23
📚And Paul, looking intently at the council, said, “Men, brethren, I have lived in all good conscience 📖 before God until this day”. 2 📚And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. 23:2 This Ananias, an evil and greedy man, became the Jewish high priest about 48 AD. Paul’s denial of any wrong doing enraged him.⚜
3 📚Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall 📖, for do you sit to judge me according to the Law, and command me to be struck contrary to the Law?”
4 And those who stood by said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?”
5 📚Then Paul said, “I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest. For it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.’ ”
23:5 It would seem from this either that Paul’s eyes were bad, or that Ananias was not wearing his robes of office, or that he was not presiding over the meeting in the usual place (the meeting had been hastily called – Acts 22:30). Paul quotes Ex 22:28.⚜
6 📚But when Paul perceived that some were Sadducees, and the others Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Men, brethren! I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. I am being judged concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead”.
7 📚And when he had said this, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
23:7 Sometimes religious disputes are the most violent of all.⚜
8 📚For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge both.
9 📚And there arose a loud outcry, and the scribes who were on the Pharisees’ side got up and disputed, saying, “We find no evil in this man. And if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God”. 10 📚And when a great dissension arose, the commander, fearing that Paul might be pulled in pieces by them, ordered the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the barracks.
11 📚And the following night the Lord stood by him 📖 and said, “Take courage, 📖 Paul. For as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must be a witness at Rome 📖 also”.
The plot to murder Paul
12 📚And when daylight came, some of the Jews formed a gang and bound themselves by an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. 13 📚And those who made this conspiracy were more than forty in number. 14 📚And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, “We have bound ourselves by a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul. 15 📚So now you, together with the council, indicate to the commander that he should bring him down to you tomorrow, as though you would enquire more accurately concerning him. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near here”.
16 📚And when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their ambush, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.
17 📚Then Paul called one of the centurions to him, and said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him”.
18 📚So he took him and brought him to the commander, and said, “Paul, the prisoner, called me and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to say to you”.
19 📚Then the commander took him by the hand, withdrew with him privately, and asked him, “What is it that you have to tell me?”
20 📚And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they would enquire more accurately about him. 21 📚But do not be persuaded by them, because more than forty of them are waiting in ambush for him. They have bound themselves by an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink until they have killed him. And they are now ready, looking for a message from you”.
22 📚So the commander let the young man leave, and ordered him, “Do not tell anyone that you have told me these things”.
The Roman soldiers take Paul to Caesarea
23 📚And he called two centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers and seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea tonight at nine o’clock. 24 📚And provide animals to set Paul on, and take him safely to Felix the governor”.
25 And he wrote a letter like this:
26 📚Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor Felix: Greetings.
23:26 Felix became the Roman governor of Judea in 52 AD. He was a wicked, cruel and lustful man.⚜
27 📚This man was seized by the Jews, and was about to be killed by them. Then I came with a troop and rescued him, since I understood that he is a Roman citizen. 28 📚And when I wanted to find out the reason why they accused him, I brought him to their council. 29 📚I saw that he was accused concerning questions about their law, but there was no charge against him deserving of death or bonds. 30 📚And when I was told that the Jews were waiting in ambush for the man, immediately I sent him to you, and also ordered his accusers to tell in your presence what they have against him. Farewell.
31 📚Then the soldiers, as they were commanded, took Paul at night and brought him to Antipatris. 32 📚On the next day they left the horsemen to go on with him, and returned to the barracks. 33 📚When the horsemen arrived in Caesarea they delivered the letter to the governor and also placed Paul before him. 34 📚And when the governor read the letter, he asked from what province he was. And when he found out that he was from Cilicia, 35 📚he said, “I will hear you when your accusers also have come”. And he commanded that he be kept in Herod’s government quarters.
23:12-35 From the time of his conversion the Jews had been plotting to kill Paul (Acts 9:23-25, 28-30; 14:19; 17:5). They never did succeed in doing so. God knows how to protect His servants until it is time for them to go to be with Himself. No enemy can take the life of any of them as long as God has something for them to do on earth. For Paul’s safety God used his nephew (v 16. This is the only reference in the New Testament to him or to Paul’s sister). God used also the Roman centurion (v 17), the Roman commander (v 18), 200 ordinary soldiers, 70 horsemen, 200 other soldiers with spears (v 23), and the Roman governor of Judea (v 34). If there had been need He would have sent an army of angels from heaven.⚜