Acts 26:10

I both shut up many (pollou te katekleisa). Effective aorist active of katakleiw, old word to shut down like a trap door, in N.T. only here and Luke 3:20 . Double use of te (both--and). Having received authority from the chief priests (thn para twn arcierewn exousian labwn). "The authority," he says. Paul was the official persecutor of the saints under the direction of the Sanhedrin. He mentions "chief priests" (Sadducees), though a Pharisee himself. Both parties were co-operating against the saints. And when they were put to death (anairoumenwn te autwn). Genitive absolute with present passive participle of anairew. I gave my vote against them (kathnegka pshpon). "I cast down my pebble" (a black one). The ancient Greeks used white pebbles for acquittal ( Revelation 2:17 ), black ones for condemnation as here (the only two uses of the word in the N.T.). Paul's phrase (not found elsewhere) is more vivid than the usual katapshpizw for voting. They literally cast the pebbles into the urn. Cf. sumpshpizw in Acts 19:19 , sugkatapsepizo in Acts 1:26 . If Paul's language is taken literally here, he was a member of the Sanhedrin and so married when he led the persecution. That is quite possible, though he was not married when he wrote 1 Corinthians 7:7 , but a widower. It is possible to take the language figuratively for approval, but not so natural.