3 `I, indeed, am a man, a Jew, having been born in Tarsus of Cilicia, and brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, having been taught according to the exactitude of a law of the fathers, being zealous of God, as all ye are to-day.
and the Lord `saith' unto him, `Having risen, go on unto the street that is called Straight, and seek in the house of Judas, `one' by name Saul of Tarsus, for, lo, he doth pray,
but a certain one, having risen up in the sanhedrim -- a Pharisee, by name Gamaliel, a teacher of law honoured by all the people -- commanded to put the apostles forth a little,
knowing me before from the first, (if they may be willing to testify,) that after the most exact sect of our worship, I lived a Pharisee;
And Paul said, `I, indeed, am a man, a Jew, of Tarsus of Cilicia, of no mean city a citizen; and I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.'
and she had also a sister, called Mary, who also, having seated herself beside the feet of Jesus, was hearing the word,
Also He `is' loving the peoples; All His holy ones `are' in thy hand, And they -- they sat down at thy foot, `Each' He lifteth up at thy words.
I say, then, Did God cast away His people? let it not be! for I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin:
and Paul having known that the one part are Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, cried out in the sanhedrim, `Men, brethren, I am a Pharisee -- son of a Pharisee -- concerning hope and rising again of dead men I am judged.'
And Elisha hath turned back to Gilgal, and the famine `is' in the land, and the sons of the prophets are sitting before him, and he saith to his young man, `Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets.'
And the king calleth for the Gibeonites, and saith unto them -- as to the Gibeonites, they `are' not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorite, and the sons of Israel had sworn to them, and Saul seeketh to smite them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah --
and I was advancing in Judaism above many equals in age in mine own race, being more abundantly zealous of my fathers' deliverances,
And the governor having read `it', and inquired of what province he is, and understood that `he is' from Cilicia;
and he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the assemblies.
and the brethren having known, brought him down to Cesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 22
Commentary on Acts 22 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 22
In the close of the foregoing chapter we had Paul bound, according to Agabus's prophecy of the hard usage he should receive from the Jews at Jerusalem, yet he had his tongue set at liberty, by the permission the chief captain gave him to speak for himself; and so intent he is upon using that liberty of speech which is allowed him, to the honour of Christ and the service of his interest, that he forgets the bonds he is in, makes no mention of them, but speaks of the great things Christ had done for him with as much ease and cheerfulness as if nothing had been done to ruffle him or put him into disorder. We have here,
Act 22:1-2
Paul had, in the last verse of the foregoing chapter, gained a great point, by commanding so profound a silence after so loud a clamour. Now here observe,
Act 22:3-21
Paul here gives such an account of himself as might serve not only to satisfy the chief captain that he was not that Egyptian he took him to be, but the Jews also that he was not that enemy to their church and nation, to their law and temple, they took him to be, and that what he did in preaching Christ, and particularly in preaching him to the Gentiles, he did by a divine commission. He here gives them to understand,
Observe,
Now, if they would lay all this together, surely they would see that they had no reason to be angry with Paul for preaching among the Gentiles, or construe it as an act of ill-will to his own nation, for he was compelled to it, contrary to his own mind, by an overruling command from heaven.
Act 22:22-30
Paul was going on with this account of himself, had shown them his commission to preach among the Gentiles without any peevish reflections upon the Jews, and we may suppose designed next to show how he was afterwards, by a special direction of the Holy Ghost at Antioch, separated to this service, how tender he was of the Jews, how respectful to them, and how careful to give them the precedency in all places whither he came, and to unite Jews and Gentiles in one body; and then to show how wonderfully God had owned him, and what good service had been done to the interest of God's kingdom among men in general, without damage to any of the true interests of the Jewish church in particular. But, whatever he designs to say, they resolve he shall say no more to them: They gave him audience to this word. Hitherto they had heard him with patience and some attention. But when he speaks of being sent to the Gentiles, though it was what Christ himself said to him, they cannot bear it, not so much as to hear the Gentiles named, such an enmity had they to them, and such a jealousy of them. Upon the mention of this, they have no manner of patience, but forget all rules of decency and equity; thus were they provoked to jealousy by those that were no people, Rom. 10:19.
Now here we are told how furious and outrageous the people were against Paul, for mentioning the Gentiles as taken into the cognizance of divine grace, and so justifying his preaching among them.