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. 

A Jewish Plot to Kill Paul Foiled

“When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither toe at nor drink till they had killed Paul.  There were more than forty who made this conspiracy…They went to the chief priests and elders and said, ‘We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul.  Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly.  And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.’  Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul.”  -Acts 23:12-13, 15, 16 (ESV.  Read Acts 23:12-22). 

Intrigue and conspiracy were moving against Paul.  A group of forty Jews took a pledge to kill him; and moreover, not to eat until this heinous act had been accomplished.  They went to the chief priests and elders telling them of their plot and enlisting their help in carrying out their proposed killing of Paul.  They wanted an order from them to get the tribune to bring Paul back before them for further questioning so that they could ambush and kill him.  I wonder if they could not see that someone would find out about this conspiracy and try to put a stop to it?  After all, leaks in the “best laid plans of mice and men” in that day and this “oft’ go agley” as Robert Burns wrote in one of his poems.  Were they forgetting that the Jews did not have the right to bring the death sentence upon anyone?  Of course, if they killed Paul, they would have to resort to stoning him outside the city gate, as they had the first deacon, Stephen, some years before. 

But wait!  Someone finds out about the plot to kill Paul.  On the scene comes Paul’s nephew, the son of Paul’s sister.  We do not know from the Bible the name of this nephew of Paul.  Since Paul had been a strict Pharisee before his conversion, it is possible that his sister and her family had remained connected to that sect of the Jews and would thus hear whispered threats. Since the Pharisees, in the hearing the day before, had exonerated Paul, naturally these family members would have been upset at the prospect of Paul being killed. We are not told the forty conspirtora are of the Sadducees sect, but they possibly were. And so the nephew took it upon himself to go to the barracks prison and tell his Uncle Paul.  Paul, in turn, asked one of the centurions to take his nephew to the tribune, Claudius Lysias.  How did this commandant know the boy was telling the truth?  His earnestness, no doubt, and the very fact that he was brave enough to come and reveal “inside secrets” and diabolical plots.  

But the forty Jews were going hungry longer than they anticipated.  The Roman in charge could not afford to lose his prisoner.  He immediately set in motion a plan whereby he would get Paul out of Jerusalem.  But I am getting ahead of the story.  Just now we must focus on the laying-in-wait for Paul, to capture him and possibly stone him to death.  But Jesus’ promise to Paul after his conversion was still holding true. He had not promised freedom from troubles for Paul.  At times on his missionary journeys he escaped death and he fled to keep from being killed during his first visit to Jerusalem.  Now a dark conspiracy was laid against his life.  God moves people to rescue others.  Paul’s nephew was brave enough to face the Roman authorities on behalf of his uncle.  The Roman tribune himself hastened plans to get Paul out of Jerusalem to save him from a mad Jewish mob.  We will continue this exciting God-directed drama tomorrow.  Again, I give you the words God gave me to describe these actions:  God’s ways are higher than man’s ways, in all ways, and always.”  To God be the glory for all how bravely stand up for the right and defend the innocent.