RSV ~ Acts 26 Notes
Acts 26:2-23 | ISB Notes
Paulās final defense speech in Acts, delivered before Jewish (Agrippa II) and Roman (Festus) authorities. Paul insists the Jews have wrongly accused him of abandoning the ancestral faith of Israel. Not only is he trained as a Pharisee (26:5), but the doctrine of the resurrection he now preaches is both a classic tenet of Pharisaic theology (23:8) and a central hope of the Hebrew Scriptures (26:22-23).
Acts 26:3 | ISB Notes
familiar with all customs: Agrippa II was well acquainted with Judaism, being authorized by the Romans to have charge over the Temple treasury and to appoint its high priests.
Acts 26:5 | ISB Notes
a Pharisee: Paul spent his formative years mastering the strictest traditions of Judaism under the tutelage of one of its most celebrated rabbis (22:3; Gal 1:14).
Acts 26:7 | ISB Notes
our twelve tribes: The tribal family of Israel living in Palestine and abroad yearned for the resurrection of the dead and the restoration of their nation.
ā¢ Hopes of bodily resurrection and national restoration are blended together in texts such as Ezek 37:1-14 and Hos 6:1-2, where the redemption of all Israel from sin (exile) to covenant sonship (return) is described as the resurrection of a body from death to new life. Paul deals at length with the tribal restoration of Israel in Rom 9-11.
worship night and day: Luke has already hinted at this in Lk 2:36-37, where Anna, of the tribal lineage of Asher, prays night and day in the Temple for the redemption of her people.
Acts 26:10 | ISB Notes
prison ā¦ death: For Paulās relentless attacks on the early Christians, see word study: Laid Waste at 8:3.
Acts 26:12-18 | ISB Notes
The second retelling of Paulās conversion since its occurrence (9:1-19; 22:6-16).
Acts 26:14 | ISB Notes
kick against the goads: A Greek proverb about useless and harmful resistance.
The idea was well understood among farmers: yoked oxen that kick against the plowman only injure themselves on the sharpened spikes that follow behind them. Jesus was telling Paul that his resistance to the gospel was futile to the point of being personally harmful.
Acts 26:17 | ISB Notes
the people: The sons of Israel (9:15).
Acts 26:21 | ISB Notes
For this reason: More than anything else, it was Paulās ministry to the Gentiles that infuriated his Jewish opponents (22:21-22).
Acts 26:23 | ISB Notes
the first to rise: Israelās hope in the resurrection (24:15) has become history in the personal experience of the Messiah (25:19), who is the first of an entire company of saints to be raised again in glory (1 Cor 15:20-23).
he would proclaim light: A probable allusion to Is 49:6, excerpted earlier by Paul in 13:47.
ā¢ Isaiah hears Yahweh sending out his messianic Servant, first to restore the scattered tribes of Israel and then to shine his light on the nations. The sequence of the prophecy explains why the apostles, who share in this mission of the Messiah (1:8; 9:15), carried the gospel to Israel before systematically evangelizing the Gentiles (3:26; 13:46; 26:20). See note on Acts 13:5.
Acts 26:26 | ISB Notes
not done in a corner: The founding events of Christianity were public events of recent history. The well-attested facts of Holy Week and the open proclamation of the gospel make it anything but a secretive movement.
Acts 26:28 | ISB Notes
make me a Christian!: When Paulās preaching turned personal, Agrippa followed the path of political expedience. He did not want to alienate himself from the Jews who hated Paul (26:2) or from the Roman procurator who thought him mad (26:24). So instead of admitting the cogency of Paulās argument, he fell back on the excuse that the exposition was too short to expect of him an authentic conversion.