The Book of Acts Chapter 23
Originally posted Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Acts Chapter 23:1-11
Paul Before the Sanhedrin
As a pagan and not at all
versed in Jewish law or tradition, Claudius Lysias had no idea of why
the mob reacted so violently to Paul's words. They wanted to kill Paul for
something he said but Lysias could not understand why nor could he interpret
the disparate shouts from those who were straining to get their hands on
Paul. When he learned that Paul was a Roman Citizen who had caused
some grievance among the people he was bound by his law to determine the
cause. He could not flog Paul. His only recourse was to insist on a
meeting of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council which was the usual
civil as well as spiritual authority in Jerusalem.
Lysias stood Paul before the
Council. Without being asked Paul began to speak. His first words
expressed that he had lived his life in accordance with God's law as a
righteous man. Hardly had the words been said when Paul was struck in the
mouth at the order of the High Priest, Ananias (1). There was nothing
in what Paul said that would have deserved such an unreasonable reaction.
Perhaps Ananias felt insulted by having been addressed when permission for
Paul to speak had not been given. Paul, not known for his excessive
humility, fires back with a curse against the High Priest as one who sits in
judgment according to the law yet violates that very law (Lev. 19:15).
Paul's response invokes God's rejection of Ananias and all
unrepentant Jews like him who have refused to accept both
Jesus' and Paul's mission. Paul uses the familiar term "white
washed wall" similar in style as "white washed tombs," clean on
the outside but full of corruption within. He rejects the High
Priest's right to judge anything let alone a mission ordained by God.
Paul's apology for insulting
Ananias is a feigned response (Exod. 22:28). Certainly he would have known the
High Priest by his adornment if nothing else. Paul had relatives in Jerusalem
and as an observant Jew he would have been in the Temple at least three times a
year as well as for Yom Kippur and seen the High Priest in the Sanctuary.
His response is more dismissive of Ananias than apologetic.
What follows is Paul's
clever move to create a division between two parties within the
Council. He knows (without having to notice) a number of the council
members are Sadducees who accept only the first five books (Torah) of the
Old Testament as authoritative. They do not believe in a resurrection
and therefore not in angels and spirits which they would
understand as two descriptions or representations of resurrection.
On the other hand the Pharisees believe in all three. Because they do, they
might be sympathetic to a fellow Pharisee who has claimed visions ofthe
spirit Jesus. Paul's insight into how to "pull their chains" as we
would put it, got the desired reaction and the Sadducees and Pharisees entered
into a theological shouting match. The Pharisees rose up en masse shouting in
favor of Paul who, after all just might have heard an angel or
spirit. As Gamaliel had said to the council on a prior occasion, to deny Paul's
contention might put them on the wrong side of God (5:38-39). Paul
may have gotten more than he bargained for as the argument became violent, with
one side defending Paul and the other trying to kill him. The Tribune quickly
moved to disentangle Paul from the donnybrook and had him taken back
to the safety of the barracks.
That night, in a restless
sleep, that same Spirit that had guided his path before spoke again. Keep up
your courage. What you have done here you must (divine imperative) do in Rome.
Acts Chapter 23:12-22
The Plot to Kill Paul
Having been unsuccessful in
their attempt to rid themselves of Paul in the Council meeting, the
next day a group of forty Jews (presumably of Sadducees or
their allies) devised a plot to assassinate Paul. Their strategy was to
get the Tribune to return Paul to the Council for further discussion and this
cabal, bound by oath, would intercept and kill him. Their hatred of Paul
was so intense they were willing to give their own lives which would surely
have occurred at the hands of the accompanying Roman guard.
Luke does not inform us of the
source of so deep and immoveable a hatred that would motivate a
murder and certain martyrdom for the murderers. In our own global religious
environment we find similar acting out of religious bigotry not only
irrational and despicable but totally incomprehensible. In this case we
may surmise that Paul was seen as a traitor to Israel as the chosen people of God.
This likely had nothing to do with his proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah.
More probable was the erosion of Synagogue devotion by those whom
Paul had converted to Christianity and who were forming into their own house
churches even in Jerusalem, the heart ofBiblical Israel. Add to that the
inclusion of the Gentiles in God's provenance and so as equals in
God's sight and God's Kingdom. This is certainly an example of what
it means to be blinded by hate.
In a continued bit of luck
(?), Paul's nephew is able to warn Paul and then the Tribune of the
plot (2). Luke does not tell us how this young man would have learned about
this plan. What he may want us to see is a high ranking Roman Tribune
trusting more in Paul's nephew than in the Jewish council. It certainly
gives the impression of a Roman government siding with a Roman
Citizen amidst the religious peculiarities of Jerusalem.
Acts Chapter 23:23-35
Paul Sent to Felix the Procurator (Governor)
Lysias took quick action on
hearing the warning. At the third hour of the night (9:00 p.m.) with
two Centurions, two hundred infantrymen, seventy horsemen and two hundred
bowmen and horses for Paul to ride, the detachment left Jerusalem for Caesarea
Maritima, the headquarters of Felix the Governor of Judea (3).
Along with the Paul he sent a letter to Felix reviewing the events surrounding
Paul's arrest and the hearing before the Council. His conclusion was that the
charges were a matter of Jewish law and there was nothing
involved deserving either death or imprisonment. Since Paul was a
Roman citizen, Lysias was sending him to Felix and had ordered his
accusers to appear before him to clearly state their charges. When Paul arrived
and Felix had read the letter he had him placed under house arrest and kept him
under guard in Herod's Praetorium to wait until his accusers arrived
from Jerusalem. (The location of the Praetorium was in
the palace of Herod the Great who built the seaport city of Caesarea.
When the Romans began to rule Syria and Judea Caesarea became the headquarters of the
Prefects such as Pilate and later the Procurators such as Felix. Paul's
confinement would not have been in a dungeon or in solitary confinement)
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Notes:
(1) Ananias ben
Nebedeus was the High Priest in the period 46-52 CE. He was detested
by most Jews because of his close collaboration with the Romans and
his oppressive reign. When the war with Rome broke out in 66 CE Ananias was
assassinated
(2) Some writers have
promoted the idea that Paul's sister's son (a young man in his twenties) was
John Mark who had left Paul and Barnabas to return home to his mother in Jerusalem.
This certainly would make a good story but it is probably conjecture. Luke
surely would have given the young man's name if he were John Mark for no other
reason than to provide a bit of atonement for his former weakness in
the mission field.
(3) Felix' full name
was Marcus Antonius Felix. He served as Procurator of Judea in the
period 52-60 CE. According to Josephus he was a ruthless tyrant with the sexual
morals of an alley cat. When he was succeeded by Festus as Procurator
he returned to Rome.
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