And when they agreed not among themselves
One part believing what was said, and the other disbelieving; and such a division is the usual effect of the Gospel ministry; see ( Luke 12:51 Luke 12:52 ) . Or this may be understood of the unbelieving party, who though they agreed in the main that Jesus was not the Messiah, yet might have different sentiments of the apostle; of the manner of his reasoning, and the nature of his proofs and arguments; and of some things which he delivered, which some might assent to, and others deny; as the Pharisees and Sadducees in the sanhedrim at Jerusalem disagreed about the doctrine of the resurrection: and the rather this may be thought to be the sense, because they not only departed, when very likely those that believed might stay longer, but because at their departure the apostle says something very cutting and stinging, and which he would not say in common of them all, of the believers; and besides, they are afterwards said to reason among themselves, ( Acts 28:29 ) .
They departed;
from the apostle's lodging to their own houses, or to some other place, where they could call over, and debate among themselves, the things they had heard:
after that Paul had spoken one word;
a very remarkable one, and full to the purpose, and which he gave them just at parting with them:
well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers;
the passage referred to is in ( Isaiah 6:9 Isaiah 6:10 ) , which the prophet Isaiah delivered under the influence and by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, being moved by him, as all the holy men of God were; and which was very appropriate, not only to the Jewish fathers in the times of Isaiah, but to their posterity in succeeding ages, in the times of Christ and his apostles; see ( Matthew 13:10-14 ) ( John 12:37-46 ) ; and were exceeding applicable to the present unbelieving Jews, who had been disputing with the apostle, and were now departing from him, in unbelief: and from hence it appears, that since it was the Holy Ghost that spake by Isaiah the prophet, and he that spoke to him and by him, was the Adon, Jehovah, and Lord of hosts, as is clear from ( Isaiah 6:1 Isaiah 6:5 Isaiah 6:8 Isaiah 6:9 ) ; it follows, that the Holy Ghost is a divine person, truly God, and equal with the Father and the Son.