We have found this man to be a pestilence, stirring up dissension among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes,
5. For we found this man. Tertullus doth aim at a double mark. The first is this, that Paul may be delivered to the Jews, because they be very skillful in matters which concern the worship of God and the law of Moses. But and if he deny this, he layeth to his charge a crime worthy of death, because he procured contention “Seditionem... concitaverit,” stirred up sedition.
Mark how swiftly malice moves: within five days these men abandon all other business to pursue Paul. Ananias himself, the high priest who sat to judge him, now comes down to inform against him, stripping himself of dignity and laying bare his enmity for all to see. When a man of his rank will not play least in sight but openly declares himself Paul's sworn enemy, you see how God makes the priests contemptible when they make themselves so.
AI summary
Commenting on Acts 24:1-9
For we have found this man a pestilent fellow,.... Pointing to Paul, the prisoner at the bar; the word here used signifies the "pest" or "plague" itself; and it was usual with orators among the Romans, when they would represent a man as a very wicked man, as dangerous to the state, and unworthy to live in it, to call him the pest of the...