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Continuing
our study of the Acts of the Apostles, up till now we have covered
twenty chapters and there remains another eight with only today and one
more week before we break up for Lent. That means that today we must
cover four chapters so I will be leaving out some of the less
interesting details. Last time we finished with Paul giving his farewell
speech to the presbyters of Ephesus and boarded the ship for his journey
to Jerusalem where the Holy Spirit had told him bonds and afflictions
await him.
Chapter
twenty one begins with the ships route which first went to Coos, then
Rhodes and then to Patara. From here they took another ship that was
heading for Phenicia and passed under Cyprus and came to Tyre of Syria.
Here they find certain disciples and stayed there seven days until the
ship had unloaded her merchandise and reloaded with other merchandise
for Caesarea. The disciples at Tyre had been told by the Holy Spirit of
what awaits Paul at Jerusalem and tried to persuade him not to go. When
the ship was ready to leave again they departed and all the Christians
with their wives and children accompanied them to the shore where
everyone kneeled and prayed. From Tyre they sailed to Ptolemais and then
reached Caesarea where they entered the house of Philip, one of the
Seven Deacon and stayed with him. Philip had four daughters who had
dedicated themselves to the Lord and had the gift of prophecy. After
many days they left for Judea where a prophet named Agabus came to Paul
and taking his girdle, bound his hands and feet and said: so shall the
Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owns this girdle and shall deliver
him into the hands of the gentiles. Hearing this, his disciples and
others who were there pleaded with him not to go to Jerusalem. Paul
answered: why do you weep and break my heart? I am ready not only to be
bound, but also to die for Jesus at Jerusalem. When the disciples
realized that Paul would not be persuaded they continued their journey
and went up to Jerusalem. There they stayed at the house of an old
disciple named Mnason who was originally from Cyprus.
The
following day Paul, Luke and others who were with them when to James the
Lord's brother where all the elders had gathered together. Paul saluted
them and told them of all the things God had made possible among the
gentiles through his ministry. When they heard it they glorified God,
but had some bad news for Paul. Many thousands of Jews believed in
Christ, but at the same time were very zealous of the law. They had
heard that Paul teaches all the Jews who live among the gentiles to
forsake the Law of Moses, that they shouldn't circumcise their children
and to abandon the old customs. If you remember the decision of the
Apostolic Council, circumcision was not essential for the gentiles who
embraced Christianity, but all those of Jewish descent still had to
observe the Law of Moses. Somehow the Jerusalem Jewish Christians had
misheard and thought that Paul spoke against circumcision even among the
Jews and because they would have heard that Paul was in Jerusalem they
would demand that Paul explain himself. The elders come up with a plan
that will show everyone that Paul, as a Jew, still observes the Law of
Moses. There were four men who had made a Nazarite vow. A couple of
weeks ago we saw that Paul himself had made such a vow which for thirty
days they had to abstain from alcohol and then shave their heads and
throw the hairs into the fire of the sacrificial altar at the Jerusalem
Temple. The elders therefore advice Paul to purify himself with these
four men and then to shave his head with them so that everyone will see
that he walks according to the law and that the charges made against him
are false.
So
Paul took the men and purified himself with them and entered the temple
to make the usual offering. The Jewish Christians would have been
satisfied that what they had heard about Paul was false, but Paul had a
bigger problem. At the temple were Jews who came for the feast of
Pentecost from Asia, probably Ephesus, who from the beginning had
persecuted Paul and wanted him dead. When they saw him in the temple
they stirred up the people and took hold of him. They called for others
to help them saying: this is the man that teaches everywhere against the
people and the Law and this place, and not only this, he has brought
idol worshipping Greeks into the temple and has polluted this holy
place. According to the law, bringing an idol worshipper into the temple
was a crime punishable by death. What had happened was that they had
seen Trophimus, an Ephesian Greek with Paul in the city and they had
supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
The
Jews, hearing that Paul had brought in a Greek into the temple, took
hold of him and threw him out of the temple and closed the doors. As
they were planning how to kill him, word came to the chief captain of
the band, whose quarters were next to the temple, that Jerusalem was in
an uproar. He immediately took soldiers and centurions with him and went
to see what the uproar was about and when the Jews saw him they stopped
beating Paul. The chief captain whose name is given later as Lysias, had
Paul bound with two chains and demanded to know who he was. The crowd
was in such an uproar that he couldn't make out what they were saying so
he commanded that Paul be taken into the castle. As he was being carried
up the stairs of the castle the people had followed shouting away with
him. Paul then asked the chief captain if he could speak to him. The
chief captain was surprised that Paul spoke to him in Greek and said:
are you not that Egyptian who some time ago made an uproar and led four
thousand men who were murderers into the wilderness? Paul told him that
he was a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a great city in Asia Minor,
and I beseech you to let me speak to the people. The chief captain gave
him permission and Paul standing on the stairs, beckoned with his hand
to the people to hear him. When there was silence he spoke to them in
the Hebrew tongue.
Chapter
twenty two. He begins his defence by saying that he is a Jew, born in
Tarsus, but was brought up in Jerusalem at the feet of his teacher
Gamaliel and was taught according to the perfect manner of the law of
the fathers and was zealous towards god just as they are. He told them
how he persecuted the Christians, both men and women, binding them and
delivering them into prisons and how he had received letters from the
high priests giving his authority to go to Damascus and arrest the
Christians there and bring them bound to Jerusalem to be punished. He
then explains to them how on the road to Damascus at noon he had a
vision of a great light from heaven and fell to the ground and a voice
said to him Saul, why do you persecute me? When he asked who spoke to
him the voice said that he was Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute.
Everyone who was with him saw the light but only he heard the voice. The
Lord told him to go to Damascus and seek out a devout man named Ananias
who would tell him what to do. He tells them how because of the glory of
that light he was left blind and had to be led by the hand and when he
had found Ananias his sight was restored to him. And Ananias told him
how he had been chosen to be a witness unto all men and instructed him
and baptised him in the name of the Lord. He continues saying that he
came to Jerusalem and while praying in the temple the Lord told him to
get out of Jerusalem quickly because the Jews would not receive his
testimony concerning him. But he answered the Lord saying that the
people know that he imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that
believe on him and when the blood of his martyr Stephen was shed, he
also was standing by and consented to his death and kept the garments of
them that slew him. But the Lord insisted that he leave Jerusalem and
that he would send him out to the gentiles.
All
the while Paul was speaking, the people gave him audience, but then they
started to shout: Away with such a person from the earth: for it is not
fit that he should live. And as they shouted they cast off their clothes
and threw dust into the air. Seeing the commotion, the chief captain
commanded that Paul be brought into the castle and be interrogated with
the whip so that Paul would be forced to confess his guilt and thereby
the chief captain would know why the people were so much against him.
Paul was then bound to some pillar or pole and as the centurion was
ready to whip him he said: is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is
a Roman, and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and
told the chief captain, saying, be careful what you do with this man
because he is a Roman. So the chief captain came to Paul and asked him
if he was a Roman citizen and Paul answered that he was. The chief
captain was surprised and said that he had paid a great sum to obtain
this freedom and Paul reply, but I was born free. We are not told how
Paul obtained his Roman citizenship, but as it was inherited it is
possible that his father of some other ancestor had done some kind of
heroic act and was rewarded by being made a Roman citizen.
When
the chief captain was sure that Paul was a Roman citizen, he was afraid
because he had unlawfully had him bound and stopped his interrogation of
him. But wanting to know the reason why he was accused by the Jews, the
next day he commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear
and brought down Paul and set him before them.
Chapter
twenty three. Standing before the Jewish council Paul addresses them
saying: men and brethren, I have lived in all conscience before God
until this day. The previous day he had addressed them as fathers, but
now he calls them brethren, possibly because they didn't act as fathers,
but more like wild animals. The high priest Ananias commanded those who
stood by Paul to smite him on the mouth. This was probably because he
sensed a lack of respect by being referred to as brother or because Paul
spoke without first being given leave. Having been hit in the face, Paul
tells the high priest: God will smite you, you whited wall, because you
sit to judge me according to the law, yet you commanded me to be smitten
contrary to the law. Paul labelled him as a whited wall to declare his
hypocrisy as did Christ when he called the Pharisees whited sepulchres,
which appear beautiful outward, but within are full of dead men's bones
and all uncleanness. But Paul's whited wall is different from Christ's
whited sepulchre. In those times they didn't have indoor plumbing like
we have today. In the cities there were designated areas where the
public could urinate. Usually these incorporated a wall with a drain at
its base that would allow the urine to drain to an appropriate area.
These became quite smelly so they used to dust the wall regularly with
lime dust. The Hebrew word for the dusting is koniao which is translated
as whitened.
Of
the high priest Ananias, the Jewish historian Josephus tells us that he
was known for his avarice and liberal use of violence. He confiscated
for himself the monies given to the ordinary priests and gave lavish
bribes to the Romans. He was a brutal and scheming man, hated by Jewish
nationalists for his pro-Roman policies. When the war with Rome began in
A.D. 66, the nationalists burned his house and he was forced to flee to
the palace of Herod the Great in the northern part of Jerusalem. Ananias
was finally trapped while hiding in an aqueduct on the palace grounds
and was killed along with his brother Hezekiah.
So
Paul having cursed the high priest that God would strike him and having
insulted him by comparing him to a whited wall and a hypocrite for not
observing the law, those that stood by him reprimanded him for cursing
and insulting the high priest. Paul replied that he didn't know that he
was the high priest otherwise he would have shown respect because it is
written - you shall not speak evil of the ruler of the people. Now did
Paul really not know who the high priest was or was he speaking
ironically because a high priest had to respect the law, but Ananias
transgressed the law to the point that he didn't allow an accused person
to speak and defend himself? Well it seems that Paul was telling the
truth. The appointing of the Jerusalem high priest had become political
and since AD 43 the Emperor Claudius gave this responsibility to Herod
of Chalcis, the grandson of Herod the Great. He appointed Ananias as
high priest in AD 47. When Herod of Chalcis died in AD 48 the
responsibility for appointing the high priest was given to Herod Agrippa
II.
In
AD 52, Quadratus, the governor of Syria, accused Ananias of being
responsible for acts of violence against the Samaritans and was sent to
be tried at Rome. He was acquitted by the emperor Claudius, however he
did not recover the high priesthood. In the year AD 58 when Paul was
arrested in Jerusalem the high priest was officially Jonathan, but he
was assassinated in the temple by men hired by Felix the Governor of
Judea. So at the time when Paul was arrested the position of high priest
was officially vacant awaiting Herod Agrippa to appoint the next high
priest who was Ishmael ben Fabus. It would seem then that Ananias
unlawfully took the post of high priest during this time and Paul was
understandably surprised because his position was not officially
recognized.
Anyway
returning to the story, Paul was not going to let a smack in the face
stop him from speaking. When he realized that the council was made up of
Sadducees and Pharisees he cried out in the council saying Men and
brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee and I am being judged
because I believe in the hope and resurrection of the dead. This was
enough to get the Pharisees and the Sadducees arguing and the multitude
was divided because, unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees don't believe
in the resurrection of the dead neither do they believe in angels and in
the spirit world. The Pharisees sided with Paul saying that they found
nothing evil in him, and if an angel had spoken with him, they were not
going to fight against God. When the argument between them grew, the
chief captain feared that Paul would be hurt in the commotion and
commanded the soldiers to bring him back into the castle. During the
night the Lord appeared to him and told him to have courage and that as
he had testified of him in Jerusalem, he will also bear witness of him
in Rome.
The
next day, more than forty Jews got together and took an oath saying that
they would neither drink nor eat until they had killed Paul. They went
to the chief priests and elders and told them of the oath they had taken
and that they should send a message to the chief captain requesting that
he bring Paul back to them so that they could examine him more perfectly
and they would be waiting for him to kill him before he came to them.
Paul's
sister's son was in Jerusalem at the time, probably for the feast of
Pentecost, and had heard of what was planned so he went to the castle
and told his uncle Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and asked him
to take his nephew to the chief captain, because he had something to
tell him. So the boy was taken to the chief captain and he revealed to
him that tomorrow the Jews will ask him for a favour, to bring Paul down
to them again with the deception that they would like to ask him more
things concerning Jesus, but that their real intent is to have him
killed on the way by more than forty men who have taken an oath. The
chief captain sent the boy away and told him not to say a word to
anyone.
The
chief captain realized that the situation was very serious. Paul was a
Roman citizen and he had the responsibility of keeping him safe at all
cost. He called two of his centurions and told them to prepare two
hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, seventy horsemen and another two
hundred spearmen ready to depart at nine in the evening. Also to prepare
two more horses so that they may set Paul on the one and a soldier on
the other to protect him and to bring Paul safely to Felix the governor.
The chief captain wrote a letter to Felix saying: I Claudius Lysias unto
the most excellent governor Felix send greetings. This man was taken by
the Jews and they would have killed him, but I came with an army and
rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman. And when I would
have known of what they accused him, I brought him forth to their
council. I perceived he was accused of things concerning their law, but
nothing he is accused of is worthy of death or bonds. When I was told of
how the Jews laid in wait for him I sent him immediately to you and have
commanded his accusers to also come to you and tell you what they have
against him. Farewell.
So
the soldiers took Paul and came by night until Antipatris which was
about twelve hours from Jerusalem and in the morning the foot soldiers
returned to the castle leaving only the horsemen to continue the journey
to Caesarea which was about another eight hours journey. When they
finally reached Caesarea, Paul and the letter were presented before the
governor and when he had read the letter and knew that Paul was a Roman
citizen, he asked him of what province he was from. This was to see
whether it was in his jurisdiction to hear him as the provinces were
divided into senatorial and imperial. Paul replied that he was from
Cilicia which was an imperial province and so as the imperial proconsul
Felix had the right to judge Paul. Felix tells Paul that he will hear
him when his accusers come and commanded him to be kept in Herod's
judgement hall. The castle belonged to Herod and it was the official
residence of Felix when he was in Caesarea.
Chapter
twenty four. After five days, the high priest Ananias and the Jewish
elders came to Caesarea together with a Roman lawyer named Tertullus who
informed the governor against Paul. As the trial began, Tertullus acting
as the prosecutor began first to praise and complement Felix, saying
that because of him they have enjoyed great peace and that by his
providence very worthy deeds were done by him to this nation for which
we are always grateful most noble Felix. Tertullus then begins his
accusations of Paul. We have found this man a dangerous fellow because
he is a troublemaker creating scandalous episodes among all the Jews
throughout the world and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.
The Jewish faith was protected by the Roman Empire so any break aways
from this faith that Paul created through his preaching of Christ was
against the law according to Tertullus. The accused is also guilty of
profaning the temple, whom we took and would have judged him according
to our law, but the chief captain Lysias came upon us and with great
violence took him away out of our hands, and commanded his accusers to
come to you. When you yourself examine the accused you will be persuaded
of the truth of all the things we accuse him of. All the Jews present
agreed that these things were so.
Next
it was time for Paul to defend himself and the governor beckoned to him
to speak. He had been accused of three things, one: that he was a
trouble maker, two: that he was causing a schism in the Jewish faith and
three: that he had profaned the temple by bringing in a Greek. Paul
begins telling Felix that because he has been a judge of the Jewish
nation for many years he is indeed glad to answer for himself. What he
is saying is that because he has been a judge of the Jews for many
years, he knows what kind of people his accusers are. Paul begins his
defend for the first accusation and tells Felix that there are only
twelve days since he went up to Jerusalem to worship. During that time
my accusers didn't find me in the temple disputing with any man neither
did I raise up the people, neither in the synagogues nor anywhere else
in the city. How can I be a troublemaker if I came as a pilgrim and
remained invisible in all public places? My accusers cannot prove any of
the things of which they accuse me of.
Paul
then defends himself against the second accusation of causing a schism.
I confess that I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things
that are written in the law and the prophets of which they call heresy.
What he is saying is that the Christian faith is the fulfilment of the
Jewish faith because he believes in the Messiah Christ of whom the law
and the prophets speak of. He continues: I have hope in God, in which
they also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of
the just and the unjust. According to these principles do I live before
God and man.
Paul
now defends himself against the third accusation. After many years I
came to bring alms from the gentile Christians to the Christian Jews of
Jerusalem and to offer my sacrifices at the temple. As I was in the
temple purifying myself alone, for I was neither with a multitude nor
did I make any noise, certain Jews from Asia accused me of blasphemy who
should be here before you to testify if they had anything against me.
But let the members of the Jewish council who are here today say if they
found any evil doing in me when I stood before the council except that
they might find me guilty for standing up and saying that I believe in
the resurrection of the dead for which I am called in question by you
this day.
When
Felix had heard Paul's defence, he was sure of his innocence, but not
wanting to offend the Jews decided to postpone any judgement until
Lysias the chief captain came down with the hope that he could gather
more details and would know how to judge the case more perfectly. But
Lysias didn't come down and Paul remained under guard of a centurion
although he had some freedom and was allowed to have as many visitors
that came to visit him.
After
some days Felix returned from a journey with his wife Drusilla who was a
Jewess and sent for Paul to hear him concerning the faith in Christ.
This was probably at the request of Drusilla who as a Jewess wanted to
know what Paul believed in. At first Paul spoke of Christ theoretically,
but then having in mind that Felix was a tyrant and that his marriage
with Drusilla was unlawful for the Jews, got down to the heavy stuff and
spoke about righteousness, temperance and the future judgement to come.
Hearing these things Felix trembled and needing to compose himself sent
Paul away saying he will call him again when he had a convenient moment.
He did in fact call Paul to speak to him many times, but his motives
were not to find out more about Christ, but hoped that Paul or his
acquaintances would offer him a bribe to let him go free. Paul remained
under guard for two years. In AD 60, Felix was replaced as governor by
Porcius Festus and could have released Paul before his departure from
Caesarea, but wanting to be on good terms with the Jews, he left him
bound.
Chapter
twenty five. Three days after Festus came into the province, he went
from Caesarea to Jerusalem for certain businesses and to meet the upper
classes of Jerusalem. Taking the opportunity, the high priest who was
now Ishmael ben Fabus and the chief of the Jews, informed him of Paul
and pleading with him desired that he do them a favour and have Paul
brought down to Jerusalem on the pretence that they would speak with
him, but in reality would have men laying in wait to kill him on the
way. Festus replied that Paul should be kept at Caesarea and in any case
there was no time to send soldiers to fetch him because he himself would
depart shortly, but if any among you believe that this man has committed
evil let them go down with me to accuse him.
After
ten days Festus returned to Caesarea and the next day commanded Paul to
be brought to him at the Judgement seat. The Jews that came down with
Festus from Jerusalem stood round about and accused him of many things
of which they could not prove. Paul defended himself saying: that
neither against the law of the Jews neither against the temple, nor yet
against Caesar, have I offended anything at all. But Festus, wanting to
favour the Jews asked Paul if he was willing to go up to Jerusalem and
there be judged of the things he was accused of before him. By now Paul
had probably had enough of this back and forth game. He could see that
Festus believed him, but could also see that he was not willing to let
him go free and offend the Jews whom he wanted to have with his side.
Paul also wanted to go to Rome and preach Christ to the Romans so he
answered and said: I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to
be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as you very well know. If I
am an offender and have committed anything worthy of death, I am ready
to die here, but if I an innocent of all the things they accuse me of,
no one can deliver me to them; I appeal unto Caesar. According to Roman
law, when any Roman citizen was on trial and appealed to Caesar, the
court could no longer function to find him innocent or guilty, and the
person on trial had to be transported to Rome for his case to be heard
there. This suited Festus as it gave him a way out by releasing him from
offending the Jews so as Paul appealed unto Caesar, he told him that
unto Caesar he will go.
After
certain days king Agrippa II, the son of Agrippa I who murdered the
apostle James the son of Zebedee, came with his sister Bernice to salute
Festus and to congratulate him on his new position as governor of Judea.
When they had been there many days Festus informed the king of Paul, how
he had been left in bonds by Felix and that the Jews at Jerusalem
desired to have him judged and executed. Festus informed the king of the
whole history and how the Jews accused him of something concerning their
own superstitions and of one Jesus who is dead, but Paul affirms is
alive. And how when he asked him if he would go to Jerusalem to answer
the charges against him he appealed unto Caesar and now remains in bonds
until the opportunity arises for him to be sent to Rome. The king said
that he would also like to hear what Paul has to say, so the next day
Agrippa, Bernice, the chief captains and all the principal men of the
city came together and Paul was brought before them. Festus, speaking to
all present said: see this man whom all the Jews, both at Jerusalem and
here insist that he should no longer live. But I found that he had
committed nothing worthy of death, and he has appealed unto Caesar and I
am determined to send him. My problem is that I have no certain thing to
write unto the Emperor, therefore I have brought him before you and
especially before you king Agrippa, that after examination I might have
something to write, because it is unreasonable to send a prisoner and
not signify the crimes laid against him.
Chapter
twenty six. Agrippa gives Paul permission to speak and Paul begins
telling the king his history of how he was a Pharisee and persecuted the
Christians and had authority from the high priests to arrest them and
bring them for trial. He recounts the events on the road to Damascus and
the vision that he saw and how the Lord sent him to preach to the
gentiles. As a result he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but
first preached unto them of Damascus and at Jerusalem, and throughout
the coasts of Judea and then to the gentiles, that they should repent
and turn to God and do works meet for repentance. For this reason, he
said, the Jews took hold of me and went about to kill me. But having
obtained help from God I continue to this day witnessing to everyone
small and great, saying nothing other than the things the prophets and
Moses said would come, that Christ should suffer and that he would be
the first to rise from the dead and would show light unto the people and
unto the gentiles.
On
hearing this Festus interrupted Paul to tell him that too much learning
has made you mad. It would seem that during his two year imprisonment
Paul had the opportunity to read certain books provided by his
disciples. Paul replied that he is not mad but speaks the word of truth
and the king knows of these things, because as a Jew it is not possible
that the things concerning Jesus have not come to his knowledge because
nothing was done in secret, but openly in the capital of Jerusalem. Paul
then asks the king if he believes in the prophets because he was sure
that he did believe. The king replied: you have almost persuaded me to
be a Christian. The king's reply was almost in jest, because as a Jew he
could not deny the prophets, but if he replied that he believes them
then he would have to admit that they speak of Christ's passion and
resurrection and would actually have to convert to the Christian faith.
Also he didn't what to offend Festus by saying that Paul was not mad so
he avoided answering by saying you have almost persuaded me to be a
Christian. Paul replied that he would hope in the Lord that not only
him, but all them that heard him that day were Christians like himself
except for the bonds.
When
Paul had finished speaking. the king, Festus, Bernice and others that
were with them went aside to discuss the case between themselves and all
agreed that Paul had done nothing worthy of death or of bonds. King
Agrippa said to Festus that if he had not appealed to Caesar he could
have been set free.
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