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Acts 17:7
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Assault on Jason’s House

5 But the Jews1 who were not persuaded, becoming aenvious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of bJason, and sought to bring them out to the people.  
6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, a“These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.  
7 Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, asaying there is another king—Jesus.”  
8 And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.
9 So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Ministering at Berea

10 Then athe brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.  
11 These were more1 fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and asearched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.  
12 Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.
Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
<< Acts 17:6   Acts 17:8 >>


Acts 17:7

Whom Jason hath received (ouv upodedektai Iaswn). Present perfect middle indicative of upodexomai, to entertain, old verb, but in N.T. only in Luke 10:38; Luke 19:6; Acts 17:7; James 2:25. This is Jason's crime and he is the prisoner before the politarchs.

These all (outoi pantev). Jason, the "brethren" of verse Acts 17:6, Paul and Silas, and all Christians everywhere.

Contrary (apenanti). Late compound preposition (apo, en, anti) found in Polybius, LXX, here only in the N.T.

The decrees of Caesar (twn dogmatwn Kaisarov). This was a charge of treason and was a sure way to get a conviction. Probably the Julian Leges Majestatis are in mind rather than the definite decree of Claudius about the Jews (Acts 18:2).

Saying that there is another king, one Jesus (Basilea eteron legontev einai Ihsoun). Note the very order of the words in the Greek indirect discourse with the accusative and infinitive after legontev. Basilea eteron comes first, a different king, another emperor than Caesar. This was the very charge that the smart student of the Pharisees and Herodians had tried to catch Jesus on (Mark 12:14). The Sanhedrin made it anyhow against Jesus to Pilate (Luke 23:2) and Pilate had to notice it. "Although the emperors never ventured to assume the title rex at Rome, in the Eastern provinces they were regularly termed basileus" (Page). The Jews here, as before Pilate (John 19:15), renounce their dearest hope of a Messianic king. It is plain that Paul had preached about Jesus as the Messiah, King of the Kingdom of God over against the Roman Empire, a spiritual kingdom, to be sure, but the Jews here turn his language to his hurt as they did with Jesus. As a matter of fact Paul's preaching about the kingdom and the second coming of Christ was gravely misunderstood by the Christians at Thessalonica after his departure (1Th. 4:13-5:4; 2Th. 2). The Jews were quick to seize upon his language about Jesus Christ to his own injury. Clearly here in Thessalonica Paul had faced the power of the Roman Empire in a new way and pictured over against it the grandeur of the reign of Christ.




Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Acts 17:7:

Luke 10:38
Acts 16:4
Acts 17:7
Romans 16:21
2 Thessalonians 1:8
2 Thessalonians 2:5

 

<< Acts 17:6   Acts 17:8 >>

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