanks to Mr. Kelley and Wesleyan Heritage Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible.
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