24:1 And 1 after five days Ananias the high priest descended
with the elders, and [with] a certain orator [named]
Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul.
(1) Hypocrites, when they can not do what they want to do by
force and deceit, at length they go about to accomplish it
by a show of law.
24:2 And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse
[him], saying, Seeing that a by thee we enjoy great
quietness, and that very b worthy deeds are done unto
this nation by thy providence,
(a) Felix ruled that province with great cruelty and
covetousness, and yet Josephus records that he did many
worthy things, such as taking Eleazar the captain of
certain cutthroats, and put that deceiving wretch the
Egyptian to flight, who caused great troubles in Judea.
(b) He uses a word which the Stoics defined as a perfect
duty and perfect behaviour.
24:5 For we have found this man [a] c pestilent [fellow], and
a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the
world, and a d ringleader of the sect of the e
Nazarenes:
(c) Literally, "a plague".
(d) As one would say, a ringleader, or a flag bearer.
(e) So they scoffingly called the Christians, taking the
name from the towns where they thought that Christ was
born, whereupon it happened that Julian the apostate
called Christ a Galilean.
24:9 And the Jews also f assented, saying that these things
were so.
(f) Confirmed what Tertullus said.
24:102 Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto
him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast
been of g many years a judge unto this nation, I do the
more cheerfully answer for myself:
(2) Tertullus, by the devil's rhetoric, begins with flattery
and finishes with lies: but Paul using heavenly eloquence,
and but a simple beginning, casts off from himself the
crime of sedition, with which he was being charged, with a
simple denial.
(g) Paul pleaded his cause two years before Felix departed
out of the province, see (Ac 24:27), but he had
governed Trachonite, and Batanea, and Galavnite, before
Claudius made him governor of Judea; see Josephus in
the History of the Jewish War, lib. 2, cap. 11.
24:13 Neither can they h prove the things whereof they now
accuse me.
(h) They cannot lay forth before you and prove with good
reasons.
24:143 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which
they call i heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers,
believing all things which are written in the law and in
the prophets:
(3) Paul proceeds in the case of religion from a conjectural
state to a practical state, not only admitting of
the religion which he was accused of, but also proving it
to be true, to be heavenly and from God, and to be the
oldest of all religions.
(i) Here this word "heresy" or "sect" is taken in a good
sense.
24:174 Now after many years I came to bring alms to my
nation, and offerings.
(4) Paul in conclusion tells the things thing which was truly
done, which Tertullus before him had corrupted in various
ways.
24:18k Whereupon certain Jews from l Asia found me purified
in the temple, neither with multitude, nor with tumult.
(k) And while I was occupied with those things.
(l) By this it is evident that these from Asia were Paul's
enemies, and the ones that stirred up the people
against him.
24:20 Or else let these same [here] say, if they have found any
evil doing in me, while I stood before the m council,
(m) Where the tribune brought me.
24:225 And when Felix heard these things, having more n
perfect knowledge of [that] way, he deferred them, and
said, When Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I
will know the uttermost of your matter.
(5) The judge suspends his sentence because the matter is
doubtful.
(n) Felix could not judge whether he had done wickedly in
the matter of his religion or not until he had a better
understanding of the way which Paul professed: and as
for other matters with regard to the charge of
sedition, he considers it good to defer it until he
hears Lysias, and therefore he gives Paul somewhat more
liberty.
24:236 And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and to let
[him] have liberty, and that he should forbid none of his
acquaintance to minister or come unto him.
(6) God is a most faithful keeper of his servants, and the
power of the truth is wonderful, even amongst men who are
otherwise profane.
24:24 And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife o
Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard
him concerning the faith in Christ.
(o) This Drusilla was Agrippa's sister of whom Luke
speaks afterwards, a harlot and very licentious woman,
and being the wife of Azizus king of the Emesens, who
was circumcised, departed from him, and went to this
Felix the brother of Pallas, who was at one time the
slave of Nero.
24:277 But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix'
room: and Felix, willing to p shew the Jews a pleasure,
left Paul bound.
(7) With an evil mind, that is guilty in itself, and although
sometimes there is some show of fairness, yet eventually
the conscience will be extinguished: but in the meanwhile
we have need of continual patience.
(p) For he had behaved himself very wickedly in the
province, and had it not been for favour of his brother
Pallas, he would have died for it: so that we may
gather by this why he would have pleased the Jews.
