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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Acts 12:21 - 12:21
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Set (τακτῇ)
Appointed. Only here in New Testament. What the festival was, is uncertain. According to some, it was in honor of the emperor's safe return from Britain. Others think it was to celebrate the birthday of Claudius; others that it was the festival of the Quinquennalia, observed in honor of Augustus, and dating from the taking of Alexandria, when the month Sextilis received the name of the Emperor - August.
Arrayed (ἐνδυσάμενος)
More literally, having arrayed himself.
Royal apparel
Josephus says he was clothed in a robe entirely made of silver.
Throne
See on Act 7:5. The elevated seat or throne-like box in the theatre, set apart for the king, from which he might look at the games or address the assembly.
Made an oration (ἐδημηγόρει)
Only here in New Testament. The word is used especially of a popular harangue (δῆμος, the commons). “At Jerusalem Agrippa enacted the Jew, with solemn gait and tragic countenance, amidst general acclamation; but at Caesarea he allowed the more genial part of a Greek to be imposed on him. It was at a festival in this Hellenic capital, after an harangue he had addressed to the populace, that they shouted, “It is the voice of a god and not of a man” (Merivale, “History of the Romans under the Empire”).