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intimate, that the apostle himself, with a view to his greater humiliation, must have been ignorant of what was the character of this angel. He had a revelation from heaven, a chastisement from hell. Job and Paul were harassed by an enemy: the angel of the Lord struck Herod. — iva /xs, that me) Therefore Paul is not the angel himself (comp, however Num. as above quoted [wherein the Israelites are represented as making the inhabitants of the land whom they drive not out thorns in their sides]), but what is stated is, that the angel harassed Paul with blows : /Va, that is again elegantly placed in the middle of the clause, that the antithesis may twice precede the particle, twice follow it. For the excellence of the revelations and the angel of Satan are in antithesis, and likewise to he exalted and to he buffeted. — xoXap/£?j, buffet) With blows (yzyaXcug cupaTg ; for this is considered the original root, by Eustathius). Slaves were beaten, 1 Pet. ii. 20, nor is there any obstacle to its being taken here in its proper acceptation, Job ii. 6, 7. For if the apostles and the Lord Himself received blows and other troubles from men, ch. xi. 24, 25 ; 1 Cor. iv. 11 ; Matt. xxvi. 67, comp. iv. 5 ; why should not Paul receive such from Satan or his angel, either visibly or invisibly. Such evils also befel Antony, as Athanasius mentions in his life. Opposition of every kind came in the way of the apostle, ver. 10, which he did not deprecate , but here he mentions something in particular, which harassed him with infirmities and met [counteracted] his exaltation with pain and disgrace, even more so or at least not less than the rage of lust, which has been excited in the members of the body (with which how wonderfully very holy souls may be tormented, may be learned by reading the writings of Ephraim Syrus, of Estius on this passage, of Joh. a Cruce and P. M. Petruccius), or the most violent headaches. Paul had become as it were of late afraid of the recurring attacks of these blows, inasmuch as he restrains himself in the time of boasting with such fre- quency as a reader in his natural state would despise and of which he would be weary. Chrysostom remarks, that Paul says xoXa<p/£»j, that it may buffet , not xo\a<pi<rt j, that it might buffet , as concerning the present. The sight and hearing of Paul had been directed to the most magnificent objects : The touch [for the thorn was in the flesK\ had been most severely tormented.
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