Acts 24:2

“And when he was called forth, etc.] Not Tertullus the orator; for this is not to be understood of him, and of his being admitted to speak, as is thought by some, but the Apostle Paul; which is put out of doubt by the Vulgate Latin version, which reads, “and Paul being cited”; he was ordered to be brought out of custody into the court, to hear his indictment, and answer for himself: Tertullus began to accuse him; to set forth his crimes, which he introduced with a flattering preface to Felix: saying, seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence; very likely he might refer to his purging the country of robbers; he took…”

“Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, &c.--In this fulsome flattery there was a semblance of truth: nothing more. Felix acted with a degree of vigor and success in suppressing lawless violence [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 20.8.4; confirmed by TACITUS, Annals, 12.54]. by thy providence--a phrase applied to the administration of the emperors.”

“And when he was called forth - When Paul was called forth from prison. See Acts 23:35. We enjoy great quietness - This was said in the customary style of flatterers and orators, to conciliate the favor of the judge, and is strikingly in contrast with the more honest and straight forward introduction in reply of Paul, Acts 24:10. Though it was said for flattery, and though Felix was in many respects an unprincipled man, yet it was true that his administration had been the means of producing much peace and order in Judea, and that he had done many things that tended to promote the welfare of the nation. In particular, he had arrested a band of robbers, with Eleazar at their head, whom he had…”

“Tertullus began - A speech how different from St. Paul's; which is true, modest, solid, and without paint. Felix was a man of the most infamous character, and a plague to all the provinces over which he presided. Acts 24:4”

“Seeing: Felix, bad as he was, had certainly rendered some services to Judaea. He had entirely subdued a very formidable banditti which had infested the country, and sent their captain, Eliezar, to Rome; had suppressed the sedition raised by the Egyptian impostor ( Act 21:38); and had quelled a very afflictive disturbance which took place between the Syrians and Jews of Cesarea. But, though Tertullus might truly say, "by thee we enjoy great quietness," yet it is evident that he was guilty of the grossest flattery, as we have seen both from his own historians and Josephus, that he was both a bad man and a bad governor. Act 24:26, Act 24:27; Psa 10:3, Psa 12:2, Psa 12:3; Pro 26:28, Pro 29:5;…”