Acts 23:7

23:7-10 Paul’s statement (23:6) divided the council, with the Pharisees taking Paul’s side against the Sadducees. The resulting uproar was so great that the commander rescued Paul and took him back into the fortress of Antonia.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act 23:7. Τὸ πλῆθος, the multitude) of the assessors on the tribunal, who favoured each (either) of the two sects respectively.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 23:7 . στάσις : There is no difficulty in supposing that this dissension took place in the Assembly; it may have been no sudden result, because the Apostle had evidently said much more than is mentioned in the preceding verse (see above), and there is good evidence that one of the fundamental differences between the two sects was concerned with the question which St. Paul had raised, Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah , i., 315; Jos., Ant. , xviii., 1, 4; B.J. , ii., 8, 14. ἐοχίσθη τὸ πλ ., Æn. , ii., 39, and instances in Wetstein.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The concord of the wicked is weak although they conspire together to oppress the truth.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 7. And the multitude was divided] St. Paul, perceiving the assembly to consist of Sadducees and Pharisees, and finding he was not to expect any justice, thought it best thus to divide the council, by introducing a question on which the Pharisees and Sadducees were at issue. He did so; and the Pharisees immediately espoused his side of the question, because in opposition to the Sadducees, whom they abhorred, as irreligious men.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(7) There arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees.—As a strategic act St. Paul’s words had immediately the effect which he desired. They prevented the hasty unanimous vote which might otherwise have united the two parties, as they had been united in the case of Stephen, in the condemnation of the blasphemer. What follows shows that it was not without results as regards the higher aim.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. and the multitude [Rev. Ver. assembly] was divided] The verb in the original is that from which our English “schism” is derived, and this points to the character of the division. God made the division work for the safety of his servant, as He many times brings good out of evil.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when he had so said,.... He stopped and made a pause:

and there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; about the things which he had spoken of, particularly the resurrection of the dead; and this was what the apostle intended, so that his end was answered by the speech he made:

and the multitude was divided; that is, the members of the sanhedrim were divided, some being on one side of the question, and some on the other; for this multitude cannot design the multitude of the common people, who were not convened together on this occasion.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

7 And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided.

Ver. 7. A dissension betwixt the Pharisees] So among Papists, the priests disparage the Jesuits, the Jesuits the priests, the priests again the monks, the monks the friars, and the Jesuits all.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A dissension - A dispute, or difference.

And the multitude - The council. Compare Act 14:4. The Pharisees embraced, as he desired and expected, his side of the question, and became his advocates, in opposition to the Sadducees, who were arrayed against him.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

There arose a dissension. By the Greek, a division, or schism among them, occasioned by St. Paul’s declaring himself for the resurrection, which made the Pharisees favour him, and incensed the Sadducees. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Not only of the common people, or standers-by, but of the senators and judges; God by this means dividing and infatuating of them, that they could not bring about Paul’s intended destruction.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Divided—Paul aimed not merely to divide and conquer, but to gain a part of the audience.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Sadducees for the Sadducees, A.V.; assembly for multitude, A.V..

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, 1. How sad a state, and how bad a condition, was the Jewish church now in, when in the Sanhedrin, or great council, men had power and authority, who believed in no life but this; and what hypocrites were the Pharisees, who could thus incorporate and embody with damnable heretics, the Sadducees, and yet at the same time hated and persecuted the Christians. The Sadducees were so far from believing that there was any spirit, that they blasphemously maintained, that God himself was no spiritual, but only corporeal being. When men sin with obstinacy against supernatural light, God justly withdraws from them even natural light, and suffers them to fall from one degree of error to another.

Observe, 2. How partiality will change men’s judgments, according to the interest of a party or faction. The Pharisees were bitter enemies to the apostle; but, because he owned himself of their sect, they instantly took part with him, and cry, We find no fault with him. The feuds about religion are commonly the sharpest feuds; men are more fond of the notions of their brains, than they are of the issue of their bodies. Odia Religiosorum sunt acerbissima; "Religious hates are hottest."

Observe, 3. How the dissensions of God’s adversaries oft-times become the deliverance of God’s servants. Thus here the Pharisees and Sadducees quarrel about the resurrection: the Pharisees justify St. Paul, and tell them that oppose him, "They are in danger of fighting against God." Thus God when he pleaseth, can find or make patrons of his people, and raise up friends from amongst his very enemies, to defend his cause.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See notes on verse 6

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. ἐγένετο στάσις, there arose a dissension. The two parties began to take sides for and against the Apostle.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.