Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 24:1 - 24:4

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 24:1 - 24:4


(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Paul's Trial before Felix.

The delegation of Jews from Jerusalem:

v. 1. And after five days Ananias, the high priest, descended with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul.

v. 2. And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence,

v. 3. we accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness.

v. 4. Notwithstanding, that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words.

Paul was now once more in Caesarea, in the very city where the prophet Agabus had predicted his capture by the Gentiles, chap. 21:11. A few short weeks ago he had here enjoyed the hospitality of Philip and the friendly society of the disciples of the city, and now he was a prisoner in the hands of the Romans and for the present kept in close confinement in the palace of Herod. But after five days, counting from the day after Paul had left Jerusalem, when the Jews received formal notice from Lysias, the high priest Ananias with several of the elders and a certain orator, Tertullus, made the journey from Jerusalem down to Caesarea. So the Jewish leaders had lost no time in selecting a representative delegation from the Sanhedrin, with Ananias himself as the head; and they had engaged the services of a Roman attorney, Tertullus, as they now had to appear in a regular Roman court and therefore must have a lawyer familiar with the procedure of such a court. This delegation, through its attorney, formally laid information against Paul before the procurator, stating their charges in the manner demanded by the Roman legal practice. When Paul was then summoned to appear before these accusers, Tertullus, with great oratorical exertion, began his speech of accusation against the prisoner. It is significant that the attorney tries to bolster up the weakness of the cause he represents by a great mass of words. The introduction of his speech was intended exclusively to flatter the governor and to engage his good will in behalf of the Jews. The speaker, in gushing terms, praised the uniform, complete peace which had come upon them, which they were enjoying through him, and the improvements, reforms, or very worthy deeds which had become the property of the people through his foresight, who had planned all these benefits for the nation in advance. And all this, as Tertullus emphasizes with great show of servility, the Jews accepted at all times and in all places, with all proper gratefulness. The full name of the most honorable Felix, as Tertullus calls the governor, the procurator of Judea, was Antonius Felix. He was a freedman of the emperor Claudius and a brother of Pallas, who was a favorite of Nero. He entered upon his duties in A. D. 53, after the deposition of Cumanus, but, as the historian Tacitus says, he exercised the power of a king in the spirit of a slave, a fact which later caused his recall. The first statement of Tertullus, that Felix had restored and maintained peace in the province, was true, in a measure, since he had suppressed some bands of robbers that had infested the country; but it was offset by the fact that he employed assassins to murder the high priest Jonathan, and that he was subject to violent and selfish passions. The attorney's next reference to measures of reform must be discounted by the fact that the historians picture his arbitrariness, which finally made unrest and rebellion permanent. And the assertion that the Jewish nation was everywhere and always grateful to Felix for his services was afterwards shown to be untrue by the fact that the Jews themselves were his accusers in Rome. We can therefore, at best, regard the title as merely an empty form. When politeness and tact degenerate into base flattery and mock servility, truth and honesty are inevitably driven away. This impression is heightened by the next words. For Tertullus now acts as though he had not really begun to mention all the praiseworthy deeds of Felix, that, if time but permitted, he would gladly continue in the same strain indefinitely. But he intimates that the governor is so busy with all his plans for further reforms that he must not hinder and weary him by a tedious recital of all his excellencies. He will therefore consider that enough has been said, and merely beg that the governor would kindly listen to them, and, if possible, grant their desire according to his clemency. He promises to be brief. In order not to strain the courteous attention of Felix. An example of fawning, sickening hypocrisy.