Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 26:11
And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled [them] to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted [them] even unto strange cities.
11. And I punished them oft in every synagogue ] The Gk. continues with a participial construction, represented in Rev. Ver. “and punishing in all the synagogues.” This closer representation of the original seems to add strength to the description of Saul’s former zeal as a persecutor. Of the synagogues as places where offenders were accused and punished, cp. Mat 10:17; Mat 23:34; Mar 13:9; Luk 12:11; Luk 21:12.
and compelled them to blaspheme ] Rev. Ver. “I strove to make them blaspheme.” The verb is that which is frequently rendered “constrain” or “compel,” but being in the imperfect tense, it seems to signify that the attempt was repeated often, and needed to be so, for it was not in some cases successful. Saul kept on with his constraint. “To blaspheme,” i.e. the name of Jesus into which they had been baptized. They were to be forced to renounce the belief in the divinity of Jesus. Cp. on blasphemy of the divine Name, Lev 24:11-16.
even unto strange [ R. V. foreign] cities ] That is, cities outside the country of the Jews proper. So that, as it appears, Damascus was but one among several cities to which Saul had gone on his errand of punishment.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I punished them oft … – See Act 22:19.
And compelled them to blaspheme – To blaspheme the name of Jesus by denying that he was the Messiah, and by admitting that he was an impostor. This was the object which they had in view in the persecution. It was not to make them blaspheme or reproach God, but to deny that Jesus was the Messiah, and to reproach him as a deceiver and an impostor. It is not necessarily implied in the expression, and compelled them to blaspheme, that he succeeded in doing it, but that he endeavored to make them apostatize from the Christian religion and deny the Lord Jesus. It is certainly not impossible that a few might thus have been induced by the authority of the Sanhedrin and by the threats of Paul to do it, but it is certain that the great mass of Christians adhered firmly to their belief that Jesus was the Messiah.
And being exceedingly mad – Nothing could more forcibly express his violence against the Christians. He raged like a madman; he was so ignorant that he laid aside all appearance of reason; with the fury and violence of a maniac, he endeavored to exterminate them from the earth. None but a madman will persecute people on account of their religious opinions; and all persecutions have been conducted like this, with the violence, the fury, and the ungovernable temper of maniacs.
Unto strange cities – Unto foreign cities; cities out of Judea. The principal instance of this was his going to Damascus; but there is no evidence that he did not intend also to visit other cities out of Judea and bring the Christians there, of he found any, to Jerusalem.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. Being exceedingly mad against them] Only a madman will persecute another because of his differing from him in religious opinion; and the fiercest persecutor is he who should be deemed the most furious madman.
Unto strange cities.] Places out of the jurisdiction of the Jews, such as Damascus, which he immediately mentions.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Paul confesses that he compelled them to blaspheme, either:
1. By the torments he made them to be put unto; or:
2. By his own example; for he confessed that he had been a blasphemer himself, 1Ti 1:13.
This blasphemy was either:
1. Denying of Christ to be the Messiah; or:
2. Cursing or execrating of Christ, and acknowledging that he was justly condemned.
I persecuted them even unto strange cities; drove them out of Jerusalem and Judea; and, according to what Paul then believed, he drave them from the worship of the true God, and said in effect, as Davids adversaries when they expelled him from Jerusalem, Go, and serve other gods, 1Sa 26:19.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And I punished them oft in every synagogue,…. In Jerusalem, where there were many; [See comments on Ac 24:12]; by beating and scourging them there, as the manner was; see Mt 10:17.
and compelled them to blaspheme; the Lord Jesus Christ, both to deny him to be the Messiah, and to call him accursed; as the Jews and Heathens obliged some professors of Christianity to do, who were only nominal ones, and had not grace and strength to stand against their threatenings, and to endure their persecutions:
and being exceeding mad against them; full of malice, envy, and hatred:
I persecuted them even to strange cities; particularly Damascus; and of his journey thither, he gives an account in the following verse; or through the violence of his persecution he obliged them to fly to strange cities, where they were foreigners and strangers; though he himself might not follow them there, since we do not read of his going anywhere but to Damascus; whereas they that were scattered by the persecution, in which he was concerned, travelled as far as Phenice, Cyprus, and Antioch, Ac 9:19. The phrase may be rendered, “even to cities without”; i.e. without the land of Israel: frequent mention is made in Jewish writings of such and such cities being
, “without the land”.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Punishing (). Old word originally to render help, to succor (, from and ), then to avenge (for honour). In N.T. only here and 22:5.
I strove to make them blaspheme ( ). Conative imperfect active of , old verb from (necessity, compulsion). The tense, like the imperfect in Matt 3:14; Luke 1:59, leaves room to hope that Paul was not successful in this effort, for he had already said that he brought many “unto death” (22:4).
I persecuted (). Imperfect active again, repeated attempts. The old verb was used to run after or chase game and then to chase enemies. The word “persecute” is the Latin persequor, to follow through or after. It is a vivid picture that Paul here paints of his success in hunting big game, a grand heresy hunt.
Even unto foreign cities ( ). We know of Damascus, and Paul evidently planned to go to other cities outside of Palestine and may even have done so before the fateful journey to Damascus.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And I punished them oft in every synagogue (kai kata pasas tas sunagogas pollakis timoron autous) “And throughout all their synagogues, I often punished or humiliated them,”
2) “And compelled them to blaspheme,” (enagkazon blasphemein) “And I compelled them to blaspheme,” I strove or worked hard to make them blaspheme,” to give me a law-pretence to put them to death, 1Ti 1:13; Act 13:45; Jas 2:7.
3) “And being exceedingly mad against them,” (perissos te emmainomenous autois) “And I raged against them (the church), excessively, boisterously,” 1Co 15:9.
4) I persecuted them even unto strange cities.” (eidokon heos kai eis tas ekso poleis) “I persecuted them (the saints) members of the church, followers of Jesus of Nazareth, whom He had chosen, as far as to outside cities, or foreign cities, cities beyond both Jerusalem and Judea. The Gk. term (ediokon) means “I set about persecuting them,” whereby he could trail them down, even in foreign countries, wherever he might find them, not in Damascus, Syria alone, he persecuted them, Act 9:1-2; Act 22:4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(11) Compelled them to blaspheme.The verb is in the imperfect tense, which may express either continued or incomplete action. It does not follow, therefore, that any of the believers yielded to the pressure; and the words may be paraphrased, I went on trying to compel them.
Being exceedingly mad against them.The words express, with a wonderful vividness, St. Pauls retrospective analysis of his former state. It was not only that he acted in ignorance (1Ti. 1:13), he might plead also the temporary insanity of fanaticism.
Even unto strange cities.The words show that the mission to Damascus was not a solitary instance, and the persecution may well have raged in the regions of Samaria and Galilee through which the Apostle passed. (See Note on Act. 9:3.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Every synagogue Not absolutely every, but any one where the occasion offered. Synagogues were the places in which not only the sentence was pronounced, but the penalty was inflicted in order to maintain both the sanctity of the infliction, and to deter the spectators from like sin.
Compelled them Greek, was compelling them, indicating a continuity of the practice. Compelling, or rather constraining, whether with successful result or not.
To blaspheme To utter some imprecation on the sacred name or person of Jesus. The pagan persecutions of the martyrs were of the same atrocious character. Thus even the accomplished pagan philosopher Pliny wrote to the emperor: “They were required by my command to address the gods, and supplicate thy statue with incense and wine, and, besides, curse Christ, none of which, it is said, could those who were in fact Christians be constrained to do.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
11. Strange cities Damascus; the plural again for the singular.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Act 26:11. Compelled them to blaspheme; A known passage in Pliny, lib. 10: ep. 97 proves that the Heathen persecutors obliged Christians who fell under their trial, not only to renounce Christ, but also to curse him; and it appears from this passage, that the Jews imposed the like test upon them. See ch. Act 22:19.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Act 26:11-13 . . .] throughout all the synagogues (in Jerusalem), going from one to another and searching out the Christians in all; comp. Act 22:19 .
] taking vengeance on them, dragging them to punishment , Soph. O. R. 107. 140; Polyb. ii. 56. 15. Comp. Act 22:5 , and Wetstein in loc . The middle is more usual.
] namely, , which is obvious of itself, as the object of the specific reverence of Christians (Jas 2:7 ). Comp. Plin. Ep . x. 97; Suicer, Thes . I. p. 697. Whether and how far this . . was actually successful, cannot be determined.
] till even unto the extraneous cities (outside of Palestine). By this remark the following narrative has the way significantly prepared for it.
] in which affairs of persecution . Comp. Act 24:18 .
. . .] with power and plenary authority (Polyb. iii. 15. 7; 2Ma 13:14 ). “Paulus erat commissarius ,” Bengel.
] At noon , (comp. Act 22:6 ), genitive of the definition of time, Bernhardy, p. 145. On the non-classical Greek expression , see Lobeck, ad Phryn . p. 55 f.
] along the way , Act 25:3 , Act 8:36 .
. . . ] surpassing the brightness of the sun . See Winer, p. 376 [E. T. 502].
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.
Ver. 11. Compelled them to blaspheme ] So the ancient persecutors compelled many not only to renounce their religion, but to curse Christ. (Plin. Epist. ad Trajan.) When the Emperor Heraclius sent ambassadors to Chosroes, king of Persia, to desire peace of him, he received this threatening answer: I will not spare you, till I have made you curse your crucified God, and adore the sun. He was afterwards (like another Sennacherib) deposed and murdered by his son Siroes.
And being exceedingly mad, I persecuted ] He was not then so mad in persecuting, but when God turned the stream, he was judged by some as mad in preaching, 2Co 5:13 , and pressing toward tbe high prize which he persecuted (that is, his word, , Php 3:14 ) with as much eagerness as ever he had done God’s poor saints and servants.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11. ] viz. by scourging ; compare Mat 10:17 . does not imply that any did blaspheme (Christ: so Pliny, Ep. n. 97, speaks of ordering the Bithynian Christians ‘ maledicere Christo ,’ and adds, ‘quorum nihil cogi posse dicuntur qui sunt revera Christiani’): the imperf. only relates the attempt . The persecuting the Christians even to foreign cities, forms the transition to the narrative following.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 26:11 . ( cf. Act 22:5 ), more usually in the middle voice in this sense, although the active is so used sometimes in classical Greek, Soph., O. T. , 107, 140, Polyb., ii., 56, 15. For ecclesiastial censures and punishments see Edersheim, History of the Jewish Nation , p. 374, cf. Mat 10:17 ; Mat 23:34 . : “I strove to make them blaspheme,” R.V., all other E.V [400] render “I compelled them to blaspheme,” but the imperfect leaves it quite doubtful as to whether the persecutor succeeded in his attempts or not. The imperfect may thus be regarded as conative, Burton, p. 12, cf. Luk 1:59 , Mat 3:14 . Blass points out that it may have the force of repeated action ( cf. ), but even if so, it does not say that the compulsion was effectual, Gram. , p. 186. See further Page, in loco , for the rendering of R.V., which he regards as correct. A striking parallel may be adduced from Pliny’s Letter to Trajan, x., 97, where the Christians are urged to call upon the gods, to worship the emperor, and to blaspheme Christ, “quorum nihil cogi posse dicuntur qui sunt revera Christiani,” cf. Polycarp, Martyr. , ix., 2, 3. , i.e. , Jesus, “maledicere Christo,” Pliny, u. s. , Jas 2:7 ; cf. 1Ti 1:13 with this passage, and Paul’s later reflections on his conduct. .: “even unto foreign cities,” R.V., so that other cities besides Damascus had been included in the persecution, or would have been included if Saul’s attempt had been successful. : “I set about persecuting them”. The imperfect . may however denote repeated action, and may indicate that Saul had already visited other foreign cities. Weiss regards the as connecting the two imperfects de conatu together the latter imperfect being regarded as a continuation of the former, in case the victims sought to save themselves by flight. .: only in Josephus once, Ant. , xvii., 6, 5, but in Wis 14:23 , and in classical Greek, so also .
[400] English Version.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
I punished . . . and = punishing them . . ., I. See Act 22:5.
in = throughout. Greek. kata. App-104.
synagogue. App-120.
compelled = was compelling, or constraining, as in Act 28:19. Greek. anankazo.
exceedingly. Greek. perissos. Only here, Mat 27:23. Mar 10:26.
mad against = maddened against. Greek. emmainomai. Only here. Compare Act 26:24.
strange = foreign. Literally the cities outside (Greek. exo).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
11. ] viz. by scourging; compare Mat 10:17. does not imply that any did blaspheme (Christ: so Pliny, Ep. n. 97, speaks of ordering the Bithynian Christians maledicere Christo, and adds, quorum nihil cogi posse dicuntur qui sunt revera Christiani): the imperf. only relates the attempt. The persecuting the Christians even to foreign cities, forms the transition to the narrative following.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 26:11. , synagogues) of Jerusalem.- , I compelled them to blaspheme) This was the saddest of all. Repent, ye enemies of the Gospel. If Franc. Spira, to whom force was applied, paid so dearly for his sin, what then will become of those who apply the force (exercise compulsion), and yet do not repent with Saul.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
I punished: Act 22:19, Mat 10:17, Mar 13:9, Luk 21:12
compelled: Act 13:45, Act 18:6, Mar 3:28, Heb 10:28, Heb 10:29, Jam 2:7
mad: Act 26:24, Act 26:25, Ecc 9:3, Luk 6:11, Luk 15:17, 2Pe 2:16
Reciprocal: Lev 24:16 – blasphemeth 1Sa 22:18 – he fell Psa 27:12 – breathe Psa 102:8 – mad Jer 29:26 – for every Mar 9:42 – it Luk 6:49 – against Luk 11:49 – and some Luk 21:16 – and some Luk 22:65 – blasphemously Act 6:9 – the synagogue Act 6:11 – blasphemous Act 9:13 – how Act 22:23 – cast 2Ti 1:7 – a sound Rev 2:9 – the blasphemy
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1
Act 26:11. Compelled them to blaspheme. The American Standard Version translates this clause, “strove to make them blaspheme,” which is evidently the meaning of the apostle. The first word is from the same original as “compellest” in Gal 2:14, where we know that Peter did not actually induce the Gentiles to do the things mentioned, for Paul’s rebuke put a stop to his perversion. But he was using pressure for the purpose of forcing them to do as he contended. Likewise, Paul tried to terrorize the disciples into blaspheming the name of Christ, but they suffered death or imprisonment before denying their Lord. Unto strange cities means those on the outside. His last campaign was to reach to Damascus which was a city “outside” Palestine.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 26:11. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme. This alludes, no doubt, not only to the many synagogues in Jerusalem (see chap. Act 6:9, and note), but also to the synagogues situated in the many different places whither he was sent by the Sanhedrim in his work of persecution. It was on his way to visit the synagogues in one of these distant places (Damascus) that the Lord met him by the way, and changed His persecutor into His servant. On the words, I punished them oft in every synagogue, Hackett quotes an instructive passage from Biscoe respecting punishment being inflicted in the synagogue: The chief rulers of the synagogues, being also the judges of the people in many cases, especially those which regarded religion, chose to give sentence against offenders and see their sentence executed in the synagogue. Persons were always scourged in the presence of the judges. For, punishment being designed in terrorem, what more likely to strike the mind with awe, and deter men from falling into like errors, than to have it executed in their religious assemblies and in the face of the congregation? Our Lord foretold that His disciples should be scourged in the synagogues (Mat 10:17; Mat 23:34); and we learn here that Paul was an instrument in fulfilling this prediction, having beaten them that believed in every synagogue. Another and even darker memory is here evoked by the great apostle as he tells the story of his past. The dead saints; these, though he knew it not then, he had helped in the morning of their battle to win their crown. But here was a thought of unspeakable sadness: there were some weaker brothers, some timid sisters; these his harsh words and cruel deeds had compelled to blaspheme that glorious name by which they were called. This is evidently the meaning of Pauls words here. Some would try and explain away the sorrowful thoughts suggested by this memory, by supposing that all Saul did was to try to induce them to deny the faith they once said they loved; but it would be very hazardous to conclude that, among the many of different sexes, of varied ranks and ages, none swerved from their fidelity to Christ. The words of the Proconsul Pliny to his master the Emperor Trajan, in the first quarter of the next century, tell us that the same means which Saul the Pharisee had used to compel the followers of Christ to blaspheme, were soon used by Gentile persecutors: There were some who denied that they were, or ever had been, Christians: these, before me, called upon the gods and thy image [he is writing to Trajan]; which image, along with those of the gods, I had ordered to be brought for this purpose. They offered to them incense and wine, besides which they reviled Christnone of which things, it is said, those who are indeed Christians can be compelled to do. These I thought might be allowed to go free.
Being exceedingly mad against them. No language seems too strong for the brave Christian advocate to use concerning himself and his former conduct towards those men and women, whose brother and fellow-believer he now professed himself to be. How he once detested these poor persecuted saints, how he loathed their cause! His whole life was devoted to the work of stamping out this strange devotion to One who had been crucified, and who these deluded men and women affirmed had risen again. What now had changed the life purpose of this young enthusiastic Pharisee? We can fancy a hush falling over the brilliant assembly, as Paul, after winding up this portion of his speech with the words telling of his journeying forth to strange cities to hunt down these believers on Jesus of Nazareth, being exceedingly mad against them, paused doubtless for an instant before telling King Agrippa, and Festus, and Bernice what had changed him.
Even unto strange cities. He had done the Sanhedrims work well and thoroughly in the home district, and as far even as foreign cities, writes the compiler of the Acts. Among these, Damascus is specially singled out for mention, for it was the last on the inquisitors list which was visited; and there the bitter persecution, as far as Saul was concerned, was only planned, but was never carried out.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 9
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 11
Compelled; urged and pressed them.–To blaspheme; to abjure Christ.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
26:11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and {e} compelled [them] to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted [them] even unto strange cities.
(e) By extreme punishment.