And they said unto him
That is, the chief men of the Jews at Rome, whom Paul had called
together, replied; either in a lying and dissembling way, or as
expressing matter of fact; which last may be allowed:
we neither received letters out of Judea concerning
thee:
which was very much, that the high priest and sanhedrim had not
wrote to the principal men of their religion at Rome; giving an
account of the apostle, and his case unto them, in order to
prejudice them against him, and to furnish them with charges and
accusations; which if they could not prevail by them, so as to
get him condemned by the emperor, yet might be a means of
preventing any of their nation giving heed unto him, and
embracing his sentiments and notions concerning Jesus of
Nazareth:
neither any of the brethren that came [from]
Jerusalem;
or any part of Judea, to Rome; meaning not the Christian Jews,
for these they would not call brethren; but those who were of the
same religion as well as nation, whom it was usual with the Jews
to call brethren:
shewed or spake any harm of thee;
so that it looks as if they did make mention of him, but did not
charge him with anything that was wicked and criminal: this they
said, to show that they were not prejudiced against him by any
person or means; and which carried in it a very considerable
testimony of the apostle's innocence.
