Acts 24:5 - Exposition

Insurrection for sedition, A.V. and T.R. We have found ( εὑρόντες ) . The construction of the sentence is an anacoluthon. The participle is not followed, as it should be, by a finite verb, ἐκρατήσαμεν (in Acts 24:6 ), but the construction is changed by the influence of the interposed sentence, "who moreover assayed to profane the temple," and so, instead of ἐκρατήσαμεν αὐτόν , we have ὅν καὶ ἐκρατήσαμεν . A pestilent fellow ( λοιμόν ); literally, a pestilence ; as we say, "a pest," "a plague," or "a nuisance," like the Latin pestis. It only occurs here in the New Testament, but is of frequent use in the LXX ., as e.g. 1 Samuel 2:12 , 1 Samuel 10:27 , and 1 Samuel 25:25 , υἱοὶ λοιμοὶ , "sons of Belial;" 1 Macc. 10:61; 15:3 ἄνδρες λοιμοί : and 15:21, simply λοιμοὶ (rendered "pestilent fellows" in the A.V.), and elsewhere as the rendering of other Hebrew words. It is occasionally used also in this sense by classical writers. A mover of insurrections ( στάσεις , R.T.). This was the charge most likely to weigh with a Roman procurator in the then disturbed and turbulent state of the Jewish mind (camp. Luke 23:2 ; John 19:12 ). Felix himself had had large experience of Jewish insurrections. The Jewish riots at Philippi ( Acts 16:20 ), at Thessalonica ( Acts 17:6 ), at Corinth ( Acts 18:12 ), at Ephesus ( Acts 19:29 ), and at Jerusalem ( Acts 21:30 ), would give color to the accusation. The world ( ἥ οἰκουμένη ). The Roman, or civilized, world ( Luke 2:1 ; Luke 4:5 , etc.). Ringleader ; πρωτοστάτης , only here in the New Testament, but used by the LXX . in Job 15:24 , and not uncommon in classical Greek, as a military term, equivalent to the first, i.e. the right-hand man in the line. Also, in the plural, the soldiers in the front rank. The sect of the Nazarenes . As our Lord was contemptuously called "The Nazarene "( Matthew 26:71 ), so the Jews designated his disciples" Nazarenes." They would not admit that they were Christians, i.e. disciples of the Messiah.