Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 24:7
But the chief captain Lysias came [upon us,] and with great violence took [him] away out of our hands,
7. But the chief captain Lysias ] If this verse be an interpolation, it differs from others in the Acts very greatly. In other parts of the book such insertions have merely been made to bring the whole of a narrative under view at once, and there has been no variation of an account previously given elsewhere. But here we have a passage not representing the facts as stated before, but giving such a version of them as might make Lysias appear to have been in the wrong, and to have exercised his power in Jerusalem most arbitrarily against men who were only anxious to preserve the purity of their sacred temple. As both the Syriac and the Vulgate represent the passage it is not quite satisfactory to reject it.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But the chief captain … – Tertullus pretends that they would have judged Paul righteously if Lysias had not interposed; but the truth was, that, without regard to law or justice, they would have murdered him on the spot.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. With great violence] , I rather think, means with an armed force. Tertullus intimates that Lysias interfered contrary to law, and brought soldiers to support him in his infringement on their constitution. This is what he seems to say and complain of; for the Jews were vexed with Lysias for rescuing the apostle from their hands.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
So they call the bringing of soldiers, to hinder them from acting violently; and as far as they dare, they accuse Lysias, whom they thought not to favour them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. But . . . Lysias came upon us,and with great violence took him out of our handsa wilfulfalsehood and calumnious charge against a public officer. He hadcommanded the Sanhedrim to meet for no other purpose than to “judgehim according to their law”; and only when, instead of doing so,they fell to disputing among themselves, and the prisoner was indanger of being “pulled in pieces of them” (Ac23:10) or as his own letter says “killed of them”(Ac 23:27) did he rescuehim, as was his duty, “by force” out of their hands.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But the chief captain Lysias came upon us,…. Suddenly, and at unawares, immediately, and with great haste, before they could execute their designs; which were not to judge Paul according to law, but to kill him, in the manner the zealots did:
and with great violence took him away out of our hands; for he came with an army, and rescued him, Ac 23:27 Some copies add, “and sent him to thee”; and so the Syriac version reads.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This whole verse with some words at the end of verse 6 and the beginning of verse 8 in the Textus Receptus (“And would have judged according to our law. But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took him away out of our hands, commanding his accusers to come unto thee”) is absent from Aleph A B H L P 61 (many other cursives) Sahidic Bohairic. It is beyond doubt a later addition to the incomplete report of the speech of Tertullus. As the Revised Version stands, verse 8 connects with verse 6. The motive of the added words is clearly to prejudice Felix against Lysias and they contradict the record in Ac 21. Furneaux holds them to be genuine and omitted because contradictory to Ac 21. More likely they are a clumsy attempt to complete the speech of Tertullus.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
(Entire verse omitted from older manuscripts)
1) “But the chief captain Lysias came upon us,” (came down with soldiers from the fort castle of Antonio, adjacent to the temple area), Act 21:30-32. This is another statement, slanted in favor of the accusing Jews with whom Tertullus (though not a Jew) identified himself, to sway Felix, a form of intellectual dishonesty. This also insinuates that Lysias, the chief captain of the Roman Guard, stuck his nose in the business of the Jews.
2) “And with great violence took him away,” (from where we were beating and about to stone him) Act 21:33-34. They took him with violence, which was an error, a grave error in binding him with two chains, without inquiring to find out that he was a freeborn Roman citizen, and that it was illegal publicly to chain him, before a hearing, Act 21:39; Act 22:24-29.
3) “Out of our hands,” (away from the death we were about to give him), much as they had done to Stephen, Act 7:59-60, or as the Jews had treated him earlier in Lystra, Act 14:19-20.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
7. But This verse and the next as far as the colon are not in the best MSS., and are held by the best critics to be interpolated. Their removal clears Tertullus of the impolicy of making a side issue with Lysias. Excluding the passage, we must make the whom of Act 24:8 refer to Paul; otherwise to Lysias. The retention of the passage is strongly sustained by Felix’s expressed expectation of Lysias’ coming in Act 24:22.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“From whom you will be able, by examining him yourself, to take knowledge of all these things of which we accuse him.”
And Felix will only have to examine him in the right way in order to discover that all this is true. If he failed, all would know whose fault it was.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
7 But the chief captain Lysias came upon us , and with great violence took him away out of our hands,
Ver. 7. Took him out of our hands ] Wherein he did well, though he hear ill; as public persons must look to do.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Act 24:7 . . : another statement directly at variance with the facts, Act 21:32 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
chief captain. See note on Act 21:31.
violence. Greek. bia. See note on Act 5:26.
out of. Greek. ek. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the chief: Act 21:31-33, Act 23:23-32, Pro 4:16
great: Act 21:35, Act 23:10
Reciprocal: Act 21:32 – and ran Act 23:27 – was taken Act 23:30 – and gave Act 24:22 – When
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Act 24:7. But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took him away out of our hands. Here again Tertullus misstates the facts. When the Roman soldiers came on the scene, the Jews evidently at once released Paul without further violence: When they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul (chap. Act 21:32). The Sanhedrim council were extremely bitter against Claudius Lysias, and the intention evidently of their advocates words here (if we admit them as genuine), was to insinuate that all was going on in order and in strict conformity to the law, until the commander in the castle of Antonia violently and oppressively interfered.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 2
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
7. Here we see the Jews reflect seriously on the administration of Lysias at Jerusalem, doubtless hoping to bring him into trouble with the governor.