Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
And he made of one (epoihsen te ec enov). The word aimatov (blood) is absent from Aleph A B and is a later explanatory addition. What Paul affirms is the unity of the human race with a common origin and with God as the Creator. This view runs counter to Greek exclusiveness which treated other races as barbarians and to Jewish pride which treated other nations as heathen or pagan (the Jews were laov, the Gentiles eqnh). The cosmopolitanism of Paul here rises above Jew and Greek and claims the one God as the Creator of the one race of men. The Athenians themselves claimed to be antoxqonouv (indigenous) and a special creation. Zeno and Seneca did teach a kind of cosmopolitanism (really pantheism) far different from the personal God of Paul. It was Rome, not Greece, that carried out the moral ideas of Zeno. Man is part of the universe (verse Acts 17:24) and God created (epoihsen) man as he created (poihsav) the all.
For to dwell (katoikein). Infinitive (present active) of purpose, so as to dwell.
Having determined (orisav). First aorist active participle of orizw, old verb to make a horizon as already in 19:42 which see. Paul here touches God's Providence. God has revealed himself in history as in creation. His hand appears in the history of all men as well as in that of the Chosen People of Israel.
Appointed seasons (prostetagmenouv kairouv). Not the weather as in Acts 14:17, but "the times of the Gentiles" (kairoi eqnwn) of which Jesus spoke (Luke 21:24). The perfect passive participle of prostassw, old verb to enjoin, emphasizes God's control of human history without any denial of human free agency as was involved in the Stoic Fate (eirmarmenh).
Bounds (oroqesiav). Limits? Same idea in Job 12:23. Nations rise and fall, but it is not blind chance or hard fate. Thus there is an interplay between God's will and man's activities, difficult as it is for us to see with our shortened vision.
Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Acts 17:26:
Acts 1:7
Acts 14:15
Hebrews 4:7
DISCLAIMER: Church of the Great God (CGG) provides these resources to aid the individual in studying the Bible. However, it is up to the individual to "prove all things, and hold fast to that which is good" (I Thessalonians 5:21). The content of these resources does not necessarily reflect the views of CGG. They are provided for information purposes only.
