Paul The Apostle: Part 15
The immediate consequence of the commotion which occurred in the assembly was that Paul was likely to be torn in pieces; therefore, he was carried off by the Roman soldiers. On the next day a conspiracy was formed, which the writer relates with great details. More than forty of the Jews bound themselves under a curse neither to eat nor to drink until they had killed Paul. The plot was discovered, and Paul was hurried away from Jerusalem.
The chief captain, Claudial Lysias, determined to send Paul to Caesarea, to Felix, the governor, or procurator of Judaea. He therefore put him in the hands of a strong guard of soldiers, who took him by night as far as Antipatris. From there a smaller detachment brought him to Caesarea, where they delivered Paul into the hand of the governor.
Felix asked of what province the prisoner was; and being told that he was of Cilicia, he promised to give him a hearing when his accusers came before him. In the mean time, he ordered him to be guarded.
Imprisonment at Caesarea:
From this point on to the end of the period embraced in Acts, if not to the end of his life, Paul remained in Roman custody. This custody provided protection for him and without it, he would have fallen victim to the animosity of the Jews. He appears to have been treated with humanity and consideration. The governor before whom he was now to be tried, according to Tacitus and Josephus, was a mean and desolate tyrant.
The orator or counsel retained by the Jews was brought down by Ananias the high Priest and the elders; and when they arrived in the course of five days at Caesarea the proceedings of the trial began with them complimenting the governor. The charge set forth against Paul shows precisely the light in which he was regarded by the fanatical Jews.
Paul met the charge in his usual manner. He was glad that his judge and been for some years governor of a Jewish province; “Because it is in thy power to ascertain that, not more than twelve days since, I came up to Jerusalem to worship.” The emphasis is upon his coming up to worship.
He denied positively the charges of stirring up strive, and of profaning the Temple. Again he gave prominence to the hope of a resurrection, which he held as he said, in common with his accusers. His loyalty to the faith of his fathers he had shown by coming up to Jerusalem expressly to bring alms and offerings for his nation, and by undertaking the ceremonies of purification in the Temple.
What fault then, could any Jew possibly find in him? The apostle’s answer was straightforward and complete. He had not violated the law of his fathers; he was still a true and loyal Israelite. Felix made an excuse for putting off the matter, and gave orders that the prisoner should be treated with indulgence, and that his friends should be allowed to visit with him.
After a short period Paul was heard again. He remained in custody until Felix left the province. The unprincipled governor had good reason to seek favor for himself with the Jews; and to please them, so he handed Paul over as an untried prisoner to his successor Festus.
Upon his arrival in the province, Festus went up without delay from Caesarea to Jerusalem; and the leading Jews seized the opportunity of asking that Paul might be brought up there for trial, they intending to assassinate him on the way. But Festus would not comply with their request. He invited them to follow him on his speedy return to Caesarea, and a trial took place there, closely resembling the one that took place before Felix.
“They had certain questions against him,” Festus says to Agrippa, “Of their own superstition (or religion), and of one Jesus, who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. And being puzzled for my part as to such inquiries, I asked him whether he would go to Jerusalem to be tried there.”
A trial in Jerusalem was not likely to be accepted, and it was at this time Paul appealed to Caesar. The appeal having been allowed, Festus reflected that he must send with the prisoner a report of “the crimes laid against him.” He therefore took advantage of an opportunity which offered itself in a few days to seek some help in the matter.
The Jewish prince Agrippa arrived with his sister Berenice on a visit to the new governor. To him Festus communicated his perplexity, together with an account of what had occurred before him in the case. Agrippa, who must have known something of the sect of the Nazarenes, and had probably heard of Paul himself, he expressing a desire to hear him speak.
Paul therefore was to give an account of himself to Agrippa; and when Paul had received from him permission to begin, he stretched forth his hand and made his defense. In this discourse (Acts 26) we have the second explanation from Paul himself of the manner in which he had been led, through his conversion, to serve the Lord Jesus instead of persecuting His disciples; and the third narrative of the conversion itself.
When it was concluded, Festus, and the king, and their companions consulted together, and came to the conclusion that the accused was guilty of nothing that deserved death or imprisonment. And Agrippa’s final answer to the inquiry of Festus was, “This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar.”
Phillip LaSpino www.seekfirstwisdom.com