Paul Goes Before The Sanhedrin; Acts 22:30 – 23:11 Part 2

Church History: Date: A.D.57 – 59

Ananias, the high priest, commanded those that stood by, the officials that attended the court, to smite him on the mouth, to give him a dash on the teeth, either with a hand or with a rod. Our Lord Jesus was also despitefully used in this court, by one of the servants (John 18:22), as was foretold, (Micah 5:1), They shall smite the Judge of Israel upon the cheek. But here was an order of court to do it, and, it is likely, it was done. The high priest was highly offended at Paul; some think, because he looked so boldly and earnestly at the council, as if he would face them down; others because he did not address himself particularly to him as president, with some title of honor and respect, but spoke freely and familiarly to them all, as men and brethren. His declaration of his integrity was provocation enough to one who was resolved to run him down and make him odious. When he could charge him with no crime, he thought it was crime enough that he asserted his own innocence. In his rage he ordered him to be smitten, so to disgrace him, and to be smitten on the mouth, as having offended with his lips, and in token of his attempt to silence him.

Paul read him his just doom: "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!" Grotius thinks this was fulfilled soon after, in his removal from the office of the high priest, either by death or deprivation, for he finds another in that office a little while after this; probably he was smitten by some sudden stroke of divine vengeance.

Those that stood by said, How dare you insult God's high priest? It is a probable conjecture that those who blamed Paul for what he said were believing Jews, who were zealous for the law, and consequently for the honor of the high priest, and therefore were offended that Paul should reflect upon him, and checked him for it. What a hard game Paul had to play, when his enemies were abusive to him, and his friends were so far from standing by him, and appearing for him, that they were ready to find fault with his management. How apt even the disciples of Christ themselves are to overvalue outward pomp and power. As because the temple had been God's temple, and a magnificent structure, there were those who followed Christ that could not bear to have anything said that threatened the destruction of it; so because the high priest had been God's high priest, and was a man that made a figure, though he was a deep-rooted enemy to Christianity, yet they were disgusted at Paul for giving him his due.