---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible"
author: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 680 of 927
url: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/680/
cite: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, section 680. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/680/"
---

# Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

*Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown*

The Victorian standard commentary, critical and practical, from Genesis to Revelation.

## 680. Acts · 20 of 23

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/680/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/680/#p-N

[¶0] and Bernice--his sister. She was married to her uncle Herod, king of Chalcis, on whose death she lived with her brother Agrippa--not without suspicion of incestuous intercourse, which her subsequent licentious life tended to confirm.

[¶1] came to salute Festus--to pay his respects to him on his accession to the procuratorship.

[¶2] 14-15. when there many--"several"

[¶3] days, Festus declared Paul's cause--taking advantage of the presence of one who might be presumed to know such matters better than himself; though the lapse of "several days" ere the subject was touched on shows that it gave Festus little trouble.

[¶4] 16-21. to deliver any man to die--On the word "deliver up," see on [Ac 25:11].

[¶5] 22-27. I would also hear--"should like to hear."

[¶6] the man myself--No doubt Paul was fight when he said, "The king knoweth of these things ... for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner" ([Ac 26:26]). Hence his curiosity to see and hear the man who had raised such commotion and was remodelling to such an extent the whole Jewish life.

### Chapter 26

### Ac 26:1-32. Paul's Defense of Himself before King Agrippa, Who Pronounces Him Innocent, but Concludes That the Appeal to Cæsar Must Be Carried Out

[¶9] This speech, though in substance the same as that from the fortress stairs of Jerusalem ([Ac 22:1-29]), differs from it in being less directed to meet the charge of apostasy from the Jewish faith, and giving more enlarged views of his remarkable change and apostolic commission, and the divine support under which he was enabled to brave the hostility of his countrymen.

[¶10] 1-3. Agrippa said--Being a king he appears to have presided.

[¶11] Paul stretched forth the hand--chained to a soldier ([Ac 26:29], and see on [Ac 12:6]).

[¶12] 4-5. from my youth, which was at the first ... at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; which knew me from the beginning--plainly showing that he received his education, even from early youth, at Jerusalem. See on [Ac 22:3].

[¶13] 6-7. I ... am judged for the hope of the promise made ... to our fathers--"for believing that the promise of Messiah, the Hope of the Church ([Ac 13:32]; ) has been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth risen from the dead."

[¶14] 8. Why should it be thought a thing incredible ... that God should raise the dead?--rather, "Why is it judged a thing incredible if God raises the dead?" the case being viewed as an accomplished fact. No one dared to call in question the overwhelming evidence of the resurrection of Jesus, which proclaimed Him to be the Christ, the Son of God; the only way of getting rid of it, therefore, was to pronounce it incredible. But why, asks the apostle, is it so judged? Leaving this pregnant question to find its answer in the breasts of his audience, he now passes to his personal history.

[¶15] 9-15. (See on [Ac 9:1], &c.; and compare [Ac 22:4], &c.)

[¶16] 16-18. But rise, &c.--Here the apostle appears to condense into one statement various sayings of his Lord to him in visions at different times, in order to present at one view the grandeur of the commission with which his Master had clothed him [Alford].

[¶17] a minister ... both of these things which thou hast seen--putting him on a footing with those "eye-witnesses and ministers of the word" mentioned in [Lu 1:2].

[¶18] and of those in which I will appear to thee--referring to visions he was thereafter to be favored with; such as [Ac 18:9], ; [22:17-21]; ; [2Co 12:1-10], &c. ([Ga 1:12]).

[¶19] 19-21. Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision--This musical and elevated strain, which carries the reader along with it, and doubtless did the hearers, bespeaks the lofty region of thought and feeling to which the apostle had risen while rehearsing his Master's communications to him from heaven.

[¶20] 22-23. having obtained help--"succor."

[¶21] from God--"that [which cometh] from God."

[¶22] I continue--"stand," "hold my ground."

[¶23] unto this day, witnessing, &c.--that is, This life of mine, so marvellously preserved, in spite of all the plots against it, is upheld for the Gospel's sake; therefore I "witnessed," &c.

[¶24] 24. Festus said with a loud voice--surprised and bewildered.

[¶25] Paul, thou art beside thyself, much learning doth make thee mad--"is turning thy head." The union of flowing Greek, deep acquaintance with the sacred writings of his nation, reference to a resurrection and other doctrines to a Roman utterly unintelligible, and, above all, lofty religious earnestness, so strange to the cultivated, cold-hearted skeptics of that day--may account for this sudden exclamation.

[¶26] 25-26. I am not mad, most noble Festus, but, &c.--Can anything surpass this reply, for readiness, self-possession, calm dignity? Every word of it refuted the rude charge, though Festus, probably, did not intend to hurt the prisoner's feelings.

[¶27] 27-29. believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest--The courage and confidence here shown proceeded from a vivid persuasion of Agrippa's knowledge of the facts and faith in the predictions which they verified; and the king's reply is the highest testimony to the correctness of these presumptions and the immense power of such bold yet courteous appeals to conscience.

[¶28] 30-32. when he had thus spoken, the king rose--not over-easy, we may be sure.

### Chapter 27

### Ac 27:1-44. The Voyage to Italy--The Shipwreck and Safe Landing at Malta

[¶31] 1. we should sail, &c.--The "we" here reintroduces the historian as one of the company. Not that he had left the apostle from the time when he last included himself ([Ac 21:18]), but the apostle was parted from him by his arrest and imprisonment, until now, when they met in the ship.

[¶32] delivered Paul and certain other prisoners--State prisoners going to be tried at Rome; of which several instances are on record.

[¶33] Julius--who treats the apostle throughout with such marked courtesy ([Ac 27:3], ; [Ac 28:16]), that it has been thought [Bengel] he was present when Paul made his defense before Agrippa (see [Ac 25:23]), and was impressed with his lofty bearing.

[¶34] a centurion of Augustus' band--the Augustan cohort, an honorary title given to more than one legion of the Roman army, implying, perhaps, that they acted as a bodyguard to the emperor or procurator, as occasion required.

[¶35] 2. a ship of--belonging to.

[¶36] Adramyttium--a port on the northeast coast of the Ægean Sea. Doubtless the centurion expected to find another ship, bound for Italy, at some of the ports of Asia Minor, without having to go with this ship all the way to Adramyttium; and in this he was not disappointed. See on [Ac 27:6].

[¶37] meaning to sail by the coasts--"places."

[¶38] of Asia--a coasting vessel, which was to touch at the ports of proconsular Asia.

[¶39] one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us--rather, "Aristarchus the Macedonian," &c. The word "one" should not have been introduced here by our translators, as if this name had not occurred before; for we find him seized by the Ephesian mob as a "man of Macedonia and Paul's companion in travel" ([Ac 19:29]) and as a "Thessalonian" accompanying the apostle from Ephesus on his voyage back to Palestine ([Ac 20:4]). Here both these places are mentioned in connection with his name. After this we find him at Rome with the apostle ([Col 4:10]; Phm 24).

[¶40] 3. next day we touched at Sidon--To reach this ancient and celebrated Mediterranean port, about seventy miles north from Cæsarea, in one day, they must have had a fair wind.

[¶41] Julius courteously--(See on [Ac 27:1]).

[¶42] gave him liberty to go to his friends--no doubt disciples, gained, it would seem, by degrees, all along the Phoenician coast since the first preaching there (see on [Ac 11:19] and [Ac 21:4]).

[¶43] to refresh himself--which after his long confinement would not be unnecessary. Such small personal details are in this case extremely interesting.

[¶44] 4. when we had launched--"set sail."