THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES - Chapter 23 - Verse 3

Verse 3. God shall smite thee. God shall punish thee. God is just; and he will not suffer such a manifest violation of all the laws of a fair trial to pass unavenged. This was a remarkably bold and fearless declaration. Paul was surrounded by enemies. They were seeking his life; and he must have known that such declarations would have only excited their wrath, and made them more thirsty for his blood. That he could thus address the president of the council was not only strongly characteristic of the man, but was also a strong proof that he was conscious of innocence, and that justice was on his side. This expression of Paul, "God shall smite thee," is not to be regarded in the light of an imprecation, or as an expression of angry feeling, but of a prediction, or of a strong conviction on the mind of Paul, that a man so hypocritical and unjust as Ananias was, could not escape the vengeance of God. Ananias was slain, with Hezekiah his brother, during the agitation that occurred in Jerusalem, when the robbers, or Sicarii, under their leader Manahem, had taken possession of the city. He attempted to conceal himself in an aqueduct, but was drawn forth and killed. See Josephus, Jewish Wars, b. ii. chap. xvii. 8. Thus Paul's prediction was fulfilled.

Thou whited wall. This is evidently a proverbial expression, meaning thou hypocrite. His hypocrisy consisted in his pretending to sit there to do justice; and yet, in commanding the accused to be smitten in direct violation of the law, he thus showed that his character was not what, by his sitting there, he professed it to be, but that of one determined to carry the purposes of his party, and of his own feelings. Our Saviour used a similar expression, to describe the hypocritical character of the Pharisees, Mt 23:27, when he compares them to whited sepulchres. A whited wall is a wall or enclosure that is covered with lime or gypsum, and that thus appears to be different from what it is, and thus aptly describes the hypocrite. Seneca (de Providentia, chap. 6) uses a similar figure to describe hypocrites: "They are sordid, base, and like their walls adorned only externally." See also Seneca, Epis. 115.

For sittest thou, etc. The law required that justice should be done; and in order to that, it gave every man an opportunity of defending himself. See Barnes "Joh 7:51"; See Barnes "Pr 18:13"; See Barnes "Le 19:15, See Barnes "Ex 23:1, See Barnes "De 19:15, See Barnes "De 19:18".

To judge me after the law. As a judge, to hear and decide the case according to the rules of the law of Moses.

Contrary to the law. In violation of the law of Moses, Le 19:35, "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment."

{*} "shall smite" "will" {b} "contrary" Le 19:35; De 25:1,2; Joh 7:51