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King James Bible - Acts 21:38

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SEV Biblia, Chapter 21:38

¿No eres t� aquel egipcio que levantaste una sedici�n antes de estos días, y sacaste al desierto cuatro mil hombres salteadores?

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Clarke's Bible Commentary - Acts 21:38

Verse 38. Art not thou that Egyptian, &c.] The history to which Claudius Lysias refers is taken from Josephus, Ant. lib. xx. cap. 7, sec. 6, and War, lib. ii. cap. 13, sec. 5, and is in substance as follows: An Egyptian, whose name is not known, pretended to be a prophet, and told his followers that the walls of Jerusalem would fall down before them, if they would assist him in making an attack on the city. He had address enough to raise a rabble of 30,000 men, and with these advanced as far as the Mount of Olives; but Felix, the Roman governor, came suddenly upon him, with a large body of Roman troops, both infantry and cavalry: the mob was speedily dispersed, four hundred killed, two hundred taken prisoners, and the Egyptian himself, with some of his most faithful friends, escaped; of whom no account was ever afterwards heard. As Lysias found such an outcry made against Paul, he supposed that he must be some egregious malefactor, and probably that Egyptian who had escaped, as related above. Learned men agree that St. Luke refers to the same fact of which Josephus speaks; but there is a considerable difference between the numbers in Josephus, and those in Luke: the former having 30,000, the latter only 4000. The small number of killed and prisoners, only 600 in all, according to Josephus, leads us to suspect that his number is greatly exaggerated; as 600 in killed and prisoners of a mob of 30,000, routed by regular infantry and cavalry, is no kind of proportion; but it is a sufficient proportion to a mob of 4000. Dean Aldridge has supposed that the number in Josephus was originally 4000, but that ancient copyists mistaking the Greek d delta, four, for l lambda, thirty, wrote 30,000, instead of 4000. See Havercamp's edition, vol. ii. p. 177. There is another way of reconciling the two historians, which is this: When this Egyptian impostor at first began to make great boasts and large promises, a multitude of people, to the amount at least of 30,000, weary of the Roman yoke, from which he promised them deliverance, readily arranged themselves under his banners. As he performed nothing that he promised, 26,000 of these had melted away before he reached Mount Olivet: this remnant the Romans attacked and dispersed. Josephus speaks of the number he had in the beginning; St. Luke, of those that he had when he arrived at Mount Olivet.

That were murderers?] sikariwn: Sicarii, assassins: they derived their name from sica, a sort of crooked knife, which they concealed under their garments, and privately stabbed the objects of their malice. Josephus.

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John Gill's Bible Commentary

Ver. 38. Art thou not that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar , etc.] Josephus speaks of one that came out of Egypt to Jerusalem, and gave out that he was a prophet, and deceived the people, whom he persuaded to follow him to the Mount of Olives, where they should see the walls of the city fall at his command, and so through the ruins of it they might enter into the city; but Felix the Roman governor fell upon them, killed four hundred, and took two hundred prisoners, and the Egyptian fled: the account which he elsewhere gives of him, and Eusebius from him, is this; a certain Egyptian false prophet did much more mischief to the Jews; for he being a magician, and having got himself to be believed as a prophet, came into the country (of Judea), and gathered together about thirty thousand persons, whom he had deceived: these he brought out of the wilderness to the Mount of Olives, from thence designing to take Jerusalem by force, and seize the Roman garrison, and take the government of the people but Felix prevented his design, meeting him with the Roman soldiers, assisted by all the people; so that when they engaged, the Egyptian fled with a few, and most of those that were with him were destroyed or taken: now it was some little time before this, that this affair happened; and by these accounts of Josephus, though the Egyptian was discomfited, yet he was not taken; he had made his escape, so that he might be yet in being; and therefore the captain could not tell but Paul might be he, who had privately got into the city, and was upon some bad designs: and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers ? Josephus says, that he brought them out of the wilderness, or led them through it to the Mount of Olives, from thence to rush into Jerusalem, when the walls should fall down at his command; but he says, the number of men that he led out were about thirty thousand; it may be at first there were no more than four thousand, but afterwards were joined by others, and increased to thirty thousand; or among these thirty thousand, he had four thousand �murderers, or sicarii�: so called from the little swords which they carried under their clothes, and with them killed men in the daytime, in the middle of the city, especially at the feasts, when they mingled themselves with the people f1116 .

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Matthew Henry Commentary

Verses 27-40 - In the temple, where Paul should have been protected as in a place of safety, he was violently set upon. They falsely charged him with il doctrine and ill practice against the Mosaic ceremonies. It is no ne thing for those who mean honestly and act regularly, to have thing laid to their charge which they know not and never thought of. It is common for the wise and good to have that charged against them by malicious people, with which they thought to have obliged them. God often makes those a protection to his people, who have no affection to them, but only have compassion for sufferers, and regard to the publi peace. And here see what false, mistaken notions of good people an good ministers, many run away with. But God seasonably interposes for the safety of his servants, from wicked and unreasonable men; and give them opportunities to speak for themselves, to plead for the Redeemer and to spread abroad his glorious gospel __________________________________________________________________

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Greek Textus Receptus

ουκ 3756 PRT-N αρα 687 PRT-I συ 4771 P-2NS ει 1488 5748 V-PXI-2S ο 3588 T-NSM αιγυπτιος 124 A-NSM ο 3588 T-NSM προ 4253 PREP τουτων 5130 D-GPF των 3588 T-GPF ημερων 2250 N-GPF αναστατωσας 387 5660 V-AAP-NSM και 2532 CONJ εξαγαγων 1806 5631 V-2AAP-NSM εις 1519 PREP την 3588 T-ASF ερημον 2048 A-ASF τους 3588 T-APM τετρακισχιλιους 5070 A-APM ανδρας 435 N-APM των 3588 T-GPM σικαριων 4607 N-GPM

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Vincent's NT Word Studies

38. Art thou not (ouk ara su ei). Indicating the officer's surprised recognition of his own mistake. "Thou art not, then, as I supposed." Rev. properly adds then (ara).

The Egyptian. A false prophet, who, in the reign of Nero, when Felix was governor of Judaea, collected a multitude of thirty thousand, whom he led from the wilderness to the Mount of Olives, saying that the walls of Jerusalem would fall down at his command and give them free entrance to the city. Felix with an army dispersed the multitude, and the Egyptian himself escaped. There is a discrepancy in the number of followers as stated by Josephus (30,000) and as stated by the commandant here (4,000). It is quite possible, however, that Josephus alludes to the whole rabble, while Lysias is referring only to the armed followers.

Madest an uproar. Better, as Rev., stirred up to sedition. The rendering of the A.V. is too vague. The verb means to unsettle or upset, and the true idea is given in the A.V. of Acts xvii. 6, have turned the world upside down. Compare Gal. v. 12, and kindred words in Mark xv. 7; Luke xxiii. 19. That were murderers (twn sikariwn). The A.V. is too general, and overlooks the force of the article, which shows that the word refers to a class. Rev., rightly, the assassins. The word, which occurs only here, and notably on the lips of a Roman officer, is one of those Latin words which "followed the Roman domination even into those Eastern provinces of the empire which, unlike those of the West, had refused to be Latinized, but still retained their own language" (Trench, "Synonyms "). The Sicarii were so called from the weapon which they used - the sica, or short, curved dagger. Josephus says: "There sprang up in Jerusalem another description of robbers called Sikars, who, under the broad light of day, and in the very heart of the city, assassinated men; chiefly at the festivals, however, when, mixing among the crowd, with daggers concealed under their cloaks, they stabbed those with whom they were at variance. When they fell, the murderers joined in the general expressions of indignation, and by this plausible proceeding remained undetected" ("Jewish War," c. 13). The general New Testament term for murderer is foneuv (see Matt. xxii. 7; Acts iii. 14; xxviii. 4, etc.).