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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Acts 23:5 - 23:5
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5. οὐκ ᾔδειν, ἀδελφοί, ὅτι ἐστὶν ἀρχιερεύς, I knew not, brethren, that he was the high priest. Several explanations have been given of this statement of St Paul. Some think that it may have been true that St Paul from defect of sight, with which he is supposed to have been afflicted, could not distinguish that the speaker was the high priest; others that the high priest was not in his official position as president of the court; or that owing to the troublous times, and St Paul’s recent arrival in Jerusalem, he was not aware who was high priest; or that he was speaking in irony, and meant to imply that the action of the judge was of such a character that none would have supposed him to be high priest; or that he meant by οὐκ ᾔδειν that for the moment he was not thinking of what he was saying. It is most consonant with St Paul’s character to believe that either his own physical deficiency, or some lack of the usual formalities or insignia, made him unable to distinguish that he who had given the order was really the high priest.
Chrysostom’s opinion on the subject is given thus: καὶ σφόδρα πείθομαι μὴ εἰδὲναι αὐτὸν ὅτι ἀρχιερεύς ἐστι· διὰ μακροῦ μὲν ἐπανελθόντα χρόνου, μὴ συγγινόμενον δὲ συνεχῶς Ἰουδαίοις· ὁρῶντα δὲ καὶ ἐκῖνον ἐν τῷ μέσῳ μετὰ πολλῶν καὶ ἐτέρων. οὐκέτι γὰρ δῆλος ἦν ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς πολλῶν ὄντων καὶ διαφόρων.
γέραπται γάρ, for it is written. The quotation is from Exo 22:28 and is another illustration of what was said above on Act 23:4. The whole sentence of the O.T. is ‘Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people,’ and the marginal note on ‘gods’ is ‘Or, judges,’ which margin should be in the text.