504
ἐξουσίαν λαβών.
ἀναιρουμένων τε αὐτῶν κατήνεγκα ψῆφον.
Il.
4 A tA A 4 ~ > , > καὶ κατὰ πάσας τὰς συναγωγὰς πολλάκις τιμωρῶν αὐτούς, ἠνάγκαζον βλασφημεῖν: περισσῶς τε ἐμμαινόμενος αὐτοῖς, ἐδίωκον ἕως καὶ
εἲς τὰς ἔξω πόλεις.
12. ἐν og! καὶ πορευόµενος εἰς τὴν Δαμασκὸν
pet ἐξουσίας καὶ ἐπιτροπῆς τῆς παρὰ τῶν ἀρχιερέων, 13. ἡμέρας µέσης κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν εἶδον, βασιλεῦ, οὐρανόθεν ὑπὲρ τὴν λαμπρότητα
και om. SABCEI, 13, 40, 61, so Tisch. and other authorities in νετ. 7.
For
Τ.Ε. read της των αρχ. Ν Β, Tisch., Weiss, Wendt, R.V., Blass; της mapa om.
ΑΕΙ 4ο, 68, Lach.
assembly of aristocrats, composed too of men of mature years and marked in- fluence, and the question may be asked how Saul of Tarsus, who may not even have had a stated residence in the Holy City, could have found a place in the ranks of an assembly numbering the members of the high priestly families and the principal men of ]μάαα: see Expositor, June, 1897, and also for the bearing of the statement on the question of Paul’s marriage, with Hackett’s note, in loco. For the voting in the Sanhedrim see Schiirer, div. ii., vol. i., p. 194. Ε.Τ. Rendall, p. 336, meets the difficulty above by referring the expression under discus- sion to a kind of popular vote confirming the sentence of the court against Stephen, for which he finds support in the language of the law and in the narrative of the proto-martyr’s condemnation.
Ver. 11. τιμωρῶν (cf. xxii. 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 $ewish Nation, p. 374, ϱ]. Matt. x. 17, xxiii. 34.--ἠνάγκαζον: “I strove to make them blaspheme,”’ R.V., all other E.V. render ‘‘ I compelled them to blaspheme,’”’ but the imperfect leaves it quite doubtful as to whether the per- secutor succeeded in his attempts or not. The imperfect may thus be regarded as conative, Burton, p. 12, cf. Luke i. 59, Matt. iii. 14. Blass points out that it may have the force of repeated action (cf. ἐδίωκον), 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 re- gards 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 wor- ship the emperor, and to blaspheme Christ, ‘‘ quorum nihil cogi posse dicuntur
qui sunt revera Christiani,’’ cf. Poly- carp, Martyr., ix., 2, 3.--βλασφημεῖν, i.c., Jesus, ‘‘ maledicere Christo,” Pliny, z. s., James ii. 7; cf. 1 Tim. i. 13 with this passage, and Paul’s later reflections on his conduct.—€ws καὶ els τὰς ἔξω π.: ‘‘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.—éSiwxov: ‘I set about persecuting them’’. The imperfect ἐδίωκ. may however denote repeated action, and may indicate that Saul had already visited other foreign cities. Weiss regards the te as connecting the two imperfects de conatu together—the latter imperfect being regarded as a continua- tion of the former, in case the victims sought to save themselves by flight. —éppaty.: only in Josephus once, Ant., xvil., 6, 5, but ἐμμανής in Wisd. xiv. 23, and in classical Greek, so also ἐκμαίνεσ- θαι.
Ver. 12. ἐν ols, {.6., as I was thus engaged, inter que, ‘‘on which errand,” R.V. margin, see xxiv. 18.--ἐπιτροπῆς, 2 Macc. xiii. 14, Polyb., iii., 15, 7, ‘‘com- mission,’ A. and R.V. ‘Paulus erat commissarius,’’ Bengel, the two nouns show the fulness of the authority com- mitted to Paul.
Ver. 13. ἡμέρας µέσης: temporal genitive, Blass, Gram.., p. 107 (in classical Greek fp. μεσοῦσα). The expression is perhaps stronger than in xxii. 6, in the bright full light of day.—xata τὴν ὁδὸν : ‘“‘on the way,” and so foreboding nothing (Weiss).—Baordev: “advertitur rex ad miraculum rei,’’ Blass, cf. ver. 7, so Weiss.—tmép τὴν λαμπ.: here only expressly, but implied in ix. 3, xxii. 6, indicating the supernatural nature of the light; noun only here in Ν.Τ., cf. Dan. xii. 4.--περιλάμψαν: only in Luke, cf. Luke ii. 9, where the word is also used for a light from heaven; nowhere else in N.T., but the verb is found in Plutarch,