{Unto the magistrates} (	ois strat(8867)ois). Greek term
(stratos, ag(935c)) for leader of an army or general. But in civic
life a governor. The technical name for the magistrates in a
Roman colony was _duumviri_ or duumvirs, answering to consuls in
Rome. Strat(8867)oi here is the Greek rendering of the Latin
_praetores_ (praetors), a term which they preferred out of pride
to the term _duumviri_. Since they represented consuls, the
praetors or duumvirs were accompanied by lictors bearing rods
(verse  35 ). {These men} (houtoi hoi anthr(9370)oi). Contemptuous
use. {Being Jews} (Ioudaioi huparchontes). The people of
Philippi, unlike those in Antioch ( 11:26 ), did not recognize
any distinction between Jews and Christians. These four men were
Jews. This appeal to race prejudice would be especially pertinent
then because of the recent decree of Claudius expelling Jews from
Rome ( 18:2 ). It was about A.D. 49 or 50 that Paul is in
Philippi. The hatred of the Jews by the Romans is known otherwise
(Cicero, _Pro Flacco_, XXVIII; Juvenal, XIV. 96-106). {Do
exceedingly trouble} (ektarassousin). Late compound (effective
use of ek in composition) and only here in the N.T.