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3. πολλῆς εἰρήνης τυγχάνοντες διὰ σοῦ, seeing that by thee we enjoy much peace. The orator seizes on almost the only point in the government of Felix on which he could hang any praise. By severity he had put down false Messiahs, and the partisans of an Egyptian magician, as well as riots in Cæsarea and Jerusalem, so that the country was in a more peaceful condition than it had been for a long time past.
For εἰρήνης τυγχάνειν, cf. 2Ma 14:10, ἄχρι γὰρ Ἰούδας περίεστιν, ἀδύνατον εἰρήνης τυχεῖν τὰ πράγματα. See also the next note.
καὶ διορθωμάτων γινομένων τῷ ἔθνει τούτῳ διὰ τῆς σῆς προνοίας, and that by thy providence evils are corrected for this nation. The sentence, which began with a nominative case τυγχάνοντες, is now varied by the introduction of a genitive absolute. πρόνοια is found in a very parallel passage, 2Ma 4:6, ἑώρα γὰρ ἄνευ βασιλικῆς προνοίας ἀδύνατον εἶναι τυχεῖν εἰρήνης, where A.V. renders ἄ. βασ. πρ. ‘unless the king did look thereto,’ which shews what the force of the word is here. It was by the severe looking thereto of Felix that disorders were corrected, though we learn from Tacitus (Hist. Act 24:9, Ann. XII. 54) that his severity in the end bore evil fruit, and it seems probable that his main motive in suppressing other plunderers was that there might be the more left for himself.
πάντῃ τε καὶ πανταχοῦ ἀποδεχόμεθα, we accept it in all ways and in all places, i.e. we acknowledge and are glad of it. Some would join πάντῃ τε καὶ πανταχοῦ with the previous clause, ‘evils are in all ways and in all places corrected &c.’ But this connexion is not favoured by the order of the Greek.
κράτιστε Φῆλιξ, most excellent Felix. The title is the same which was given to Felix in the letter of Claudius Lysias (Act 23:26), and which is afterwards given to Festus by St Paul (Act 26:25).