John Gill Commentary Acts 26

Then Agrippa said to Paul
After Festus had made the above speech to him, and to all present, and had introduced the affair of Paul, who now stood before them.

you are permitted to speak for yourself ;
which a prisoner might not do, until he had leave; and this leave was granted by Festus the Roman governor, who was properly the judge, and not Agrippa, though the permission might be by both; and so the Arabic and Ethiopic versions read, "we have ordered", or "permitted you".

Then Paul stretched forth the hand ;
as orators used to do, when they were about to speak; or else to require silence; or it may be to show the freedom of his mind, and how ready he was to embrace the opportunity of pleading his own cause; being conscious to himself of his innocence, and relying on the ingenuity and integrity of his judge; and especially of the king, before whom he stood.

and answered for himself ;
or made an apology, or spoke in vindication of himself, in order to remove the charges brought against him.

I think myself happy, King Agrippa This was an handsome and artificial way of introducing his defense, and of gaining the affection and attention of the king, and yet was not a mere compliment; for it had been his unhappiness hitherto, that his case was not understood; neither Lysias the chief captain, nor the governors Felix and Festus, knew anything of the rites and customs of the Jews, and could not tell what to make of the questions of their law, of which Paul was accused: but it was otherwise with Agrippa, he was master of them, and this the apostle looked upon as a circumstance in his own favour:

because I shall answer for myself this day before thee ; not before him as a judge, for Festus was judge, but in his presence; and he being versed in things of this kind, was capable of informing, counselling, directing, and assisting the judge, in what was proper to be done; wherefore it was an advantage to the apostle to plead his own cause, and vindicate himself before such a person from the charges exhibited against him:

touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews ; such as violation of the law, profanation of the temple, contempt of the people of the Jews and their customs, and of blasphemy, and sedition; all which he was able to clear himself from, and doubted not but he should do it to the entire satisfaction of the king.

Especially, because I know you to be expert in all customs ,
&c.] Rites and ceremonies of the Jews, whether enjoined by the law of Moses, or by the elders, fathers, and wise men:

and questions which are among the Jews ;
concerning angels, spirits, and the resurrection of the dead; which were moved and agitated between the Sadducees and Pharisees; and a multitude of others, which were disputed between the schools of Hillell and Shammai, of which their Misna and Talmud are full, and with these Agrippa was well acquainted; and to their rites and customs he conformed, of which we have some instances recorded in their writings:

when they went with their firstfruits to Jerusalem ^F23 ,``a pipe sounded before them till they came to the mountain of the house, and when they came to the mountain of the house (the temple), even King Agrippa carried the basket upon his shoulder, and went in till he came to the court.'' So concerning the reading of the law by a king, they give this following account <sup>F24</sup> : ``a king stands and takes (the book of the law), and reads sitting; King Agrippa stood and took it, and read standing, and the wise men praised him; and when he came to that passage, (Deuteronomy 17:15) "You mayest not set a stranger over you", his eyes flowed with tears; they said unto him, fear not, Agrippa, you are our brother.'' Some of their writers say ^F25 , this was a piece of flattery in them: they also elsewhere commend him for his modesty and humility ^F26 ; ``according to the tradition of the doctors, when persons attending a funeral met a bride (with her retinue), the former gave way, and both to a king of Israel, when they met him; but they say concerning King Agrippa, that he met a bride, and gave way, and they praised him.'' And whereas it was forbidden to eat on the eve of the passover, before the Minchah, though ever so little, that they might eat the unleavened bread with appetite ^F1 ; it is observed, that even King Agrippa, who was used to eat at the ninth hour, that day did not eat till it was dark ^F2 :

so that from hence it appears, that King Agrippa was famous for his exact knowledge and observance of the customs and manners of the Jews, and which was well known, and was by the apostle:

wherefore I beseech you to hear me patiently ;
since he was charged with a breach of the laws and customs of the Jews; and his defence would proceed upon things which Agrippa was not altogether ignorant of.

FOOTNOTES:

• F23: Misn. Biccurim, c. 3. sect. 4.
• F24: Misn. Sota, c. 7. sect. 8.
• F25: Maimon. in ib. & Moses Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora, pr. neg. 221.
• F26: T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 17. 1.
• F1: Maimon. Chametz Umetza, c. 6. sect. 12.
• F2: T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 107. 2.

My manner of life, from my youth
That is, his conduct and deportment, his behaviour among men, from the time that he was capable of performing religious exercises, and of knowing the difference between one sect and another, and of being observed and taken notice of by men:

which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem ;
for though he was born in Tarsus in Cilicia, he was very early brought, or sent by his parents to Jerusalem, where he had his education under Gamaliel;

so that the first part of his life was spent in Jerusalem, the metropolis of Judea, and among the Jews there; the more learned and knowing part of them, Gamaliel's pupils, and the wise men and their disciples: and his course of life must be well known to them, as he says,

this know all the Jews ;
that had any knowledge of him, and conversation with him.

Which knew me from the beginning
From his youth, from his first coming to Jerusalem:

if they would testify ;
what they know, and speak out the truth of things, they must say,

that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a
Pharisee ;
there were three sects of religion among the Jews, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes; the first of these was the most exact, and came nearest to the truth of doctrine, and was the strictest as to outward holiness of life and conversation, and of this sect the apostle was; and according to it he lived, and that in such a manner, as not to be charged with any notorious crime; and indeed in his own, and very likely in the opinion of others, he was then blameless. (See Gill on Matthew 3:7).

(Essenes: A Jewish sect, who, according to the description of Josephus, combine the ascetic virtues of the Pythagoreans and the Stoics with a spiritual knowledge of the divine law. It seems probable that the same name signifies "seer", or "the silent, the mysterious". As a sect the Essenes were distinguished by an aspiration after the ideal purity rather than by any special code of doctrines. There were isolated communities of the Essenes, which were regulated by strict rules, and analogous to those of the monastic institutions of a later date. All things were held in common, without distinction of property; and special provision was made for the relief of the poor. Self-denial, temperance and labour--especially agricultural--were the marks of the outward life of the Essenes; purity and divine communication the objects of aspiration. Slavery, war and commerce were alike forbidden. Their best known settlements were on the north west shore of the Dead Sea. J.B. Smith one volume Bible Dictionary.)