35 `I will hear thee -- said he -- when thine accusers also may have come;' he also commanded him to be kept in the praetorium of Herod.
and a plot having been intimated to me against this man -- about to be of the Jews -- at once I sent unto thee, having given command also to the accusers to say the things against him before thee; be strong.'
unto whom I answered, that it is not a custom of Romans to make a favour of any man to die, before that he who is accused may have the accusers face to face, and may receive place of defence in regard to the charge laid against `him'.
And Jesus having been born in Beth-Lehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, lo, mages from the east came to Jerusalem,
And Herod the king having heard, was stirred, and all Jerusalem with him,
Then Herod, having seen that he was deceived by the mages, was very wroth, and having sent forth, he slew all the male children in Beth-Lehem, and in all its borders, from two years and under, according to the time that he inquired exactly from the mages.
They led, therefore, Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium, and it was early, and they themselves did not enter into the praetorium, that they might not be defiled, but that they might eat the passover;
And after five days came down the chief priest Ananias, with the elders, and a certain orator -- Tertullus, and they made manifest to the governor `the things' against Paul;
whom it behoveth to be present before thee, and to accuse, if they had anything against me,
And having heard these things, Felix delayed them -- having known more exactly of the things concerning the way -- saying, `When Lysias the chief captain may come down, I will know fully the things concerning you;'
And after certain days, Felix having come with Drusilla his wife, being a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith toward Christ, and he reasoning concerning righteousness, and temperance, and the judgment that is about to be, Felix, having become afraid, answered, `For the present be going, and having got time, I will call for thee;' and at the same time also hoping that money shall be given to him by Paul, that he may release him, therefore, also sending for him the oftener, he was conversing with him; and two years having been fulfilled, Felix received a successor, Porcius Festus; Felix also willing to lay a favour on the Jews, left Paul bound.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 23
Commentary on Acts 23 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 23
The close of the foregoing chapter left Paul in the high priest's court, into which the chief captain (whether to his advantage or no I know not) had removed his cause from the mob; and, if his enemies act there against him with less noise, yet it is with more subtlety. Now here we have,
Act 23:1-5
Perhaps when Paul was brought, as he often was (corpus cum causa-the person and the cause together), before heathen magistrates and councils, where he and his cause were slighted, because not at all understood, he thought, if he were brought before the sanhedrim at Jerusalem, he should be able to deal with them to some good purpose, and yet we do not find that he works at all upon them. Here we have,
Act 23:6-11
Many are the troubles of the righteous, but some way or other the Lord delivereth them out of them all. Paul owned he had experienced the truth of this in the persecutions he had undergone among the Gentiles (see 2 Tim. 3:11): Out of them all the Lord delivered me. And now he finds that he who has delivered does and will deliver. He that delivered him in the foregoing chapter from the tumult of the people here delivers him from that of the elders.
Act 23:12-35
We have here the story of a plot against the life of Paul; how it was laid, how it was discovered, and how it was defeated.