Men, brethren, and fathers
A common form of address used by the Jews; see ( Acts 7:2 ) but that the
apostle should introduce his speech to these people in this
manner, after they had treated him so inhumanly, as to drag him
out of the temple, and beat him so unmercifully, is remarkable,
and worthy of observation, when they scarcely deserved the name
of "men"; and yet he not only gives them this, but calls them
"brethren", they being his countrymen and kinsmen according to
the flesh; and fathers, there being some among them, who might be
men in years, and even members of the sanhedrim, and elders of
the people, that were now got among the crowd: this shows how
ready the apostle was to put up with affronts, and to forgive
injuries done him:
hear ye my defence, which I make now unto you;
in opposition to the charges brought against him, of speaking ill
of the people of the Jews, the law of Moses, and of the temple,
and in order to clear himself of these imputations, and vindicate
his character and conduct.
