“Then Agrippa said
to Festus, ‘I would like to hear the man myself.’ ‘Tomorrow,’ said he (Festus), you will hear him.’ -Acts
25:22 (ESV. Read Acts 25:13-27).
Governor Festus had affirmed Paul’s
desire to take his case all the way to the Emperor in Rome, but still he did
not have a good statement about Paul’s charges and why he should thus be
granted his audience before the Emperor.
Enter King Agrippa and his wife, Bernice. Who is King Agrippa, and how could he be of
any help to Governor Festus in arranging the necessary papers on Paul? This particular Agrippa is King Agrippa II,
son of Agrippa I, and great grandson of Herod the Great. Agrippa II was the ruler over a part of
Palestine which included Peraea and Galilee.
The Emperor Claudius had assigned to Agrippa II supervision over the
temple in Jerusalem and election of the high priest. The Romans allowed the Jews to worship in
their own way and keep the Jewish law; but at the same time they had to obey
the Roman laws for the Jewish territories.
Therefore, any unrest from the Jewish sector as it related to temple
activities and governance would be noted and handled by King Agrippa II. Festus knew that Agrippa II had the best
knowledge of any of the Roman officials concerning Jewish affairs. It was customary for Agrippa to make courtesy
calls to the rulers (or governors) of the various provinces, and so he and
Bernice had come to Caesarea. And now a
word about Bernice. She was a daughter
of Herod Agrippa I, a half-sister to Agrippa II. The fact that his half-sister lived with
Herod Agrippa II caused much concern on the part of the Jewish people because
they saw their marriage as incest. They
considered the relationship condemned according to their law in Leviticus
18:1-18 and 20:11-21. Drucilla, the wife
of Felix, the immediate past governor at Caesarea, was also a sister to Bernice
and Agrippa II. Amidst all this intrigue
of family life, and to pay his courtesy call to another Roman official, Agrippa
II and Bernice came to Caesarea to visit Festus. Perhaps Festus could use their visit to get
some information that would strengthen the case against Paul in his referral to
the Emperor.
Festus reviewed the case to Agrippa II,
telling him of the hearing before the Jewish representatives that had come to
his court in Caesarea. “I would like to hear the man myself,’ said
King Agrippa. And so with “great pomp”
they assembled the next day—Agrippa II and Bernice, Festus, prominent men,
military tribunes—and then Paul the prisoner.
Festus defended his previous decision, stating that he had found Paul’s
charges by the Jews undeserving of death.
But then he states the core of his own problem: “But I
have nothing definite to write to my Lord about him. Therefore I have brought
him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that, after we
have examined him, I may have something to write. For it seems to me unreasonable, in sending a
prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him” (Acts 25:26-27).
Here the stage was set: Agrippa II, flattered that Festus thought him
capable of rendering a viable accusation against Paul that would entitle his
hearing before the Emperor, was about to hear Paul. Festus, not knowing the intricacies of Jewish
law, really did need some help. And
Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was about to have still another opportunity to
give his powerful testimony in the presence of provincial rulers and some of
the most prominent people of Caesarea.
Again, this portion of Paul’s story bears out the truth I have repeated
several times as we have examined this section of the Acts of the
Apostles: God’s ways are higher than man’s ways, in all ways, and always. As tense and critical as the situation was,
God’s way would be victorious.
No comments:
Post a Comment