Paul Sent to Governor Felix at Caesarea

“Then he (Claudius Lysias) called two of the centurions and said, ‘Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.  Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.’  And he wrote a letter.” –Acts 23:23-25a (ESV.  Read Acts 23:23-35). 

Pax Romana was in Paul’s favor, and the tribune at Jerusalem, Claudius Lysias, took all precautions to prevent Paul from being overtaken and killed by the forty Jewish men who had made a vow to not eat until they killed Paul. Throughout Acts, Luke writes favorably of the Roman military.  They are pictured as men whose duty it was to keep the peace, and to obey and respect the Roman law.  In this instance, Paul was benefited by his help from the Roman garrison.  Quickly 470 soldiers, or almost half the 1,000 of whom Claudius had at his post at Jerusalem, were outfitted to escort Paul the sixty five miles from Jerusalem to Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea where Governor Felix lived.  He was procurator of Judea with a rule from AD 52 to 60. They left Jerusalem under cover of darkness, at 9:00 p. m., and traveled to Antipatris, about thirty-seven miles of travel.  Having finished the most dangerous portion of the journey, the large number of soldiers returned to Jerusalem, but the cavalry remained with Paul.   

The next day they finished the journey of about twenty-eight miles from Antipas to Caesarea.  Claudius’ letter explained to Felix the Jews’ charges against Paul and their plot to kill him.  It also told why he was being sent to Governor Felix and said that Paul’s accusers would soon be at Caesarea to give their charges against Paul. The missionary had been furnished an escort fit for a king and one that protected him well.  Then at Caesarea, he was not put into the common barracks or jail but was allowed to stay at Herod’s praetorium, or a palace that had been built by Herod the Great where the official government of the region was housed.  Did believers in Caesarea hear of Paul’s presence there and visit and talk with him?  We are not told, but we do recall it was there that the prophet Agabus had approached Paul earlier begging him not to go to Jerusalem, that trouble awaited him there (Acts 21:10-14). 

Paul was in confinement, probably resting, studying and praying while he awaited his accusers’ arrival.  Paul was providentially cared for.  Psalm 34:7 promises God’s protection on His own:  “The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.”  Again, I repeat the theme sentence of this section:  God’s ways are higher than man’s ways, in all ways, and always.  Paul could rest for five days while he prepared his mind to meet his Jewish accusers before Felix.