“Short time or long,” Paul replied, “I wish to God that not only you but all who hear me this day may become what I am, except for these chains.”
Paul had scarcely touched the power of Christ's death and resurrection, the very heartbeat of his cause, when Festus cuts him off, calling him mad. But this is the expedient of a coward: by declaring Paul insane, Festus avoids both condemning him as a criminal and believing him as a preacher. A convenient escape, but a contemptible one.
AI summary
Commenting on Acts 26:24-32
And when he had thus spoken,.... These words are omitted in the Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions: the king rose up; from the judgment seat; that is, King Agrippa: and the governor; the Roman governor, Festus: and Bernice: the sister of King Agrippa: and they that sat with them; either in council, or to hear; the chief captains, and principal inhabitants of Caesarea.
Verse 29. I would to God. I pray to God; I earnestly desire it of God. This shows (l.) Paul's intense desire that Agrippa, and all who heard him, might be saved. (2.) His steady and constant belief that none but God could incline them to become altogether Christians. Hence he expressed it as the object which he earnestly sought of God, that they might be true believers.