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| Chapter 23 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, "Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God to this day." 2 And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to smite him on the mouth. 3 Then said Paul unto him, "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall! For sittest thou to judge me according to the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?" 4 And those who stood by said, "Revilest thou God’s high priest?" 5 Then said Paul, "I knew not, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written: ’Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.’" 6 ¶ But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out to the council, "Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called into question!" 7 And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the multitude was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both. 9 And there arose a great cry, and the scribes who were on the Pharisees’ side arose and strove, saying, "We find no evil in this man; but if a spirit or angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God." 10 And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle. 11 And that night the Lord stood by him and said, "Be of good cheer, Paul; for as thou hast testified for Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." 12 ¶ And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. 13 And there were more than forty who entered into this conspiracy. 14 And they came to the chief priests and elders and said, "We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. 15 Now, therefore, ye, of the council, ask the chief captain that he bring him down unto you tomorrow, as though ye would inquire somewhat more thoroughly concerning him; and we, even before he comes near, are ready to kill him." 16 But when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle and told Paul. 17 Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him and said, "Bring this young man unto the chief captain, for he hath a certain thing to tell him." 18 So he took him and brought him to the chief captain and said, "Paul, the prisoner, called me unto him and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, as he hath something to say unto thee." 19 Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and going aside with him privately, asked him, "What is it that thou hast to tell me?" 20 And he said, "The Jews have agreed to request thee that thou wouldest bring down Paul tomorrow into the council, as though they wished to inquire of him somewhat more thoroughly. 21 But do not thou yield unto them, for there lie in wait for him more than forty of their men, who have bound themselves with an oath that they will neither eat nor drink until they have killed him. And now they are ready, looking for consent from thee." 22 So the chief captain then let the young man depart and charged him, "See thou tell no man that thou hast revealed these things to me." 23 And he called unto him two centurions, saying, "Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and threescore and ten horsemen, and two hundred spearmen, at the third hour of the night; 24 and provide them with beasts that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor." 25 And he wrote a letter in this manner: 26 "Claudius Lysias, unto the most excellent governor Felix, sendeth greeting: 27 This man was taken by the Jews, and was about to be killed by them. Then came I with an army and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman. 28 And desiring to know the cause whereof they accused him, I brought him forth into their council. 29 I perceived him to be accused about questions of their law, but there was nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bonds. 30 And when it was told me how the Jews lay in wait for the man, I sent him straightway to thee, and gave a command to his accusers also to speak before thee what they have against him. Farewell." 31 Then the soldiers took Paul, as it was commanded them, and brought him by night to Antipatris. 32 On the morrow they left the horsemen to go with him and returned to the castle, 33 who, when they had come to Caesarea and delivered the epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him. 34 And when the governor had read the letter, he asked what province Paul was from. And when he understood that he was from Cilicia, 35 he said, "I will hear thee when thine accusers have also come." And he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s judgment hall. |
The Roman Captain had two problems, Paul, as a Roman citizen, had to be informed what the charges were against him, secondly he needed a charge for him to record as to why he had been involved. He decide that the most obvious action was to take Paul before the Jewish leaders and get them to make the charge. It was therefore arranged for the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leaders, to carry out the investigation. The Roman captain brings Paul into the council and then waits and watches. Paul starts with the personal approach, links himself with the council with "Men and brethren," identifying himself as a Jew. He continues by saying that he has lived as a good Jew, not broken the Law. However this action results in the high priest commanding Paul to be hit across the mouth. Note John 18:22. Paul appears to be angered by this action, calling the high priest a "whited wall!" means he was a hypocrite Matt 23:27, and behaves against the law. When Paul is told that the man was the high priest he does not apologize to the man, only refers to the office. Ananias was an evil man, he was known to steal from the other priests and did all he could do to increase his position with the Romans. He used force to achieve his ends. In the year A.D. 66 Ananias was hunted out by Jewish guerrillas during a revolt against Roman authority, they found him hiding in a water channel and killed him there. God had proved Paul’s reaction a true prophesy, v3. Why did Paul not know the high priest? He had been out of the area for some years and it is possible as the council meeting was informal Ananias may not have been wearing his uniform of office. v6-9 Paul has realized that he will not get a fair trial so now switches to doctrinal. He has noted that there were Sadducee’s and Pharisees present. Paul states that he believed in Resurrection, this immediately splits the council as Sadducee’s and Pharisees violently disagree over resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus is the main point of the Gospel, it proves his claims. The Roman Officer, fearing for Paul’s life, sends in the army to bring him to the castle. v11 The Lord gives Paul a message, "Take courage, you have witnessed for me in Jerusalem, now you must go to Rome to witness for me there." To us it may appear that Paul’s visit to Jerusalem had been a failure, but Jesus spoke with commendation, He was pleased with the results. v12-15 A secret plan by the Jews. A group of Jews plan to take the law into their own hands, they had sworn an oath to kill Paul. The Jewish council were involved in the plan. v16-22 But God was in control. We do not know anything about these relatives of Paul, the nephew was probably not a Christian as that would have prevented him being able to hear the discussions, but he must have felt it was wrong and goes to warn Paul in prison. How did the Roman captain know that the boy was telling the truth? The captain could have used this insider knowledge of the plot to his advantage, allow them to destroy Paul, though it would be a problem for him to lose a prisoner, but then he could destroy the Jewish council for their involvement. Claudius’ plan was very simple, get Paul out of Jerusalem to prevent any plots, then by sending him to Caesarea he is putting him under the power of Felix, the Roman governor. The journey from Jerusalem to Caesarea is about 65 miles and could have been easily attacked, but God put this problem into Claudius mind and he arranged for "Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and threescore and ten horsemen, and two hundred spearmen, at the third hour of the night." v23. 470 soldiers,left about 9:00 p.m. with Paul, half the soldiers in Jerusalem as guards for Paul. v26-30 Claudius sent a letter to Felix with the soldiers. There is a slight change in the truth as he did not rescue Paul because he was a Roman citizen, he did not learn that until later. Acts 21:37-39. They first traveled over night about 37 miles to Antipatris, quite a journey in a short time. The soldiers on horse back now continued the journey, the foot soldiers returned to Jerusalem. 27 miles later Paul is handed over to the control of Felix. Antonius Felix was the governor of Judea, his wife was Drusilla, a Jewess, the daughter of Herod Agrippa 1 Acts 12:1. She was the sister of Herod Agrippa 2 Acts 25:13ff. Paul is now put under house arrest, not in prison, being kept in the Palace built for Herod the Great and where Felix was now living. |
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