5 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. (Acts 23:5 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Several interpretations are given by expositors of Paul’s words, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest.
1. Some think that St. Paul did not really know the high priest, having been gone so long from Jerusalem; and the high priest being made yearly.
Others say, 2. That there being a great throng about him, the apostle could not distinctly hear who it was that spake to him.
3. Some understand it of absolute denial, that any such office as that of high priest ought then be in being. As if the apostle had said, “I do not own any man to be a lawful high-priest now, that function being abolished and disannulled at the coming of the Messias.”
Again, 4. Others understand the words as if the apostle denied him to be the lawful high priest and one of God’s appointing, he being one of man’s making, having purchased the place with money; for the power and coveteousness of the Romans put a new high priest every year to officiate: accordingly, St. Paul, knowing this man to be none of the posterity of Aaron, but brought in by sordid gain, might justly disown him to be the high priest.
Lastly, there are who affirm, That the apostle did not certainly see and know the high priest; and that his meaning is, “That having received such unjust usage in the court as to be openly smitten in the time of hearing, he did not know, that is, he did not consider who it was that spake to him, and therefore spake hastily and unadvisedly.”
The scripture will not bear us out to use ill words on magistrates, should we be as St. Paul here was ill-used by them; yet are magistrates no more to be flattered than they are to be reproached. The greatest may be reproved and with a gracious severity told of their faults; and St. Paul did no more. It is no sin to tell the judgments of God, which will certainly come upon injurious and unjust oppressors.