Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

An uproar and a quarrelling immediately ensues among the judges themselves, the Pharisees take his part, they pronounce him innocent, and Paul's impeachment falls to the ground. So Paul laughs in his sleeve at the impotent Jewish council, and feels pretty confident that it can do him no great harm. Even when these religious dissensions were brought before the Roman council, verdict was always given in favour of the accused, for the Romans either looked upon them as senseless brawls, and neither could nor would judge their private sects and heretics; or, as on many accounts one must conclude, they encouraged these divisions and bickerings among the Jews, seeking thereby to bring the power and influence of their magistracy lower and lower down, in order to give themselves a better opportunity of ultimately bringing the people entirely under their yoke, which, indeed, they soon afterwards succeeded in accomplishing.