Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 24:18
Whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude, nor with tumult.
18. Whereupon ] According to the best MSS. the relative here, by its gender, must be referred to the “offerings” which have just been named. Read (with Rev. Ver.) Amidst which, i.e. engaged in offering which oblations.
certain Jews from Asia ] These words should, according to all authorities, be placed in the latter clause of the verse. Read “Amidst which they found, &c.”
found me purified ] i.e. abstaining from all things forbidden by the law of the Nazarites. See Num 6:3-8.
neither with multitude, &c.] The gathering of a crowd and raising a disturbance would have been the first steps towards some act of profanation. But even this he had not done. The original requires that we should continue the sentence, “but there were certain Jews from Asia,” as in the Rev. Ver. It was from the Asiatic Jews, perhaps those from Ephesus, that the uproar had at first been originated. It would appear also that part of Tertullus’ argument was derived from their information. Of these Asiatic Jews St Paul was now about to speak, but he checks himself, and does not say any word against them, only that they ought to have been here to explain the offence for which he had been assailed.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Certain Jews from Asia – Act 21:27.
Found me purified in the temple – Act 21:26-27. They found me engaged in the sacred service of completing the observance of my vow.
Neither with multitude – Not having introduced a multitude with me – in a quiet and peaceful manner.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. Found me purified in the temple] And the Jews of Asia, who stirred up the persecution against me in Jerusalem, found me purified in the temple, regularly performing the religious vow into which I had entered; giving no cause for suspicion; for I made no tumult, nor had I any number of people with me, by whom I could have accomplished any seditious purpose.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Whereupon; upon my bringing up those alms now mentioned; whilst I was employed for the good of my countrymen who now accuse me.
Purified in the temple; performing all things which the law did require of Nazarites, or those who had made a vow, and in which their legal purification did consist.
Neither with multitude, nor with tumult; the multitude was of their own gathering together; and the tumult, if any, was made by themselves. It is no new thing that Christians should be charged with those mischiefs which their enemies themselves did to make them odious.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18-21. found me purified in thetemplenot polluting it, therefore, by my own presence, andneither gathering a crowd nor raising a stir: If then these AsiaticJews have any charge to bring against me in justification of theirarrest of me, why are they not here to substantiate it?
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Whereupon,…. Or “among which”; while the apostle was busy about the offerings of the Nazarites:
certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple; and therefore could not be said to profane it; this he observes in answer to the charge of his attempting to profane it, and acquaints the governor how that was; as that having joined himself to four men that had a vow upon them, and being in the temple purifying himself with them, certain Jews that came from Ephesus, in Asia, who knew him there, and had a pique against him, found him here; not profaning the temple, as they pretended, but acting according to the worship and service of it; and that,
neither with a multitude; for there were but four men with him;
nor with tumult; making any noise and riot, or stirring up persons to sedition and rebellion.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Amidst which ( ). That is, “in which offerings” (in presenting which offerings, 21:27).
They found me (my accusers here present, ),
purified in the temple ( ). Perfect passive participle of (same verb in Acts 21:24; Acts 21:26) state of completion of the Jewish sacrifices which had gone on for seven days (21:27), the very opposite of the charges made.
With no crowd ( ). “Not with a crowd” till the Asiatic Jews gathered one (21:27).
Nor yet with tumult ( ). They made the tumult (27:30), not Paul. Till they made the stir, all was quiet.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Whereupon [ ] . More correctly, in which (occupation); while so engaged. The best texts, however, read ejn ai=v, in which, the pronoun agreeing in gender with offerings. The sense, according to this, is, as Rev., margin, in presenting which (offerings).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Whereupon certain Jews from Asia,” (en hais) Among which,” among the Jewish people, (tines de apo tes Asias loudaioi) “Then some certain (kind of) Jews from Asia,” who were a self-appointed, self-imagined, “Jewish truth-squad,” to preserve traditions of the elders, Mar 7:1-9. These “certain Jews from Asia,” were Christian hate-mongers, such as hounded Paul thru all his ministry, Act 13:45; Act 13:50; Act 14:5; Act 14:19; Act 17:5; Act 17:13; Act 19:8-9; Act 20:3; Gal 1:6; Gal 1:9; Gal 2:4-5; Gal 2:13; Gal 3:1-5; Gal 4:9-11; Gal 4:15-18.
2) “Found me purified in the temple,” (heuron me hegnesmenon en to heiro) “They found me, when I had been purified, in the temple,” Act 21:26-27. When I was offering oblations, or having offered the oblations with other brethren relating to sacred vows each of us had taken. It was under such circumstances they pounced upon me in the temple.
3) “Neither with multitude, nor with tumult.” (ou meta ochlou lude meta thorubou) “Neither in, or associated with, a crowd nor with an uproar of any kind,” nor trying to assemble a tumult in any manner or degree, not in the least. Paul was separated or sanctified as a Nazarite, very different from inciting a mob. Spiritually blind persons, Spiritually astigmatized persons, often see things, generally see things enigmatized, thru a fog, a mental haze, lacking understanding or comprehension, Eph 4:18; 2Co 4:3-4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(18) Whereupon certain Jews from Asia . . .Literally, in which things, or wherein. Many of the better MSS. give the relative pronoun in the feminine, as agreeing with offerings, and indicating that he was, as it were, occupied with them at the very time when the Jews from Asia found him, not profaning the Temple, but purified with all the completeness which the Nazarite vow required.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. In the temple Act 21:26-29.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
In fact the source of the accusations against him were certain Jews from Asia. It was they who, as his original accusers, should have been there if they really had anything to accuse him of (that was the law). But they were not there. The whole case was trumped up.
Roman law in fact imposed heavy penalties on accusers who abandoned their charges (destitutio), thus their absence suggested that they recognised that they had nothing against him that would stand up in a Roman court of law
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Act 24:18. Neither with multitude, nor with tumult: If the apostle had disturbed other people in their religious worship, whether Jews or Gentiles, invaded their civil rights, or made any tumult, sedition, or insurrection, the Roman law would have condemned him: but as there were already several sects among the Jews, the Christians might, if considered as a new sect, differ from them all, and yet remain under the protection of the Roman law.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Act 24:18-19 . , during which (applies to the ), during which sacrificial occupations. “Graeci, licet alius generis nomen praecesserit, saepe neutro plurali pronominis utuntur, generalem vocabuli notionem respicientes,” Khner, ad Xen. Anab . vii. 7. 14. Comp. Matthiae, p. 987; Poppo, ad Thuc . iii. 97. 3.
] purified , as a Nazarite (see Act 21:27 ), thus, in an unobjectionable and holy condition, without multitude and without tumult.
A point is not, with Griesbach, Scholz, and de Wette, to be placed after , because otherwise . . . would be an imperfect sentence, which the simplicity of the structure of the discourse (it is otherwise in Act 24:5 f.) does not justify our assuming. Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Bornemann have correctly put only a comma. It is accordingly to be explained in such a way, that Paul with . . . glances back to what was said in Act 24:5 f., which had sounded as if the Sanhedrists had found him. On the other hand, forms the contrast, introducing the actual position of the matter, in which withal refers to suppressam aliquam partem sententiae (Hermann, ad Philoctet . 16), thus: Thereupon there found me not these, as they asserted, Act 24:5 , but doubtless certain Asiatic Jews . Comp. Bornemann, Schol. in Luk . p. 184, and in Rosenmller, Repert . II. p. 278.
] The sense of the praeterite, and that without , is here essential; for the Asiatics must have appeared, like the Sanhedrists, before the procurator, if they, etc. That this did not happen, is a fact of the past . Comp. Buttmann, neut. Gr . p. 187 [E. T. 216 f.].
, in so far as they should have ought (subjective possibility). On with the optative, and in the following sentence the indicative, see Bernhardy, p. 386 f.; Winer, p. 276 [E. T. 367].
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
18 Whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude, nor with tumult.
Ver. 18. Purified in the temple ] Therefore surely not profaning of it: unless they will say of me, as Diogenes did of Antipater (who being vicious, wore a white cloak, the ensign of innocence), that he did virtutis stragulam pudefacere, put honesty to an open shame: or unless they will concur in opinion with their utter enemy Florus, who calleth the temple at Jerusalem impiae gentis arcanum, libidinum sacrarium, &c. secret place of a wicked nation, a shrine of lust. Virgil.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
18 .] De W. observes, that . can only refer to ., not to .: thus may have been altered to , to give a general neuter sense, amidst which occupations : and the sense will be among or engaged in which offerings: it being in the temple. But this seems far-fetched and unlikely, and Meyer’s supposition, that has been altered to to suit , certainly has an air of probability. The use of a verb referring to two substantives, to only one of which it is applicable, is too common to require illustration. But, as so often in this book, we must follow the best MSS., our only fixed evidence, as against any questionable subjective considerations.
The construction is irregular. A subject to has to be supplied by a reference to some nominative case implied in . . . ., thus: amidst which they found me purified in the temple, none who detected me in the act of raising a tumult but certain Asiatic Jews. This would leave it to be inferred that no legal officers had apprehended him, but certain private individuals, illegally; who besides had not come forward to substantiate any charge against him. Bornemann would supply before ; but the objection to this is, that the negative stands already as the proper opponent clause to , and we should thus have two negative clauses together.
On this sense of , see Viger, ed. Hermann, p. 16, note 24; and Hermann’s note, p. 702. 19. The latter remarks, “intelligitur in hac formula, quam malum, stultum est , vel simile quid.”
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 24:18 . , see critical note. If we read = “amidst which,” R.V., “in presenting which,” margin, with reference to , including not only the offerings in connection with the Apostle’s association of himself with the poor men in the Nazirite vow, but also offerings such as those referred to in Act 24:17 . = inter qu (Winer-Schmiedel, pp. 193, 228), i.e. , in reference to these matters generally, cf. Act 26:12 . , cf. Act 24:5 : “they found me,” indeed, as they have said, but . . .; a direct answer to the charge of profaning the Temple: he had gone there for worship and sacrifice, “then how did I profane it?” Chrys., Hom. , . : the expression is generally taken to refer to the offerings involved in the association with the vow, Act 21:26 , but it may also include other acts of worship and purification in the Temple. : in A.V. the word is simply referred to and there is no difficulty; but if we insert after it (see critical note). R.V. renders “but there were certain Jews from Asia,” etc. The sentence breaks off, and the speaker makes no direct reference to Act 21:27 , but implies that these Asiatic Jews should have been present to accuse him if they had any accusation to make their absence was in the prisoner’s favour; “the passage as it stands ( i.e. , with this break) is instinct with life, and seems to exhibit the abruptness so characteristic of the Pauline Epistles,” cf. Act 26:9 , see Page’s note in loco . Others take though less forcibly as more strictly in opposition to the preceding words, meaning that his accusers had not found him as they alleged, and as Tertullus alleged, Act 24:5 , but that certain Jews of Asia had found him. Hackett retains , and sees in the words a retort of the charge of riot upon the true authors of it: “but certain Jews from Asia” it is they who excited a tumult, not I; the verb could be omitted, a true picture of the Apostle’s earnestness, because so readily suggested from , but this interpretation seems hardly borne out by the context.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Whereupon = In (Greek. en) which, i.e. while engaged in the offerings.
purified. Greek. hagnizo. See note on Act 21:24, Act 21:26.
neither = not. Greek. ou. App-105.
multitude = crowd. Greek. ochlos, as in Act 24:12.
nor. Greek. oude.
tumult. Same as “uproar”, Act 20:1. A Latin MS. of the thirteenth century adds “And they laid hands on me, crying, Away with our enemy”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
18.] De W. observes, that . can only refer to ., not to .: thus may have been altered to , to give a general neuter sense, amidst which occupations: and the sense will be among or engaged in which offerings: it being in the temple. But this seems far-fetched and unlikely, and Meyers supposition, that has been altered to to suit , certainly has an air of probability. The use of a verb referring to two substantives, to only one of which it is applicable, is too common to require illustration. But, as so often in this book, we must follow the best MSS., our only fixed evidence, as against any questionable subjective considerations.
The construction is irregular. A subject to has to be supplied by a reference to some nominative case implied in . . . ., thus: amidst which they found me purified in the temple, none who detected me in the act of raising a tumult but certain Asiatic Jews. This would leave it to be inferred that no legal officers had apprehended him, but certain private individuals, illegally; who besides had not come forward to substantiate any charge against him. Bornemann would supply before ; but the objection to this is, that the negative stands already as the proper opponent clause to , and we should thus have two negative clauses together.
On this sense of , see Viger, ed. Hermann, p. 16, note 24; and Hermanns note, p. 702. 19. The latter remarks, intelligitur in hac formula, quam malum, stultum est, vel simile quid.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 24:18. , , in which) viz. occupations, aims.–) , a crowd of men; , a crowd or confusion of things: is something more fortuitous; , a crowd, denotes something more violent, and attempted with more deliberate purpose.- ) is genuine, being established by very many MSS.[139] Understand , saw me.
[139] AB (according to Lachm.) CEe Vulg. Meraph. Theb. later Syr. have the ; but Elzevir Rec. Text omits it, with B (Judging from the silence of collators), according to Tisch.-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Act 21:26-30, Act 26:21
Reciprocal: Joh 11:55 – to purify Joh 18:21 – ask Act 19:21 – to go Act 21:24 – and purify Act 21:27 – the Jews Act 21:28 – This is
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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Act 24:18-20. This paragraph is explained at chapter 21:27-29.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 24:18. Whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude nor with tumult. Whereupon; literally, in which, in the midst of which occupations certain Jews from Asia found me. The reading of the greater number of the more trustworthy MSS. here is instead of the received text . This feminine form of the relative pronoun agrees with , offerings; and thus the meaning of Pauls words was as follows: These busybody strangers from Asia [Ephesus] found me in the temple certainly, but, far from profaning it, positively engaged in performing the rites and ceremonies which belonged to the fulfilment of a Nazarites vow.
There is another slight variation here in the reading of the more trustworthy authorities, viz. these older MSS. insert after (certain), (and or but). Now, slight as this variation seems, it necessitates a different rendering of the whole clause, which must run thus: In the midst of which occupations they (that is, the Jews) found me purified (as a Nazarite) in the temple, neither with multitude nor with tumult; but certain Jews from Asia. Here a verb is wanting to make the sense perfect. It was no doubt this want of a verb to complete the sentence which induced many MSS. (though not the majority) to leave out , and thus make certain Jews the subject of (found).
The explanation of the omission is found, no doubt, in the speakers earnestness, Luke having given us the very words (and no more) of this remarkable defence. Some verb is required, suggests Dr. Hackett: But certain Jews from Asia stirred up the tumult, Act 24:19. Who ought now to he here.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 10
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 18
Purified; engaged in the duties pertaining to ceremonial purification.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
24:18 {k} 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.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Paul pointed out that his original accusers were not present at his hearing. They should have been. Probably the Sanhedrin ruled that out because, in view of the facts, it would have been clear that there was no basis for their charges.
"Roman law imposed heavy penalties upon accusers who abandoned their charges (destitutio), and the disappearance of accusers often meant the withdrawal of a charge. Their absence, therefore, suggested that they had nothing against him that would stand up in a Roman court of law." [Note: Longenecker, "The Acts . . .," p. 541.]