Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 23:5

"And Paul said, I knew not, brethren, that he was high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of a ruler of thy people." — Acts 23:5 (ASV)

I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest.—These words admit of three different explanations:

1. We may take them as stating that St. Paul, either from defective sight (see Notes on Acts 9:18; Acts 14:9), or because the high priest was not sitting as president of the Sanhedrin, literally did not know who it was that had given the order, and thought it came from one of the subordinate members of the council.
2. That the words were a somewhat ironical protest against the authority of Ananias as having been improperly appointed.
3. That the “I wist not” stands for “I did not consider,” and is an apologetic recantation of what had been uttered with a full knowledge that the words had been spoken by the high priest.

Of these, the first seems by far the most probable. The solemn sneer pointed by words from Scripture suggested by the second explanation is at variance with St. Paul’s character; and the third puts upon the words a greater strain than they will bear. It is obvious that St. Paul might well think that greater reverence was due to the high priest than to one filling an inferior position in the councils.

You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.—The passage (Exodus 22:28) is interesting as one of those in which the Hebrew word Elohim, commonly translated “God,” is used of earthly rulers. St. Paul probably quoted it in Hebrew , while St. Luke reproduces it from the LXX version. It need hardly be said that to act on that law towards the rulers, not only of “the people” but of the heathen; to see below all the corruptions of human society and the vices of princes, the scheme of a divine order; to recognize that the powers that be are ordained of God, was throughout the ruling principle of the Apostle’s conduct, and, for the most part, of that of the early Christians (Romans 13:1–6; 1 Peter 2:13–17). Christianity was a great revolution, but they were not, politically or socially, revolutionists.