Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite you, you whitewashed wall: for do you sit to judge me after the law, and command me to be smitten contrary to the law?
Read Chapter 23
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
God shall strike thee, thou whited wall. These words are rather by way of a prophecy. (Witham)
Whited wall. That is, hypocrite, for pretending to judge me according to law; whereas, against all sense of justice, thou strikest me before my condemnation; nay, even without giving me a hearing. The Fathers admire, on this occasion, the greatness of mind and freedom St. Paul exhibited, in reproving the great. (Tirinus)
This expression was not the angry words of an irritated man, nor the effect of personal resentment, but the just freedom which insulted innocence may lawfully use in its own defence. (Haydock)
It was likewise a prophecy of what was going to happen. To those who do not consider it, it may seem a curse; but to others a prophecy, as it really was. (St. Augustine, lib. i. cap. 19. de Verb. Dni.)
For St. Chrysostom relates that the high priest, being thunderstruck by this answer, became speechless and half deaf; so that not being able to reply a single word, the bystanders did...
Accordingly (Ananias) himself is put to a stand, and dares not say a word: only those about him could not bear Paul's boldness. They saw a man ready to die * * * for if this was the case, (Paul) had but to hold his peace, and the tribune would have taken him, and gone his way; he would have sacrificed him to them. He both shows that he suffers willingly what he suffers, and thus excuses himself before them, not that he wished to excuse himself to them— since as for those, he even strongly condemns them— but for the sake of the people. Violating the law, do you command me to be beaten? Well may he say so: for to kill a man who had done (them) no injury, and that an innocent person, was a violating of the law. For neither was it abuse that was spoken by him, unless one would call Christ's words abusive, when He says, Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, for you are like whited walls. Matthew 23:27 True, you will say: but if he had said it before he had been beaten, it would have betokene...
