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.