Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Acts: Chapter 23]
23:12 {Banded together} (\poi•santes sustroph•n\). See on 19:40
(riot), but here conspiracy, secret combination, binding together
like twisted cords. {Bound themselves under a curse}
(\anethematisan heautous\). First aorist active indicative of
\anathematiz•\, a late word, said by Cremer and Thayer to be
wholly Biblical or ecclesiastical. But Deissmann (_Light from the
Ancient East_, p. 95) quotes several examples of the verb in an
Attic cursing tablet from Megara of the first or second century
A.D. This proof shows that the word, as well as \anathema\
(substantive) from which the verb is derived, was employed by
pagans as well as by Jews. Deissmann suggests that Greek Jews
like the seven sons of Sceva may have been the first to coin it.
It occurs in the LXX as well as Mr 14:71 (which see and Luke
21:5); Ac 23:12,14,21. They placed themselves under an
anathema or curse, devoted themselves to God (cf. Le 27:28f.;
1Co 16:22). {Drink} (\pein=piein\). Second aorist active
infinitive of \pin•\. For this shortened form see Robertson,
_Grammar_, p. 343. {Till they had killed} (\he•s hou
apoktein•sin\). First aorist active subjunctive of \apoktein•\,
common verb. No reason to translate "had killed," simply "till
they should kill," the aorist merely punctiliar action, the
subjunctive retained instead of the optative for vividness as
usual in the _Koin•_ (Robertson, _Grammar_, pp. 974-6). Same
construction in verse 14. King Saul took an "anathema" that
imperilled Jonathan (1Sa 14:24). Perhaps the forty felt that
the rabbis could find some way to absolve the curse if they
failed. See this verse repeated in verse 21.
23:13 {More than forty} (\pleious tesserakonta\). Without "than"
(\•\) as in verse 21; 24:11 and often in the ancient Greek.
{Conspiracy} (\sun•mosian\). Old word from \sunomnumi\, to swear
together. Only here in the N.T.
23:14 {Came to the chief priests and the elders} (\proselthontes
tois archiereusin kai tois presbuterois\). The Sanhedrin, just as
Judas did (Lu 22:4). {With a great curse} (\anathemati\). This
use of the same word as the verb repeated in the instrumental
case is in imitation of the Hebrew absolute infinitive and common
in the LXX, the very idiom and words of De 13:15; 20:17, an
example of translation Greek, though found in other languages
(Robertson, _Grammar_, p. 531). See on ¯Lu 21:5 for the
distinction between \anathema\ and \anath•ma\. Jesus had
foretold: "Whoso killeth you will think that he doeth God
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