SEV Biblia, Chapter 24:1
¶ Y cinco días despus descendi el príncipe de los sacerdotes, Ananías, con algunos de los ancianos, y un cierto Trtulo, orador; y comparecieron delante del gobernador contra Pablo.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Acts 24:1
Verse 1. After five days] These days are to be reckoned from the time in which Paul was apprehended at Jerusalem, and twelve days after he had arrived in that city; see ver. 11. Calmet reckons the days thus:-St. Luke says that Paul was apprehended at Jerusalem when the seven days of his vow were nearly ended, chap. xxi. 27; that is, at the end of the fifth day after his arrival. The next day, which was the sixth, he was presented before the Sanhedrin. The night following, he was taken to Antipatris. The next day, the seventh, he arrived at Caesarea. Five days afterwards, that is, the twelfth day after his arrival at Jerusalem, the high priest and the elders, with Tertullus, came down to accuse him before Felix.-But see the note on chap. xxiii. 32. A certain orator named Tertullus] This was probably a Roman proselyte to Judaism; yet he speaks every where as a Jew. Roman orators, advocates; &c., were found in different provinces of the Roman empire; and they, in general, spoke both the Greek and Latin languages; and, being well acquainted with the Roman laws and customs, were no doubt very useful. Luitprandus supposed that this Tertullus was the same with him who was colleague with Pliny the younger, in the consulate, in the year of Rome, 852; who is mentioned by Pliny, Epist. v. 15. Of this there is no satisfactory proof.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders , etc.] From Jerusalem to Caesarea: these five days are to be reckoned not from the seizing of Paul in the temple, but from his coming to Caesarea; the Alexandrian copy reads, after some days, leaving it undetermined how many: the high priest, with the elders, the members of the sanhedrim, with some of them, as the same copy and the Vulgate Latin version read, came down hither; not merely as accusers, by the order of the chief captain, but willingly, and of their own accord, to vindicate themselves and their people, lest they should fall under the displeasure of the Roman governor, for encouraging tumults and riots: the high priest must be conscious to himself that he had acted in an illegal manner, in ordering Paul to be smitten on the mouth, in the midst of the council, in the presence of the chief captain; and if it had not been for the soldiers, Paul had been pulled to pieces in the council: and the elders knew what a hand they had in the conspiracy against his life; and they were sensible that this plot was discovered, and Paul was secretly conveyed away; and what the captain had wrote to the governor, they could not tell, and therefore made the more haste down to him, to set themselves right, and get Paul condemned: and with a certain orator named Tertullus : this man, by his name, seems to have been a Roman; and because he might know the Roman, or the Greek language, or both, which the Jews did not so well understand, and was very well acquainted with all the forms in the Roman courts of judicature, as well as was an eloquent orator; therefore they pitched upon him, and took him down with them to open and plead their cause. The name Tertullus is a diminutive from Tertius, as Marullus from Marius, Lucullus from Lucius, and Catullus from Catius. The father of the wife of Titus, before he was emperor, was of this name f1186 ; and some say her name was Tertulla; and the grandmother of Vespasian, by his fathers side, was of this name, under whom he was brought up f1187 . This mans title, in the Greek text, is rhtwr , Rhetor, a rhetorician; but though with the Latins an orator and a rhetorician are distinguished, an orator being one that pleads causes in courts, and a rhetorician a professor of rhetoric; yet, with the Greeks, the Rhetor is an orator; so Demosthenes was called; and so Cicero calls himself f1188 . Who informed the governor against Paul ; brought in a bill of information against him, setting forth his crimes, and declaring themselves his accusers; they appeared in open court against him, and accused him; for this is not to be restrained to Tertullus, but is said of the high priest, and elders with him; for, the word is in the plural number, though the Syriac version reads in the singular, and seems to refer it to the high priest.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-9 - See here the unhappiness of great men, and a great unhappiness it is to have their services praised beyond measure, and never to be faithfully told of their faults; hereby they are hardened an encouraged in evil, like Felix. God's prophets were charged with being troublers of the land, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that he perverted the nation; the very same charges were brought against Paul. The selfis and evil passions of men urge them forward, and the graces and power of speech, too often have been used to mislead and prejudice men agains the truth. How different will the characters of Paul and Felix appea at the day of judgement, from what they are represented in the speec of Tertullus! Let not Christians value the applause, or be troubled a the revilings of ungodly men, who represent the vilest of the huma race almost as gods, and the excellent of the earth as pestilences an movers of sedition.
Greek Textus Receptus
μετα 3326 PREP δε 1161 CONJ πεντε 4002 A-NUI ημερας 2250 N-APF κατεβη 2597 5627 V-2AAI-3S ο 3588 T-NSM αρχιερευς 749 N-NSM ανανιας 367 N-NSM μετα 3326 PREP των 3588 T-GPM πρεσβυτερων 4245 A-GPM και 2532 CONJ ρητορος 4489 N-GSM τερτυλλου 5061 N-GSM τινος 5100 X-GSM οιτινες 3748 R-NPM ενεφανισαν 1718 5656 V-AAI-3P τω 3588 T-DSM ηγεμονι 2232 N-DSM κατα 2596 PREP του 3588 T-GSM παυλου 3972 N-GSM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
1. An orator (rhtorov). An advocate. The Jews, being little acquainted with Roman forms and laws, had to employ Roman advocates.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
24:1 {And with an Orator, one Tertullus} (kai rhetoros tertullou tinos). A deputation of elders along with the high priest Ananias, not the whole Sanhedrin, but no hint of the forty conspirators or of the Asian Jews. The Sanhedrin had become divided so that now it is probably Ananias (mortally offended) and the Sadducees who take the lead in the prosecution of Paul. It is not clear whether after five days is from Paul's departure from Jerusalem or his arrival in Caesarea. If he spent nine days in Jerusalem, qen the five days would be counted from qen (verse #11). The employment of a Roman lawyer (Latin _orator_) was necessary since the Jews were not familiar with Roman legal procedure and it was the custom in the provinces (Cicero _pro Cael_. 30). The speech was probably in Latin which Paul may have understood also. rhetwr is a common old Greek word meaning a forensic orator or advocate but here only in the N.T. The Latin _rhetor_ was a teacher of rhetoric, a very different thing. Tertullus is a diminutive of Tertius (#Ro 16:22). {Informed} (enefanisan). Same verb as in #23:15,22, somewhat like our modern "indictment," certainly accusations "against Paul" (kata tou paulou). They were down on Paul and the hired barrister was prosecuting attorney. For the legal form see _Oxyrhynchus Papyri_, Vol. II., p. 162, line 19.
