| CHAPTER 23 This chapter tells us first (verses 1-11)
about Paul’s stand in the Sanhedrin. Then in verses 12-22, we have a plot to
kill Paul. In verses 23-35, the Romans move Paul from Jerusalem to Caesarea.
Verses 1-11: Paul in front of the Sanhedrin
(Verse 1) The Roman tribune knew now that Paul was a Roman citizen. So he
had to take some care of Paul. But the tribune’s main job was to keep the
Jews quiet. He wanted them to be fairly happy. He did not want trouble with
them. He still wanted to know what it was about Paul that made the Jews so
angry. On the other hand, the tribune might hand Paul over to the Jews. He
would do this only if he thought that Paul would get a fair trial. He would
want to know what wrong Paul was thought to have done.
Paul, it seems, had to make an effort to look at the Council. This verse may
be another one which shows he had a problem with his eyes. He had no problem
over what to say. ‘Men, brothers’ he called out to the Council. The RSV has
‘I have lived’. The NIV has ‘I have fulfilled my duty’, which is better.
Paul uses this word again in Philippians 1:27. Now Paul was a citizen of
Tarsus and of Rome. He may have meant here that he was a good citizen of
Jerusalem. He may really mean that he was a citizen of God’s city! Paul
knows what he has done down the years. He knows, too, that God knew. Even
when Paul had been cruel to the Christians, he had thought that he served
God. He had a good conscience. See Philippians 3:6.
This may have been the start of a speech that Paul would have made. (Verse
2) He was not able to go on. Ananias may not have been quite as bad as
people said, but he was a bad man. He became angry as he heard Paul say that
he had a good conscience. Ananias only had a bad conscience. He told people
who were closer to Paul than he was to hit Paul on the mouth. (Verse 3) What
Paul says is not at all what we would expect from him. Some years later. the
Jewish ‘dagger men’ did find Ananias and kill him. Paul says that Ananias is
like a wall which has had poor whte paint put on it. This is not enought to
cover up what is wrong with it. Ananias has shown at once that Paul could
not have a fair trial.
(Verse 4) The people who stood around Paul were quite shocked that Paul
should speak like this. (Verse 5) There are several guesses as to why Paul
says this. Probably Ananias did not have any special clothes on. Paul would
not have seen Ananias for many years. Paul may have had trouble with his
eyes. There may be deeper reasons. Paul uses some words from Exodus 22:28
now. He knows that he ought to honour the person who rules Judah. This is
God’s law.
(Verse 6) This may not have been the next thing that happened. There may
have been some talk between the members of the Council. But then Paul does
something else which we do not expect. [23.1] The Sanhedrin members were
mostly Sadducees. There were some others who belonged to the Pharisee party.
Years before Peter had had to speak in the Council. See 5:29-32. He may not
have known that what he said would divide the Jewish Council. But the
Pharisee, Gamaliel, had spoken then. He had helped Peter and the other
apostles. (See 5:35-40.) So now Paul, called out; ’Men, brothers’. He said
that he was the son of a Pharisee. That was no doubt true. It was also true
that Paul had been a Pharisee. It was hardly true to say that he was still a
Pharisee when he became a Christian. The most we can say is that Paul must
still have thought of himself as a Pharisee. He was not at all a Sadducee.
And neither Paul nor the Jewish Council knew why Paul was to be put on
trial. The Council wanted to agree on that. Then the Romans might let the
Sanhedrin put Paul on trial. It is, of course, true that Paul believes in
the resurrection of the dead.
(Verse 7) So what Paul said led to argument in the Council. Verse 8 tells us
most of what we know about the Sadducees’ views. (Verse 9) Perhaps some of
the Pharisees thought that they could use Paul. He might help them against
the Sadducees. (Verse 10) The Romans had had to save Paul before: see 21:31.
It is not quite clear that Paul’s life was in danger now. But he was in the
middle of another violent quarrel. So once again the tribune sends his
soldiers in. They bring Paul out of the Council and back into the Castle
where he is safe.
The tribune may have had people in the Sanhedrin who would tell him what
went on among the Jews. Still, he did not know much more. See 23:28. He can
hardly have thought better of the Jews after this.
(Verse 11) For Paul, this must have been a time of real trouble. He cannot
have been at all sure about what he had said to the Sanhedrin. He did not
know whether it was wise. He did not know whether it brought honour to God.
As long as he was in Jerusalem, his life was in danger. He knew that
Jerusalem was not the place where God wanted him to be.
Most Christians will have times when they are not sure. There are times when
what we say or do may be right. Yet we do not know. For Paul, this was all
settled that night. Paul was there in the Castle, among the Roman soldiers.
He had a vision of God, Who stood near him. The Lord told him to be brave.
Paul had witnessed to Jesus in Jerusalem. One day, he would also witness to
Jesus in far away Rome. That could only happen if Paul got out of Jerusalem
safely. And it did not happen quickly. It was now early summer in AD 57.
Paul did not reach Rome until the Spring of AD 60.
Verses 12-22: A plot to kill Paul fails
(Verse 12) About forty Jewish men now agreed together to kill Paul. We
find the details of the plot which they made in the verses which follow. The
Jewish Council would ask the Romans to bring Paul to them again. The Jews
would say that this was to question Paul. They knew that the forty men would
be ready to kill Paul. Paul would have a guard of Roman soldiers with him if
he went to the Council. So these forty men would have to fight them. The
Romans would kill many of the forty and that would not be the end. If the
Jews killed the Roman soldiers more Romans from the Castle would come down.
There would be far worse trouble. The forty men promised God and one another
that they would not eat or drink until they had killed Paul. (Verse 13)
Forty men should have been enough to beat the Roman guards. It did not
happen.
There are other places where we read about plots against Paul. See 20:3 and
19. In this case only, we know just what the plan was. We also know why it
did not work. God had his plan to keep Paul safe.
(Verse 14) Some of these forty men went to the Jewish leaders and told them
about the plan. The Jewish leaders ought, of course, to have said: ’This is
wicked. You must not do it!’ (Verse 15) The forty men wanted the Sanhedrin
to find a reason for Paul to come to the Council again.
(Verse 16) We did not know that Paul had a sister. She may have come to
Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. She may have had a home in Jerusalem.
Perhaps her son was in Jerusalem to study the Jewish Law. We do not know
that they were Christians, although some of Paul’s family were. See Romans
16:7 and 11. In any case, this young man heard about the plot to kill Paul.
He was brave to go to the castle to tell Paul about it. This would put his
own life in some danger. [23.2]
(Verse 17 So Paul asked a centurion to take the young man to the tribune.
(Verse 18) . Then the centurion told the tribune that the young man had
something to tell him. (Verse 19) The tribune seems to be quite kind to the
young man. Probably the tribune did not want anyone else to hear what the
young man had told him. (Verses 20 and 21) The young man tells the tribune
about the plot.
Claudius Lysias, the tribune, would not wish to risk the lives of some of
his best soldiers. So he did not want Paul to go to the Jewish Council
again. Paul would not be safe in Jerusalem. He was a Roman citizen, and the
tribune had to look after him. There was no reason to hope that the tribune
would find out anything from the Council. He makes his mind up quickly.
(Verse 22) The tribune wisely tells Paul’s nephew not to talk to anyone. If
the Jews found out, that might make more trouble for the Romans. The Jews
would be very angry with Paul’s nephew too. We need not worry about the
forty men who had promised not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul
They could go to a Rabbi. They might have to pay him. He could free them
from their promise.
Verses 23-33: The Romans move Paul to Caesarea.
(Verse 23) Jerusalem had been full of visitors. The Pentecost feast was over
now. Many of the visitors would be on their way home. Quite a number would
make their way to the ports on the Mediterranean Sea. They would find ships
there to take them home.
The Romans would not need so many of their soldiers in Jerusalem now. So the
tribune gives orders to two of his centurions. Seventy soldiers who rode
horses were to go all the way to Caesarea. Then there were to be two hundred
other soldiers. These would be men from the legions. There were also to be
on foot two hundred ‘right-hand graspers’. We think that they were men who
fought with long spears. They would ‘grasp’ these in their right hand.
[23.3] The soldiers had most of the day to get ready. They were to leave at
‘the third hour of the night’. That means 9.00pm. or 21.00 hours. [23.4]
The Roman army would do this sort of thing all the time. They had to show
the Jews that their soldiers could move around. They could quickly send
soldiers to any part of the country where there was trouble. (Verse 24)
These soldiers would keep Paul safe on the journey. There were also horses
or perhaps mules for Paul to ride. The governor Felix would be in Caesarea.
The whole journey was about 95km, but the soldiers on foot would at most
have to march 55km to Antipatris. [23.5] This must have been a long march
for them, but at least it was at night. It would be cool then. The first
part of the way was north through the hills of Judah. Then the road turned
west and went down into the plain.
(Verse 25) Luke does not have the exact words of the letter (verse 26) which
Claudius Lysias sent to Felix. He tells us roughly what was in it. (Verse
27-30) Claudius Lysias makes his story sound better that it really was. And
now we learn that he has told the Sanhedrin that their case against Paul
will be judged by Felix. In verse 29, it is made clear that Paul does not
deserve to be put to death or put in prison.
(Verse 31) Most of the people who lived between Antipatris and Jerusalem
were Jews. (Verse 32) The second part of the journey went north from
Antipatris to Caesarea. This was about 40km. People were more mixed here.
There were not so many Jews. The seventy soldiers who rode horses - cavalry
- kept Paul safe. The other four hundred soldiers must have had a rest day
at Antipatris. Then they marched back up into the hills to Jerusalem. (Verse
33) At Caesarea the soldiers gave Paul and the letter which Claudius Lysias
had written to Felix
Years before this Herod had built many fine buildings in Caesarea. When he
died the Romans took them over. Herod’s palace was used as the Roman
headquarters or ‘praetorium’.
(Verse 34) Felix read the letter which Claudius Lysias had sent to him. Then
he asked a question. He needed to know what province Paul came from. Now we
can see that Luke 23:6 is like this. There Pontius Pilate finds out that
Jesus came from Galilee. At that time, Galilee was not part of a Roman
province. Its ruler was Herod the Tetrarch. Pilate does the right thing when
he sends Jesus to Herod. Here in Acts, Felix is able to go on with Paul’s
case. This is probably because at that time Cilicia and Palestine were all
part of the province of Syria. [23.6]
(Verse 35) So Felix agrees to hear the court case against Paul. He could not
do that until he knew what Roman law Paul had broken. The Jews from
Jerusalem had to come to Caesarea for the case to go on. Felix ordered the
soldiers to guard Paul. He was not in chains. He was guarded so that he
could not get away. But also he was safe from his enemies. |