Handelingen 23:11

11 En den volgenden nacht stond de Heere bij hem, en zeide: Heb goeden moed, Paulus, want gelijk gij te Jeruzalem van Mij betuigd hebt alzo moet gij ook te Rome getuigen.

Handelingen 23:11 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 23:11

And the night following
The day in which Paul was brought before the sanhedrim, and pleaded his own cause before them, and had thrown them into confusion and division:

the Lord stood by him;
the Lord Jesus Christ appeared in a vision to him, and stood very near him, by the side of him, by the bed or couch on which he might lie: and said,

be of good cheer, Paul;
though he was now a prisoner in the castle; and though the high priest, and the Sadducees especially, were enraged against him; and though a plot was about to be formed to take away his life; for this exhortation seems to be designed to prepare him for further trials, and to prevent discouragement under them; which shows the great care of Christ over him, his concern for him, and love to him: the word Paul is not in the Alexandrian copy, nor in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions; but the calling him by name seems to express not only singular knowledge of him, but greater familiarity and affection; it is in the Arabic version, and in other Greek copies:

for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem;
not only in the Christian church, and before the Apostle James, and the elders, but in the Jewish sanhedrim, and before the high priest, Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, where and before whom, though not particularly recorded, he bore a testimony for Jesus, that he was the true Messiah; and that though he died, he was risen from the dead, and was at the right hand of God, and was the only Saviour of men:

so must thou bear witness also at Rome;
as he had bore a public and faithful witness to the person, office, and grace of Christ at Jerusalem, the metropolis of Judea; so it was necessary, by the decree of God, and for the glory of Christ, that he should bear a like testimony at Rome, the chief city in the whole world; hereby signifying, that he should not die at Jerusalem, and giving him a hint that he should appeal to Caesar, which he afterwards did.

Handelingen 23:11 In-Context

9 En er geschiedde een groot geroep; en de Schriftgeleerden van de zijde der Farizeen stonden op, en streden, zeggende: Wij vinden geen kwaad in dezen mens; en indien een geest tot hem gesproken heeft, of een engel, laat ons tegen God niet strijden.

10 En als er grote tweedracht ontstaan was, de overste, vrezende, dat Paulus van hen verscheurd mocht worden, gebood, dat het krijgsvolk zou afkomen, en hem uit het midden van hen wegrukken, en in de legerplaats brengen.

11 En den volgenden nacht stond de Heere bij hem, en zeide: Heb goeden moed, Paulus, want gelijk gij te Jeruzalem van Mij betuigd hebt alzo moet gij ook te Rome getuigen.

12 En als het dag geworden was, maakten sommigen van de Joden een samenrotting, en vervloekten zichzelven, zeggende, dat zij noch eten noch drinken zouden, totdat zij Paulus zouden gedood hebben.

13 En zij waren meer dan veertig, die dezen eed te zamen gedaan hadden;