《Greek Testament Critical Exegetical Commentary Acts》(Henry Alford) Commentator

23. εἰ] not for ὅτι—but just as in Acts 26:8,—if—if at least: meaning, that the things following were patent facts to those who knew the prophets. See Hebrews 7:15, where εἰ has the same sense.

παθητός] not, as Beza, ‘Christum fuisse passurum’ (so E. V., ‘should suffer’): but as Vulg., ‘si passibilis Christus.’ Paul does not refer to the prophetic announcement, or the historical reality, of the fact of Christ’s suffering, but to the idea of the Messiah as passible and suffering being in accordance with the testimony of the prophets. That the fact of His having suffered on the cross was in the Apostle’s mind, can hardly be doubted: but that the words do not assert it, is evident from the change of construction in the next clause, where the fact of the bringing life and immortality to light by the resurrection is spoken of,— εἰ παθητὸς ὁ χρ.,— εἰ … μέλλει καταγγέλλειν. In Justin Martyr, Trypho c. 89, p. 187, the following words are put into the month of Trypho the Jew: παθητὸν τὸν χριστόν, ὅτι αἱ γραφαί κηρύσσουσι, φανερόν ἐστι. See also the same, Trypho c. 36, p. 133, and c. 76, p. 173.

πρῶτος ἐξ ἀναστάσεως = πρῶτος ἀναστάς, or πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, Colossians 1:18, but implying that this light, to be preached to the Jews ( ὁ λαός) and Gentiles, must arise from the resurrection of the dead, and that Christ, the first ἐξ ἀναστάσεως, was to announce it. See Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 60:1-3; Luke 2:32; ch. Acts 13:47.

Verse 24

24.] The words ταῦτα ἀπολογουμένον must refer, on account of the present part., to the Iast words spoken by Paul: but it is not necessary to suppose that these only produced the effect described on Festus. Mr. Humphry remarks, “Festus was probably not so well acquainted as his predecessor (ch. Acts 24:10) with the character of the nation over which he had recently been called to preside. Hence he avails himself of Agrippa’s assistance (Acts 25:26). Hence also he is unable to comprehend the earnestness of St. Paul, so unlike the indifference with which religious and moral subjects were regarded by the upper classes at Rome. His self-love suggests to him, that one who presents such a contrast to his own apathy, must be mad: the convenient hypothesis that much learning had produced this result, may have occurred to him on hearing Paul quote prophecies in proof of his assertions.”

μαίνῃ] Thou art mad, not merely, ‘thou ravest,’ nor ‘thou art an enthusiast:’ nor are the words spoken in jest (Olsh.),—but in earnest ( θυμοῦ ἦν κ. ὀργῆς ἡ φωνή, Chrys.). Festus finds himself by this speech of Paul yet more bewildered than before (De W.).

τὰ πολλὰ γράμμ.] Meyer understands Festus to allude to the many rolls which Paul had with him in his imprisonment (we might compare τὰ βιβλία, μάλιστα τὰς μεμβράνας of 2 Timothy 4:13) and studied (so also Heinrichs and Kuinoel),—but the ordinary interpretation, thy much learning, seems more natural, and so De W.

εἰς μ. περιτρέπει] Is turning thy brain.

Verse 25

25.] ἀλήθεια may be spoken warmly and enthusiastically, but cannot be predicated of a madman’s words: σωφροσύνη) is directly opposed to μανία. So Xen. Mem. i. 16, recounting the subjects of Socrates’ discourses, τί δίκαιον, τί ἄδικον· τί σωφροσύνη, τί μανία· τί ἀνδρία, τί δειλία. The expression ἀληθείας &c. ῥήματα, though of course in sense = ῥήματα ἀληθῆ, &c., yet has a distinctive force of its own, and is never to be confounded with, or supposed to be put by a Hebraism for the other. Such forms occur in classic as well as Hellenistic writers, and indeed in all languages: the idea expressed by them being, the derivation of the quality predicated, from its source:—so here, words (not merely true and sober, but) of truth and soberness,—springing from, and indicative of, subjective truth and soberness.

Verse 26

26.] Agrippa is doubly his witness, (1) as cognizant of the facts respecting Jesus, (2) as believing the prophets. This latter he does not only assert, but appeals to the faith of the king as a Jew for its establishment.

ἐν γωνίᾳ … τοῦτο] This, the act done to Jesus by the Jews, and its sequel, was not done in an obscure corner of Judæa, but in the metropolis, at a time of more than common publicity.

Verse 28

28. ἐν ὀλίγῳ] These words of Agrippa have been very variously explained. (1) The rendering ‘propemodum,’ ‘parum abest, quin,’ (‘almost,’ E. V.,) adopted by Chrys., Beza, Grot., Valla, Luther, Piscator, Calov., &c. is inadmissible, for want of any example of ἐν ὀλίγῳ having this meaning, which would require ὀλίγου ( ὀλίγου μʼ ἀπωλέσας, Aristoph. Vesp. 829, and al.), or ὀλίγου δεῖ, or παρʼ ὀλίγον. (2) Calvin, Kuinoel, Schöttg., Olsh., Neander, take it for ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ, which certainly is allowable, but does not correspond to μεγάλῳ below, nor, as I believe, does it come up to the general sense of the expression. (3) The phrase ἐν ὀλίγῳ occurs in Greek writers with various nouns understood according to the nature of the case,—and sometimes it will bear any of several supplements with equal propriety. Thus in Demosth. p. 33. 18, ῥάδιον εἰς ταὐτὸ πάνθʼ ὅσα βούλεταί τις ἀθροίσαντα ἐν ὀλίγῳ, where Schaefer in his Index Græcitatis says, scil. χρόνῳ, aut χώρῳ, aut λόγῳ, aut πόνῳ. So also here we may understand λόγῳ or πόνῳ (or χρόνῳ?)—or still better as it seems to me, leave the ellipsis unsupplied (see Ephesians 3:3). We have a word in English which exactly expresses it,—one which has fallen into disuse, but has no equivalent; lightly: i.e. with little pains, few words, small hesitation. Then next as to the reading, I have followed the most ancient MSS., in editing ποιῆσαι and not γενέσθαι. This being so, we have to choose between πείθεις of ^{(152) (153)} and πείθῃ of ⁽¹⁵⁴⁾. It is almost impossible to give any assignable meaning to the former; and I suspect it has come in by a confusion of the two readings. Whereas πείθῃ seems to take up the πείθομαι of Acts 26:26. The received reading has probably found its way in from first imagining that πειθ- had to do with Paul’s persuading Agrippa, and then the ποιῆσαι having no sense, became conformed to the γενέσθαι in the Apostle’s speech below. And now, as to the sense of Agrippa’s saying. In determining this, enough attention has not been paid to two points: (1) the present tense, πείθῃ, thou art persuading thyself, art imagining; and (2) the use, in the mouth of a Jew, and that Jew a king, of the Gentile and offensive appellation χριστιανός. To my mind, the first of these considerations decides that Agrippa is characterizing no effect on himself, but what Paul was fancying in his mind, reckoning the πείθομαι which he had expressed above: the second, that he speaks of something not that he is likely to become, but that contrasts strangely with his present worldly position and intentions. I would therefore render the words thus: Lightly (with small trouble) art thou persuading thyself that thou canst make me a Christian: and understand them, in connexion with Paul’s having attempted to make Agrippa a witness on his side,—‘l am not so easily to be made a Christian of, as thou supposest.’ Most of the ancient Commentators (especially as reading πείθεις) take the words as implying some effect on Agrippa’s mind, and as spoken in earnest: but this I think is hardly possible, philologically or exegetically. I may add that the emphatic position of both ἐν ὀλίγῳ and χριστιανόν, before their respective verbs, strongly confirms the view taken above. I must again caution the reader against the mistake committed by Wordsworth, in supposing the enclitic με to be emphatic, which it cannot be, ἐμέ being required in such a case. Indeed, a more insignificant position than it here holds, next to the most emphatic word of the sentence, cannot be conceived.

Verse 29

29.] I could wish to God, that whether with ease or with difficulty (on my part), not only thou, but all who hear me today, might become such as I am, except only these bonds. He understands ἐν ὀλίγῳ just as Agrippa had used it, easily, ‘with little trouble,’ ‘with slight exertion:’ and contrasts with it ἐν μεγάλῳ ( πολλῷ has been an alteration to suit the imagined supplement χρόνῳ), with difficulty, ‘with great trouble,’ ‘with much labour.’ Those interpreters who understand χρόνῳ above, render this ‘seu tempore exiguo opus fuerit, seu multo’ (Schött.); those who take ἐν ὀλ. for ‘almost,’ ‘non propemodum tantum, sed plane’ (Grot.): ‘not only almost, but altogether,’ E. V. In εὔχεσθαι θεῷ the dative implies the direction of the wish or request to God: so Æsch. Agam. 852, θεοῖσι πρῶτα δεξιώσομαι: Il. γ. 318, θεοῖσι δὲ χεῖρας ἀνέσχον, and freq. See examples in Bernhardy, Syntax, p. 86.

δεσμῶν] He shews the chain, which being in ‘custodia militaris,’ he bore on his arm, to connect him with the soldier who had charge of him. [This exception may be regarded as a proof of the perfect courtesy of the great Apostle.]

Verse 31

31. πράσσει] generally, of his life and habits. No definite act was alleged against him: and his apologetic speech was in fact a sample of the acts of which he was accused.

Verse 32

32.] Agrippa in these words delivers his judgment as a Jew: ‘For aught I see, as regards our belief and practices, he might have been set at liberty.’ But now he could not: ‘nam appellatione potestas judicis, a quo appellatum est, cessare incipit ad absolvendum non minus quam ad condemnandum. Crimina euim iutegra servanda sunt cognitioni snperioris.’ Grot.
27 Chapter 27
Verse 1

1.] τοῦ (see reff.) contains the purpose of ἐκρίθη. The matter of the decision implied in ἐκρίθη is expressed in this form as if governed by the substantive κρίσις, as in ch. Acts 20:3, ἐγένετο γνώμης τοῦ ὑποστρέφειν. Meyer remarks that the expressions κελεύειν ἵνα, εἰπεῖν ἵνα, θέλειν ἵνα, &c. are analogous.

ἡμᾶς] Here we have again the first person, the narrator having, in all probability, remained in Palestine, and in the neighbourhood of Paul, during the interval since ch. Acts 21:18.

παρεδίδουν] Who? perhaps the assessors with whom Festus took counsel on the appeal, ch. Acts 25:12; but more likely the plural is used indefinitely, the subject being ‘they,’ = ‘on’ (Fr.), or ‘man’ (Germ.).

ἑτέρους δ.] This expression, says Meyer, is purposely chosen, to intimate, that they were prisoners of another sort (not also Christians under arrest). But De W. shews this to be a mistake, by ἕτεραι πολλαί, Luke 8:3, = ἄλλαι πολλαί, Mark 15:41, in both places meaning ‘many others of the same sort.’ Here also they are of the same class, as far as δεσμῶται is concerned: further, nothing is implied in the narrative, one way or the other.

σπείρης σεβαστῆς] There is some difficulty in determining what this cohort was. We must not fall into the mistake of several of the Commentators, that of confounding this σπ. σεβασ τή with an ἵλη ἱππέων καλουμένη σεβαστ ηνῶν, mentioned by Josephus, B. J. ii. 12. 5, and Antt. xx. 6. 1, this latter implying ‘natives of Samaria’ ( σεβαστή),—whereas our word is the same adjective as that name itself, and cannot by any analogy have reference to it. More than one of the legions at different times bore the honorary title ‘Augusta.’ Wetst. quotes from Claudian de Bell. Gild⁽¹⁵⁵⁾ ‘Dictaque ab Augusto legio:’ from inscriptions in Mauritania, Legio III. Aug., II. Aug., VIII. Aug.: from Ptolemy, ii. 3, λεγεὼν δευτέρα σεβαστή (in Britain); iv. 3, λεγεὼν γ. σεβαστή; but of a ‘cohors Augusta,’ or ‘Augustana,’ we never hear. De Wette and Meyer suggest (but we have no historical proof of the supposition) that it was one among the five cohorts stationed at Cæsarea (see note, ch. Acts 25:23) thus distinguished as the body-guard of the emperor (?), and therefore chosen for any services immediately concerning him, as in this case. Meyer thinks it may be the same (but then would the appellations be different?) with the σπεῖρα ἰταλική of ch. Acts 10:1. It is remarkable that almost all the Commentators have assumed, without any reason, that this σπ. σεβαστή must have been stationed at Cæsarea, whereas it may well have been a cohort, or body of men so called, at Rome. Wieseler is the only one that I have seen who has not fallen into this error. He controverts the other interpretations (Chron. d. Apost.-g. note, p. 391), and infers that Julius belonged to the Augustani, mentioned Tacitus xiv. 15, and Suet. Nero, 20 and 25 (see also Dio Cass. lxi. 20: ἦν μὲν γάρ τι καὶ ἴδιον αὐτῷ σύστημα ἐς πεντακισχιλίους στρατιώτας παρεσκευασμένον· αὐγούστειοί τε ὠνομάζοντο· καὶ ἐξῆρχον τῶν ἐπαίνων, and lxiii. 8), who appear to have been identical with the evocati (veterans specially summoned to service by the emperors), and to have formed Nero’s body-guard on his journey to Greece. The first levying of this band by Augustus, Dio relates, xlv. 12. To this Julius seems to have belonged,—to have been sent on some service into Asia, and now to have been returning to Rome.

We read of a Julius Priscus, Prefect of the Prætorian guards under Vitellius, who killed himself ‘pudore magis quam necessitate,’ after the military murder by Mucianus of Calpurnius Galerianus. This was ten years after the date of our narrative; but the identity of the two must be only conjectural.

Verses 1-31

Acts 27:1 to Acts 28:31.] PAUL’S VOYAGE TO ROME AND SOJOURN THERE. I cannot but express the benefit I have derived in my commentary on this section, from Mr. Smith’s now well-known treatise on the voyage and shipwreck of St. Paul: as also from various letters which he has from time to time put into my hands, tending further to elucidate the subject. The substance of these will be found embodied in an excursus following the chronological table in the prolegomena.

Verse 2

2. ἀδραμυττηνῷ] Adramyttium ( ἀδραμύττιον, - ειον, or ἀτραμύττιον, and in Plin. Acts 27:32, Adramytteos) was a seaport with a harbour in Mysia, an Athenian colony. It is now a village called Eudramit. Grotius, Drusius, and others erroneously suppose Adrumetum to be meant, on the north coast of Africa (Winer, Realw.).

πλεῖν [ εἰς] τοὺς.…] The bracketed εἰς is in all probability an insertion to help off the harshness of the construction. But the accusative is indicative of the direction. We have ἦλθε πολυνείκης χθόνα, Eur. Phœniss. 110. See Winer, edn. 6, § 32. 1, on the accus. after neuter verbs, and Bernhardy, Syntax, pp. 114 ff., and other instances in Wetstein.

ἀριστάρχ.] See ch. Acts 19:29; Acts 20:4; Colossians 4:10; Philemon 1:24. In Colossians 4:10, Paul calls him his συναιχμάλωτος, but perhaps only figuratively: the same term is applied to Epaphras, Philemon 1:23, where follows ἀρίσταρχος, δημᾶς, λουκᾶς, οἱ σύνεργοί μου.

Verse 3

3. σιδῶνα] This celebrated city is generally joined in the N. T. with Tyre, from which it was distant 200 stadia (Strabo, xvi. 756 ff.), and of which it was probably the mother city. It was within the lot of the tribe of Asher (Joshua 19:28), but never conquered by the Israelites (Judges 1:31; Judges 3:3). From the earliest times the Sidonians were renowned for their manufactures of glass (‘Sidon artifex vitri,’ Plin. Acts 27:19), linen ( πέπλοι παμποίκιλοι ἔργα γυναικῶν σιδονίων, Il. ζ. 290), silversmith’s work (Il. ψ. 743, and Od. ο. 115, &c.), and for the hewing of timber (1 Kings 5:6; Ezra 3:7). In ancient times, Sidon seems to have been under Tyre, and to have furnished her with mariners (see Ezekiel 27:8). It went over to Shalmaneser, king of Assyria (Jos. Antt. ix. 14. 2); but seems under him, and afterwards under the Chaldæans and Persians, to have had tributary kings of its own (Jeremiah 25:22; Jeremiah 27:3; Herod. viii. 67). The Sidonians furnished the best ships in Xerxes’ navy, Herod. vii. 96, 99. Under Artaxerxes Oehus Sidon freed itself, but was by him, after a severe siege, taken and destroyed (Diod. Sic. xvi. 43 ff.). It was rebuilt, and soon after went over to Alexander, keeping its own vassal kings. After his death it was alternately under Syrian and Egyptian rule, till it fell under the Romans. The present Saida is west of ancient Sidon, and is a port of some commerce, but insecure, from the sanding up of the harbour (Winer, Realw. See also Robinson, vol. iii. pp. 415 ff., who gives an account of the history of Sidon during the middle ages).

πορευθέντι] This dat. looks very like a grammatical correction: the πορευθέντα of the rec. would be an instance of an acc. with inf. after a dat. preceding, as ch. Acts 26:20; Acts 22:17. The φίλοι here mentioned were probably Christian brethren (see ch. Acts 11:19, where the Gospel is said to have been preached in Phœnicia; and ch. Acts 21:3, where we find brethren at Tyre); but it is usual in that case for ἀδελφοί or μαθηταί to be specified: cf. ch. Acts 21:4; Acts 21:7. The ἐπιμελείας τυχεῖν was perhaps to obtain from them that outfit for the voyage which, on account of the official precision of his custody at Cæsarea, he could not there be provided with.

Verse 4

4. ὑπεπλεύσαμεν] sailed under, i.e. ‘in the lee of,’ Cyprus. “Ubi navis vento contrario cogitur a recto cursu decedere, ita ut tunc insula sit interposita inter ventum et navem, dicitur ferri infra insulam.” Wetst., who also says, “Si ventus favisset, alto se commisissent, et Cyprum ad dexteram partem reliquissent, ut Acts 21:3, nunc autem coguntur legere littus Ciliciæ, inter Cyprum et Asiam.” With this explanation Mr. Smith agrees; and there can hardly be a doubt that it is the right one. The κατὰ τὴν ἀσίαν τόποι of Acts 27:2 being to the west of Pamphylia (which was not in Asia, ch. Acts 2:10), the direct course thither would have been S. of Cyprus; but having the wind contrary, i.e. from the W. or N.W. (“the very wind which might have been expected in this part of the Mediterranean at this season (summer). Admiral de Saumarez writes, Aug. 19, 1798, ‘We have just gained sight of Cyprus, so invariably do the westerly winds prevail at this season.’ ” Smith, p. 27), they kept under shelter of Cyprus, i.e. between Cyprus and Cilicia; and so διαπλεύσαντες, having sailed the whole length of the sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, they came to Myra. See the account of the reverse voyage, ch. Acts 21:3, where, the wind being nearly in the same quarter (see Acts 27:1, εὐθυδρομήσαντες εἰς τ. κῶ), the direct course was taken, and they left Cyprus at a distance (for so ἀναφ. seems to imply) on their left, in going to Tyre. On the διαπλεύσαντες, &c., it may be well to quote (from Smith) the testimony of M. de Pagés, a French navigator, who, on his voyage from Syria to Marseilles, informs us that after making Cyprus, “the winds from the west, and consequently contrary, which prevail in these places during the summer, forced us to run to the north. We made for the coast of Caramania (Cilicia), in order to meet the northerly winds, which we found accordingly.”

Verse 5

5. ΄ύῤῥα] εἶτα ΄ύρα ἐν εἴκοσι σταδίοις ὑπὲρ τῆς θαλάττης ἐπὶ μετεώρου λόφου, Strabo xiv. 3,— λέντλος ἐπιπεμφθεὶς ἀνδριάκῃ ΄υρέων ἐπινείῳ, τήν τε ἅλυσιν ἔῤῥηξε τοῦ λιμένος, καὶ εἰς ΄ύρα ἀνῄει. The neighbourhood is full of magnificent ruins; see Sir C. Fellows’s Lycia, ch. 9. The name still remains. The various readings merely shew that the copyists were unacquainted with the place.

Verse 6

6.] The Alexandrian ship may have been laden with corn for Rome; but this cannot be inferred from Acts 27:38, for the ship had been lightened before, Acts 27:18.

On her size, see below, Acts 27:37.

Most probably this ship had been prevented taking the direct course to Italy, which was by the south of Crete, by the prevailing westerly winds. Under such circumstances, says Mr. Smith (p. 32), “ships, particularly those of the ancients, unprovided with a compass, and ill calculated to work to windward, would naturally stand to the N. till they made the land of Asia Minor, which is peculiarly favourable for such a mode of navigation, because the coast is bold and safe, and the elevation of the mountains makes it visible at a great distance; it abounds in harbours, while the sinuosities of its shores and the westerly current would enable them, if the wind was at all off the land, to work to windward, at least as far as Cnidus, where these advantages ceased. Myra lies due N. from Alexandria, and its bay is well calculated to shelter a wind-bound ship. The Alexandrian ship was not, therefore, out of her course at Myra, even if she had no call to touch there for the purposes of commerce.”

πλέον, the present, should be rendered on her voyage.

Verse 7

7. βραδυπλ.] It is evident that the ship was encountering an adverse wind. The distance from Myra to Cnidus is only 130 geogr. miles, which, with a fair wind, would not take more than one day. Mr. Smith shews that the wind was N.W., or within a few points of it. “We learn from the sailing directions for the Mediterranean, that, throughout the whole of that sea, but mostly in the eastern half, including the Adriatic and Archipelago, N.W. winds prevail in the summer months; … the summer Etesiæ come from the N.W. (p. 197); which agrees with Aristotle’s account of these winds,— οἱ ἐτησίαι λεγόμενοι μέξιν ἔχοντες τῶν τε ἀπὸ τῆς ἄρκτου φερομένων κ. ζεφύρου, de Mundo, ch. 4. According to Pliny (ii. 47), they begin in August, and blow for forty days.”

μόλις] with difficulty: not as E. V., ‘scarce,’ which being also an adv. of time, gives the erroneous idea to the English reader that the ship had scarcely reached Cnidus when the wind became unfavourable.

γεν. κατά] having come over against, as E. V.

κνίδον] Cnidus is a peninsula at the entrance of the Ægean Sea, between the islands of Cos and Rhodes, having a lofty promontory and two harbours, Strabo, xiv. 2. “With N.W. winds the ship could work up from Myra to Cnidus; because, until she reached that point, she had the advantage of a weather shore, under the lee of which she would have smooth water, and, as formerly mentioned, a westerly current; but it would be slowly and with difficulty. At Cnidus that advantage ceased.” Smith, p. 37.

γὴ προσεῶντ.] The common idea has been that the prep. in composition implies that the wind would not suffer them to put in at Cnidus. But this would hardly be reconcileable with the fact; for when off Cnidus they would be in shelter under the high land, and there would be no difficulty in putting in. I should be rather inclined to regard this clause as explaining the μόλις above, and the πρός in composition as implying contribution, or direction: ‘with difficulty, the wind not permitting us by favouring our course.’

ὑπεπλ. [see above on Acts 27:4] τ. κρ. κ. σαλμώνην] “Unless she had put into that harbour (Cnidus), and waited for a fair wind, her only course was to run under the lee of Crete, in the direction of Salmone, which is the eastern extremity of that island.”

Salmone (Capo Salomon) is described by Strabo (x. 4) as ὀξὺ ἀκρωτήριον τὸ σαμώνιον, ἐπὶ τὴν αἴγυπτον νεῦον, καὶ τὰς ῥοδίων νήσους. Pliny (iv. 12) calls it Sammonium.

Verse 8