Luke 3:1
[A.M. 4030. A.D. 26.]
of Tiberius <5086> [Tiberius Cesar.]
Pontius Pilate <4194 4091> [Pontius Pilate.]
Herod <2264> [Herod.]
his <846> [his.]
of Iturea <2484> [Ituraea.]
Ituraea was a province of Syria east of Jordan, now called Djedour, according to Burckhardt, and comprising all the flat country south of Djebel Kessoue as far as Nowa, east of Djebel el Sheikh, or mount Hermon, and west of the Hadj road. Trachonitis, according to Strabo and Ptolemy, comprehended all the uneven country on the east of Auranitis, now Haouran, from near Damascus to Bozra, now called El Ledja and Djebel Haouran. Abilene was a district in the valley of Lebanon, so called from Abila its chief town, eighteen miles N. of Damascus, according to Antoninus.
Acts 11:28
Agabus <13> [Agabus.]
severe <3173> [great.]
This was probably the famine which took place in the fourth year of Claudius, which continued for several years, and in which, says Josephus, "many died for want of food."
Claudius <2804> [Claudius.]
Claudius Caesar succeeded C. Caligula, A.D. 41; and after a reign of upwards of 13 years, he was poisoned by his wife Agrippina, and succeeded by Nero.
Acts 25:11
If ... I am in the wrong ................. if <1487 91> [if I.]
not one ......... no one <3762> [no man.]
I appeal <1941> [I appeal.]
An appeal to the emperor was the right of a Roman citizen, and was highly respected. The Julian law condemned those magistrates, and others, as violaters of the public peace, who had put to death, tortured, scourged, imprisoned, or condemned any Roman citizen who had appealed to Cesar. This law was so sacred and imperative, that, in the persecution under Trajan, Pliny would not attempt to put to death Roman citizens, who were proved to have turned Christians, but determined to send them to Rome, probably because they had appealed.
Acts 25:21
when ... appealed <1941> [had.]
decision <1233> [hearing. or, judgment. Augustus.]
I ordered <2753> [I commanded.]
Philippians 4:22
saints <40> [the.]
belong <1537> [they.]
Caesar's <2541> [Caesar's.]
The cruel, worthless, and diabolical Nero was at this time emperor of Rome; but it is not improbable that the empress Poppaea was favourably inclined to Christianity, as Josephus relates that ([theosebes <\\See definition 2318\\> gar <\\See definition 1063\\> en <\\See definition 2258\\>]) "she was a worshipper of the true God." Jerome states, (in Phm) that St. Paul had converted many in Caesar's family; for "being by the emperor cast into prison, he became more known to his family, and turned the house of Christ's persecutor into a church."
