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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Acts 9:15 - 9:15
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15. σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς, a chosen vessel. Literally, ‘a vessel of election.’ This is a Hebrew form of expression. Cf. LXX. Jer 22:28, where it is said of king Coniah that he is ὡς σκεῦος οὖ οὐκ ἔστι χρεία. So in Hos 8:8 Israel is called σκεῦος ἄχρηστον.
This qualitative genitive (where one noun serves to another in the place of an adjective) is a common construction in Hebrew because that language is poor in adjectives.
τοῦ βαστάσαι τὸ ὄνομά μου, to bear My name. This shall be the load which I will lay upon this My chosen servant.
This use of the infinitive with the article in the genitive to express purpose or design is very common both in the LXX. and in the N.T. Greek. In the former it is the constant form for rendering the infinitive with ל. Cf. Gen 1:14 and almost every chapter in the Bible. In the N.T. the frequency of this usage is probably due to a familiarity with the LXX., though the classical writers use such a genitival infinitive occasionally. Cf. Winer-Moulton, pp. 410, 411.
ἐνώπιον ἐθνῶν, before the Gentiles. This was doubtless a revelation to Ananias, who as a devout Jew would not yet have contemplated the inclusion of the whole world in the Church of Christ. The Gentiles are placed first in the enumeration, because among them specially was Saul’s field of labour to be. For the wide spirit in which the Apostle embraced his commission, see Rom 1:13-14, &c.
καὶ βασιλέων, and kings. As before Agrippa (Act 26:1; Act 26:32) and at Rome in consequence of the appeal unto Cæsar.