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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Acts XXIII].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
<CENTER>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>A C T S.</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXIII.</FONT>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
</CENTER>
<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
The close of the foregoing chapter left Paul in the high priest's
court, into which the chief captain (whether to his advantage or no I
know not) had removed his cause from the mob; and, if his enemies act
there against him with less noise, yet it is with more subtlety. Now
here we have,
I. Paul's protestation of his own integrity, and of a civil respect to
the high priest, however he had upon a sudden spoken warmly to him, and
justly,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:1-5">ver. 1-5</A>.
II. Paul's prudent contrivance to get himself clear of them, by setting
the Pharisees and Sadducees at variance one with another,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:6-9">ver. 6-9</A>.
III. The governor's seasonable interposal to rescue him out of their
hands likewise,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:10">ver. 10</A>.
IV. Christ's more comfortable appearing to him, to animate him against
those difficulties that lay before him, and to tell him what he must
expect,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:11">ver. 11</A>.
V. A bloody conspiracy of some desperate Jews to kill Paul, and their
drawing in the chief priests and the elders to be aiders and abettors
with them in it,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:12-15">ver. 12-15</A>.
VI. The discovery of this conspiracy to Paul, and by him to the chief
captain, who perceived so much of their inveterate malice against Paul
that he had reason enough to believe the truth of it,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:16-22">ver. 16-22</A>.
VII. The chief captain's care of Paul's safety, by which he prevented
the execution of the design; he sent him away immediately under a
strong guard from Jerusalem to C&aelig;sarea, which was now the
residence of Felix, the Roman governor, and there he safely arrived,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:23-35">ver. 23-35</A>.</P>
</FONT>
<A NAME="Ac23_1"> </A>
<A NAME="Ac23_2"> </A>
<A NAME="Ac23_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Ac23_4"> </A>
<A NAME="Ac23_5"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Paul's Second Defence.</I></FONT></TD>
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men <I>and</I>
brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until
this day.
&nbsp; 2 And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him
to smite him on the mouth.
&nbsp; 3 Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, <I>thou</I> whited
wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest
me to be smitten contrary to the law?
&nbsp; 4 And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest?
&nbsp; 5 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high
priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler
of thy people.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Perhaps when Paul was brought, as he often was (<I>corpus cum
causa--the person and the cause together</I>), before heathen
magistrates and councils, where he and his cause were slighted, because
not at all understood, he thought, if he were brought before the
sanhedrim at Jerusalem, he should be able to deal with them to some
good purpose, and yet we do not find that he works at all upon them.
Here we have,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. Paul's protestation of his own integrity. Whether the chief priest
put any question to him, or the chief captain made any representation
of his case to the court, we are not told; but Paul appeared here,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. With a good courage. He was not at all put out of countenance upon
his being brought before such an august assembly, for which in his
youth he had conceived such a veneration; nor did he fear their calling
him to an account about the letters they gave him to Damascus, to
persecute the Christians there, though (for aught we know) this was the
first time he had ever seem them since; but <I>he earnestly beheld the
council.</I> When Stephen was brought before them, they thought to have
faced him down, but could not, such was his holy confidence; they
<I>looked stedfastly on him, and his face was as that of an angel,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+6:15"><I>ch.</I> vi. 15</A>.
Now that Paul was brought before them he thought to have faced them
down, but could not, such was their wicked impudence. However, now was
fulfilled in him what God promised to Ezekiel
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+3:8,9"><I>ch.</I> iii. 8, 9</A>):
<I>I have made thy face strong against their faces; fear them not,
neither be dismayed at their looks.</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. With a good conscience, and that gave him a good courage.</P>
<CENTER>
<TABLE BORDER=0>
<TR><TD>----Hic murus aheneus esto,
<BR>Nil conscire sibi----
<BR>
<BR>Be this thy brazen bulwark of defence,
<BR>Still to preserve thy conscious innocence.</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</CENTER>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
He said, "<I>Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience
before God unto this day.</I> However I may be reproached, my heart
does not reproach me, but witnesses for me."
(1.) He had always been a man inclined to religion; he never was a man
that lived at large, but always put a difference between moral good and
evil; even in his unregenerate state, he was, <I>as touching the
righteousness that was in the law, blameless.</I> He was no unthinking
man, who never considered what he did, no designing man, who cared not
what he did, so he could but compass his own ends.
(2.) Even when he persecuted the church of God, he thought he ought to
do it, and that he did God service in it. Though his conscience was
misinformed, yet he acted according to the dictates of it. See
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+26:9"><I>ch.</I> xxvi. 9</A>.
(3.) He seems rather to speak of the time since his conversion, since
he left the service of the high priest, and fell under their
displeasure for so doing; he does not say, From my beginning until this
day; but, "All the time in which you have looked upon me as a deserter,
an apostate, and an enemy to your church, even <I>to this day,</I> I
have <I>lived in all good conscience before God;</I> whatever you may
think of me, I have in every thing approved myself to God, and lived
honestly,"
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+13:18">Heb. xiii. 18</A>.
He had aimed at nothing but to please God and do his duty, in those
things for which they were so incensed against him; in all he had done
towards the setting up of the kingdom of Christ, and the setting of it
up among the Gentiles, he had acted conscientiously. See here the
character of an honest man.
[1.] He sets God before him, and lives as in his sight, and under his
eyes, and with an eye to him. <I>Walk before me, and be thou
upright.</I>
[2.] He makes conscience of what he says and does, and, though he may
be under some mistakes, yet, according to the best of his knowledge, he
abstains from that which is evil and cleaves to that which is good.
[3.] He is universally conscientious; and those that are not so are not
at all truly conscientious; is so in <I>all manner of conversation:</I>
"I have lived in all good conscience; have had my whole conversation
under the direction and dominion of conscience."
[4.] He continues so, and perseveres in it: "I have lived so <I>until
this day.</I>" Whatever changes pass over him, he is still the same,
strictly conscientious. And those who thus live in all good conscience
before God may, like Paul here, <I>lift up their face without spot;</I>
and, if their hearts condemn them not, may have confidence both towards
God and man, as Job had when he <I>still held fast his integrity,</I>
and Paul himself, whose rejoicing was this, the testimony of his
conscience.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. The outrage of which Ananias the high priest was guilty: he
<I>commanded those that stood by,</I> the beadles that attended the
court, <I>to smite him on the mouth</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
to give him a dash on the teeth, either with a hand or with a rod. Our
Lord Jesus was thus despitefully used in this court, by one of the
servants
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+18:22">John xviii. 22</A>),
as was foretold,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+5:1">Mic. v. 1</A>,
<I>They shall smite the Judge of Israel upon the cheek.</I> But here
was an order of court for the doing of it, and, it is likely, it was
done.
1. The high priest was highly offended at Paul; some think, because he
looked so boldly and earnestly at the council, as if he would face them
down; others because he did not address himself particularly to him as
president, with some title of honour and respect, but spoke freely and
familiarly to them all, as men and brethren. His protestation of his
integrity was provocation enough to one who was resolved to run him
down and make him odious. When he could charge him with no crime, he
thought it was crime enough that he asserted his own innocency.
2. In his rage he ordered him to be smitten, so to put disgrace upon
him, and to be smitten on the mouth, as having offended with his lips,
and in token of his enjoining him silence. This brutish and barbarous
method he had recourse to when he <I>could not answer the wisdom and
spirit wherewith he spoke.</I> Thus Zedekiah smote Micaiah
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+22:24">1 Kings xxii. 24</A>),
and Pashur smote Jeremiah
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+20:2">Jer. xx. 2</A>),
when they spoke in the name of the Lord. If therefore we see such
indignities done to good men, nay, if they be done to us for well doing
and well saying, we must not think it strange; Christ will give those
the <I>kisses of his mouth</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=So+1:2">Cant. i. 2</A>)
who for his sake receive blows on the mouth. And though it may be
expected that, as Solomon says, <I>every man should kiss his lips that
giveth a right answer</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+24:26">Prov. xxiv. 26</A>),
yet we often see the contrary.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. The denunciation of the wrath of God against the high priest for
this <I>wickedness in the place of judgment</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+3:16">Eccl. iii. 16</A>):
it agrees with what follows there,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+3:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>,
with which Solomon comforted himself (<I>I said in my heart, God shall
judge the righteous and the wicked): God shall smite thee, thou whited
wall,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
Paul did not speak this in any sinful heat or passion, but in a holy
zeal against the high priest's abuse of his power, and with something
of a prophetic spirit, not at all with a spirit of revenge.
1. He gives him his due character: <I>Thou whited wall;</I> that is,
thou hypocrite--a mud-wall, trash and dirt and rubbish underneath, but
plastered over, or white-washed. It is the same comparison in effect
with that of Christ, when he compares the Pharisees to whited
sepulchres,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+23:7">Matt. xxiii. 27</A>.
Those that daubed with untempered mortar failed not to daub themselves
over with something that made them look not only clean, but gay.
2. He reads him his just doom: "<I>God shall smite thee,</I> shall
bring upon thee his sore judgments, especially spiritual judgments."
Grotius thinks this was fulfilled soon after, in his removal from the
office of the high priest, either by death or deprivation, for he finds
another in that office a little while after this; probably he was
smitten by some sudden stroke of divine vengeance. Jeroboam's hand was
withered when it was stretched out against a prophet.
3. He assigns a good reason for that doom: "For <I>sittest thou</I>
there as president in the supreme judicature of the church, pretending
<I>to judge me after the law,</I> to convict and condemn me by the law,
and yet <I>commandest me to be smitten</I> before any crime is proved
upon me, which is <I>contrary to the law?</I>" No man must be beaten
unless he be <I>worthy to be beaten,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+25:2">Deut. xxv. 2</A>.
It is against all law, human and divine, natural and positive, to
hinder a man from making his defense, and to condemn him unheard. When
Paul was beaten by the rabble, he could say, <I>Father, forgive them,
they know not what they do;</I> but it is inexcusable in a high priest
that is appointed to judge according to the law.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. The offence which was taken at this bold word of Paul's
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
<I>Those that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest?</I> It is
a probable conjecture that those who blamed Paul for what he said were
believing Jews, who were zealous for the law, and consequently for the
honour of the high priest, and therefore took it ill that Paul should
thus reflect upon him, and checked him for it. See here then,
1. What a hard game Paul had to play, when his enemies were abusive to
him, and his friends were so far from standing by him, and appearing
for him, that they were ready to find fault with his management.
2. How apt even the disciples of Christ themselves are to overvalue
outward pomp and power. As because the temple had been God's temple,
and a magnificent structure, there were those who followed Christ that
could not bear to have any thing said that threatened the destruction
of it; so because the high priest had been God's high priest, and was a
man that made a figure, though he was an inveterate enemy to
Christianity, yet these were disgusted at Paul for giving him his
due.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
V. The excuse that Paul made for what he had said, because he found it
was a stumbling-block to his weak brethren, and might prejudice them
against him in other things. These Jewish Christians, though weak, yet
were brethren, so he calls them here, and, in consideration of that, is
almost ready to recall his words; for <I>who is offended,</I> saith he,
<I>and I burn not?</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+11:29">2 Cor. xi. 29</A>.
His fixed resolution was rather to abridge himself in the use of his
Christian liberty than give offence to a weak brother; rather than do
this, he will <I>eat no flesh while the world stands,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+8:13">1 Cor. viii. 13</A>.
And so here though he had taken the liberty to tell the high priest his
own, yet, when he found it gave offence, he cried <I>Peccavi--I have
done wrong.</I> He wished he had not done it; and though he did not beg
the high priest's pardon, nor excuse it to him, yet he begs their
pardon who took offence at it, because this was not a time to inform
them better, nor to say what he could say to justify himself.
1. He excuses it with this, that he did not consider when he said it to
whom he spoke
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
<I>I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest</I>--<B><I>ouk
edein.</I></B> "I did not just then think of the dignity of his place,
or else I would have spoken more respectfully to him." I see not how we
can with any probability think that Paul did not know him to be the
high priest, for Paul had been seven days in the temple at the time of
the feast, where he could not miss of seeing the high priest; and his
telling him that <I>he sat to judge him after the law</I> shows that he
knew who he was; but, says he, I did not consider it. Dr. Whitby puts
this sense upon it, that the prophetic impulse that was upon him, and
inwardly moved him to say what he did, did not permit him to notice
that it was the high priest, lest this law might have restrained him
from complying with that impulse; but the Jews acknowledged that
prophets might use a liberty in speaking of rulers which others might
not, as
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:10,23">Isa. i. 10, 23</A>.
Or (as he quotes the sense of Grotius and Lightfoot) Paul does not go
about to excuse what he had said in the least, but rather to justify
it; "I own that God's high priest is not to be reviled, but I do not
own this Ananias to be high priest. He is a usurper; he came to the
office by bribery and corruption, and the Jewish rabbin say that he who
does so is neither a judge nor to be honoured as such." Yet,
2. He takes care that what he had said should not be drawn into a
precedent, to the weakening of the obligation of that law in the least:
<I>For it is written,</I> and it remains a law in full force, <I>Thou
shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.</I> It is for the
public good that the honour of magistracy should be supported, and not
suffer for the miscarriages of those who are entrusted with it, and
therefore that decorum be observed in speaking both of and to princes
and judges. Even in Job's time it was not thought fit to <I>say to a
king, Thou art wicked, or to princes, You are ungodly,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+34:18">Job xxxiv. 18</A>.
Even when we do well, and suffer for it, we must <I>take it
patiently,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+2:20">1 Pet. ii. 20</A>.
Not as if great men may not hear of their faults, and public grievances
be complained of by proper persons and in a decent manner, but there
must be a particular tenderness for the honour and reputation of those
in authority more than of other people, because the law of God requires
a particular reverence to be paid to them, as God's vicegerents; and it
is of dangerous consequence to have those any way countenanced who
<I>despise dominions,</I> and <I>speak evil of dignities,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jude+1:8">Jude 8</A>.
<I>Curse not the king, no not in thy thought,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+10:20">Eccl. x. 20</A>.</P>
<A NAME="Ac23_6"> </A>
<A NAME="Ac23_7"> </A>
<A NAME="Ac23_8"> </A>
<A NAME="Ac23_9"> </A>
<A NAME="Ac23_10"> </A>
<A NAME="Ac23_11"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Paul's Second Defence.</I></FONT></TD>
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>6 But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and
the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men <I>and</I>
brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and
resurrection of the dead I am called in question.
&nbsp; 7 And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the
Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided.
&nbsp; 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither
angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.
&nbsp; 9 And there arose a great cry: and the scribes <I>that were</I> of
the Pharisees' part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in
this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us
not fight against God.
&nbsp; 10 And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain,
fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them,
commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from
among them, and to bring <I>him</I> into the castle.
&nbsp; 11 And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be
of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in
Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<I>Many are the troubles of the righteous, but</I> some way or other
<I>the Lord delivereth them out of them all.</I> Paul owned he had
experienced the truth of this in the persecutions he had undergone
among the Gentiles (see
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ti+3:11">2 Tim. iii. 11</A>):
<I>Out of them all the Lord delivered me.</I> And now he finds that he
who has delivered does and will deliver. He that delivered him in the
foregoing chapter from the tumult of the people here delivers him from
that of the elders.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. His own prudence and ingenuity stand him in some stead, and
contribute much to his escape. Paul's greatest honour, and that upon
which he most valued himself, was that he was a Christian, and an
apostle of Christ; and all his other honours he despised and made
nothing of, in comparison with this, <I>counting them but dung, that he
might win Christ;</I> and yet he had sometimes occasion to make use of
his other honours, and they did him service. His being a citizen of
Rome saved him in the foregoing chapter from his being scourged by the
chief captain as a vagabond, and here his being a Pharisee saved him
from being condemned by the sanhedrim, as an apostate from the faith
and worship of the God of Israel. It will consist very well with our
willingness to suffer for Christ to use all lawful methods, nay, and
arts too, both to prevent suffering and to extricate ourselves out of
it. The honest policy Paul used here for his own preservation was to
divide his judges, and to set them at variance one with another about
him; and, by incensing one part of them more against him, to engage the
contrary part for him.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. The great council was made up of Sadducees and Pharisees, and Paul
perceived it. He knew the characters of many of them ever since he
lived among them, and saw those among them whom he knew to be
Sadducees, and others whom he knew to be Pharisees
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
<I>One part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees,</I> and perhaps
nearly an equal part. Now these differed very much from one another,
and yet they ordinarily agreed well enough to do the business of the
council together.
(1.) The Pharisees were bigots, zealous for the ceremonies, not only
those which God had appointed, but those which were enjoined by the
tradition of the elders. They were great sticklers for the authority of
the church, and for enforcing obedience to its injunctions, which
occasioned many quarrels between them and our Lord Jesus; but at the
same time they were very orthodox in the faith of the Jewish church
concerning the world of spirits, the resurrection of the dead, and the
life of the world to come.
(2.) The Sadducees were deists--no friends to the scripture, or divine
revelation. The books of Moses they admitted as containing a good
history and a good law, but had little regard to the other books of the
Old Testament; see
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+22:23">Matt. xxii. 23</A>.
The account here given of these Sadducees is,
[1.] That they <I>deny the resurrection;</I> not only the return of the
body to life, but a future state of rewards and punishments. They had
neither hope of eternal happiness nor dread of eternal misery, nor
expectation of any thing on the other side death; and it was upon these
principles that they said, <I>It is in vain to serve God,</I> and
called the proud happy,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+3:14,15">Mal. iii. 14, 15</A>.
[2.] That they denied the existence of angels and spirits, and allowed
of no being but matter. They thought that God himself was corporeal,
and had parts and members as we have. When they read of angels in the
Old Testament, they supposed them to be messengers that God made and
sent on his errands as there was occasion, or that they were
impressions on the fancies of those they were sent to, and no real
existences--that they were this, or that, or any thing rather than what
they were. And, as for the souls of men, they looked upon them to be
nothing else but the temperament of the humours of the body, or the
animal spirits, but denied their existence in a state of separation
from the body, and any difference between the soul of a man and of a
beast. These, no doubt, pretended to be free-thinkers, but really
thought as meanly, absurdly, and slavishly, as possible. It is strange
how men of such corrupt and wicked principles could come into office,
and have a place in the great sanhedrim; but many of them were of
quality and estate, and they complied with the public establishment,
and so got in and kept in. But they were generally stigmatized as
heretics, were ranked with the Epicureans, and were prayed against and
excluded from eternal life. The prayer which the modern Jews use
against Christians, Witsius thinks, was designed by Gamaliel, who made
it, against the Sadducees; and that they meant them in their usual
imprecation, <I>Let the name of the wicked rot.</I> But how degenerate
was the character and how miserable the state of the Jewish church,
when such profane men as these were among their rulers!</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. In this matter of difference between the Pharisees and Sadducees
Paul openly declared himself to be on the Pharisees' side against the
Sadducees
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
He <I>cried out,</I> so as to be heard by all, "<I>I am a Pharisee,</I>
was bred a Pharisee, nay, I was born one, in effect, for I was the
<I>son of a Pharisee,</I> my father was one before me, and thus far I
am still a Pharisee that I <I>hope for the resurrection of the
dead,</I> and I may truly say that, if the matter were rightly
understood, it would be found that this is it for which I am now
<I>called in question.</I>" When Christ was upon earth the Pharisees
set themselves most against him, because he witnessed against their
traditions and corrupt glosses upon the law; but, after his ascension,
the Sadducees set themselves most against his apostles, because they
<I>preached through Jesus the resurrection of the dead,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+4:1,2"><I>ch.</I> iv. 1, 2</A>.
And it is said
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+5:17"><I>ch.</I> v. 17</A>)
that they were <I>the sect of the Sadducees</I> that were <I>filled
with indignation</I> at them, because they preached that life and
immortality which is <I>brought to light by the gospel.</I> Now here,
(1.) Paul owns himself a Pharisee, so far as the Pharisees were in the
right. Though as Pharisaism was opposed to Christianity he set himself
against it, and against all its traditions that were set up in
competition with the law of God or in contradiction to the gospel of
Christ, yet, as it was opposed to Sadducism, he adhered to it. We must
never think the worse of any truth of God, nor be more shy of owning
it, for its being held by men otherwise corrupt. If the Pharisees will
hope for the resurrection of the dead, Paul will go along with them in
that hope, and be one of them, whether they will or no.
(2.) He might truly say that being persecuted, as a Christian, this was
the thing he was called in question for. Perhaps he knew that the
Sadducees, though they had not such an interest in the common people as
the Pharisees had, yet had underhand incensed the mob against him,
under pretence of his having preached to the Gentiles, but really
because he had preached the hope of the resurrection. However, being
called in question for his being a Christian, he might truly say he was
called in question for the hope of the resurrection of the dead, as he
afterwards pleaded,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+24:15,26:6,7"><I>ch.</I> xxiv. 15,
and <I>ch.</I> xxvi. 6, 7</A>.
Though Paul preached against the traditions of the elders (as his
Master had done), and therein opposed the Pharisees, yet he valued
himself more upon his preaching the resurrection of the dead, and a
future state, in which he concurred with the Pharisees.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
3. This occasioned a division in the council. It is probable that the
high priest sided with the Sadducees (as he had done
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+5:17"><I>ch.</I> v. 17</A>,
and made it to appear by his rage at Paul,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
which alarmed the Pharisees so much the more; but so it was, there
arose a <I>dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
for this word of Paul's made the Sadducees more warm and the Pharisees
more cool in the prosecution of him; so that <I>the multitude was
divided;</I> <B><I>eschisthe</I></B>--<I>there was a schism,</I> a
quarrel among them, and the edge of their zeal began to turn from Paul
against one another; nor could they go on to act against him when they
could not agree among themselves, or prosecute him for breaking the
unity of the church when there was so little among them of the unity of
the spirit. All the cry had been against Paul, but now there arose a
great cry against one another,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
So much did a fierce furious spirit prevail among all orders of the
Jews at this time that every thing was done with clamour and noise; and
in such a tumultuous manner were the great principles of their religion
stickled for, by which they received little service, for <I>the wrath
of man worketh not the righteousness of God.</I> Gainsayers may be
convinced by fair reasoning, but never by a great cry.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
4. The Pharisees hereupon (would one think it?) took Paul's part
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
<I>They strove,</I> <B><I>diemachonto</I></B>--<I>They fought, saying,
We find no evil in this man.</I> He had conducted himself decently and
reverently in the temple, and had attended the service of the church;
and, though it was but occasionally, yet it showed that he was not such
an enemy to it as he was said to be. He had spoken very handsomely in
his own defence, and given a good account of himself, and had now
declared himself orthodox in the great principles of religion, as well
as regular and conscientious in his conversation; and therefore they
cannot see that he has <I>done any thing worthy of death of bonds.</I>
Nay, they go further, "<I>If a spirit or an angel hath spoken to
him</I> concerning Jesus, and put him upon preaching as he does, though
we may not be so far satisfied as to give credit to him, yet we ought
to be cautioned not to oppose him, <I>lest we be found fighting against
God;</I>" as Gamaliel, who was himself a Pharisee, had argued,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+5:39"><I>ch.</I> v. 39</A>.
Now here,
(1.) We may observe, to the honour of the gospel, that it was witnessed
to even by its adversaries, and confessions, not only of its innocency,
but of its excellency, were extorted sometimes by the power of truth
even from those that persecuted it. Pilate found no fault in Christ
though he put him to death, nor Festus in Paul though he detained him
in bonds; and the Pharisees here supposed it possible that Paul might
have a commission sent him for heaven by an angel to do what he did;
and yet it should seem, as elders, they after this joined with the high
priest in prosecuting him,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+24:1"><I>ch.</I> xxiv. 1</A>.
They sinned against the knowledge which they not only had, but
sometimes owned, as Christ had said of them, <I>They have both seen and
hated both me and my Father,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+15:24">John xv. 24</A>.
Yet,
(2.) We will hope that some of them at least did henceforward conceive
a better opinion of Paul than they had had, and were favourable to him,
having had such a satisfactory account both of his conversation in all
good conscience and of his faith touching another world; and then it
must be observed to their honour that their zeal for the traditions of
the elders, which Paul had departed from, was so far swallowed up in a
zeal for the great and fundamental doctrines of religion, to which Paul
still adhered, that if he will heartily join with them against the
Sadducees, and adhere to the hope of the resurrection of the dead, they
will not think his shaking off the ceremonial law to be an evil in him,
but charitably hope that he walks according to the light God has given
him by some angel or spirit, and are so far from persecuting him that
they are ready to patronize and protect him. The persecuting Pharisees
of the church of Rome are not of this spirit: for let a man be ever so
sincere and zealous for all the articles of the Christian faith, yet,
if he lay not his neck under the yoke of their church's authority, they
find evil enough in him to persecute him unto the death.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. The chief captain's care and conduct stand him in more stead; for
when he has thrown this bone of contention between the Pharisees and
Sadducees (which set them together by the ears, and gained a fair
testimony from the Pharisees), yet he is never the nearer, but is in
danger of being pulled in pieces by them--the Pharisees pulling to have
him set at liberty, and the Sadducees pulling to have him put to death,
or thrown to the people, like Daniel into the den of lions; so that the
chief captain is forced to come with his soldiers and rescue him, as he
had done,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+21:32,22:24"><I>ch.</I> xxi. 32,
and <I>ch.</I> xxii. 24</A>.
1. See here Paul's danger. Between his friends and his enemies he had
like to have been pulled to pieces, the one hugging him to death, the
other crushing him to death, such violences are those liable to that
are eminent, and that are become remarkable, as Paul was, who was by
some so much beloved and by others so much maligned.
2. His deliverance: <I>The chief captain ordered his soldiers to go
down</I> from the upper wards, and <I>to take them by force from among
them,</I> out of that apartment in <I>the temple</I> where he had
ordered the council to meet, and <I>to bring him into the castle,</I>
or tower of Antonio; for he saw he could make nothing of them towards
the understanding of the merits of his cause.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. Divine consolations stood him in most stead of all. The chief
captain had rescued him out of the hands of cruel men, but still he had
him in custody, and what might be the issue he could not tell. The
castle was indeed a protection to him, but withal it was a confinement;
and, as it was now his preservation from so great a death, it might be
his reservation for a greater. We do not find that any of the apostles
or elders at Jerusalem came to him; either they had not courage or they
had not admission. Perhaps, in the night following, Paul was full of
thoughts and cares what should become of him, and how his present
troubles might be turned to answer some good purpose. Then did the Lord
Jesus make him a kind visit, and, thought at midnight, yet a very
seasonable one
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
<I>The Lord stood by him,</I> came to his bed-side, though perhaps it
was but a bed of straw, to show him that he was all the day long with
him really as sure as he was in the night with him visibly. Note,
Whoever is against us, we need not fear if the Lord stand by us; if he
undertake our protection, we may set those that seek our ruin at
defiance. <I>The Lord is with those that uphold my soul,</I> and then
nothing can come amiss.
1. Christ bids him have a good heart upon it: <I>"Be of good cheer,
Paul;</I> be not discouraged; let not what has happened sadden thee,
nor let what may yet be before thee frighten thee." Note, It is the
will of Christ that his servants who are faithful should be always
cheerful. Perhaps Paul, in the reflection, began to be jealous of
himself whether he had done well in what he said to the council the day
before; but Christ, by his word, satisfies him that God approved of his
conduct. Or, perhaps, it troubled him that his friends did not come to
him; but Christ's visit did itself speak, though he had not said, <I>Be
of good cheer, Paul.</I>
2. It is a strange argument which he makes use of to encourage him:
<I>As thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness
also at Rome.</I> One would think this was but cold comfort: "As thou
hast undergone a great deal of trouble for me so thou must undergo a
great deal more;" and yet this was designed to encourage him; for
hereby he is given to understand,
(1.) That he had been serving Christ as a witness for him in what he
had hitherto endured. It was for no fault that he was buffeted, and it
was not his former persecuting of the church that was now remembered
against him, however he might remember it against himself, but he was
still going on with his work.
(2.) That he had not yet finished his testimony, nor was, by his
imprisonment, laid aside as useless, but was only reserved for further
service. Nothing disheartened Paul so much as the thought of being
taken off from doing service to Christ and good to souls: <I>Fear
not,</I> says Christ, <I>I have not done with thee,</I>
(3.) Paul seems to have had a particular fancy, and an innocent one, to
go to Rome, to preach the gospel there, though it was already preached,
and a church planted there; yet, being a citizen of Rome, he longed for
a journey thither, and had designed it
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+19:21"><I>ch.</I> xix. 21</A>):
<I>After I have been at Jerusalem, I must also see Rome.</I> And he had
written to the Romans some time ago <I>that he longed to see them,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+1:11">Rom. i. 11</A>.
Now he was ready to conclude that this had broken his measures, and he
should never see Rome; but even in that Christ tells him he should be
gratified, since he desired it for the honour of Christ and to do
good.</P>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>A Conspiracy against Paul; Paul Sent to Felix.</I></FONT></TD>
<TR><TD><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>12 And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together,
and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would
neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
&nbsp; 13 And they were more than forty which had made this
conspiracy.
&nbsp; 14 And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We
have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat
nothing until we have slain Paul.
&nbsp; 15 Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief
captain that he bring him down unto you to morrow, as though ye
would enquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or
ever he come near, are ready to kill him.
&nbsp; 16 And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait,
he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul.
&nbsp; 17 Then Paul called one of the centurions unto <I>him,</I> and said,
Bring this young man unto the chief captain: for he hath a
certain thing to tell him.
&nbsp; 18 So he took him, and brought <I>him</I> to the chief captain, and
said, Paul the prisoner called me unto <I>him,</I> and prayed me to
bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto
thee.
&nbsp; 19 Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and went <I>with
him</I> aside privately, and asked <I>him,</I> What is that thou hast to
tell me?
&nbsp; 20 And he said, The Jews have agreed to desire thee that thou
wouldest bring down Paul to morrow into the council, as though
they would enquire somewhat of him more perfectly.
&nbsp; 21 But do not thou yield unto them: for there lie in wait for
him of them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with
an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have
killed him: and now are they ready, looking for a promise from
thee.
&nbsp; 22 So the chief captain <I>then</I> let the young man depart, and
charged <I>him, See thou</I> tell no man that thou hast showed these
things to me.
&nbsp; 23 And he called unto <I>him</I> two centurions, saying, Make ready
two hundred soldiers to go to C&aelig;sarea, and horsemen threescore
and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the
night;
&nbsp; 24 And provide <I>them</I> beasts, that they may set Paul on, and
bring <I>him</I> safe unto Felix the governor.
&nbsp; 25 And he wrote a letter after this manner:
&nbsp; 26 Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix
<I>sendeth</I> greeting.
&nbsp; 27 This man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed
of them: then came I with an army, and rescued him, having
understood that he was a Roman.
&nbsp; 28 And when I would have known the cause wherefore they accused
him, I brought him forth into their council:
&nbsp; 29 Whom I perceived to be accused of questions of their law,
but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of
bonds.
&nbsp; 30 And when it was told me how that the Jews laid wait for the
man, I sent straightway to thee, and gave commandment to his
accusers also to say before thee what <I>they had</I> against him.
Farewell.
&nbsp; 31 Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul, and
brought <I>him</I> by night to Antipatris.
&nbsp; 32 On the morrow they left the horsemen to go with him, and
returned to the castle:
&nbsp; 33 Who, when they came to C&aelig;sarea, and delivered the epistle
to the governor, presented Paul also before him.
&nbsp; 34 And when the governor had read <I>the letter,</I> he asked of
what province he was. And when he understood that <I>he was</I> of
Cilicia;
&nbsp; 35 I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are also
come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's judgment hall.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
We have here the story of a plot against the life of Paul; how it was
laid, how it was discovered, and how it was defeated.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. How this plot was laid. They found they could gain nothing by
popular tumult, or legal process, and therefore have a recourse to the
barbarous method of assassination; they will come upon him suddenly,
and stab him, if they can but get him within their reach. So restless
is their malice against this good man that, when one design fails, they
will turn another stone. Now observe here,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. Who they were that formed this conspiracy. They were <I>certain
Jews</I> that had the utmost degree of indignation against him because
he was the apostle of the Gentiles,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
<I>And they were more than forty</I> that were in the design,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
<I>Lord, how are they increased that trouble me!</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. When the conspiracy was formed: <I>When it was day. Satan had filled
their hearts</I> in the night to purpose it, and, as soon as it was
day, they got together to prosecute it; answering to the account which
the prophet gives of some who <I>work evil upon their beds, and when
the morning is light they practise it,</I> and are laid under a woe for
it,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+2:1">Mic. ii. 1</A>.
In the night Christ appeared to Paul to protect him, and, when it was
day, here were forty men appearing against him to destroy him; they
were not up so soon but Christ was up before them <I>God shall help
her, and that right early,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+46:5">Ps. xlvi. 5</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
3. What the conspiracy was. These men <I>banded together</I> in a
league, perhaps they called it a <I>holy</I> league; they engaged to
stand by one another, and every one, to his power, to be aiding and
assisting to murder Paul. It was strange that so many could so soon be
got together, and that in Jerusalem too, who were so perfectly lost to
all sense of humanity and honour as to engage in so bloody a design.
Well might the prophet's complaint be renewed concerning Jerusalem
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:21">Isa. i. 21</A>):
<I>Righteousness has lodged in it, but now murderers.</I> What a
monstrous idea must these men have formed of Paul, before they could be
capable of forming such a monstrous design against him; they must be
made to believe that he was the worst of men, an enemy to God and
religion, and the curse and plague of his generation; when really his
character was the reverse of all this! What laws of truth and justice
so sacred, so strong which malice and bigotry will not break
through!</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
4. How firm they made it, as they thought, that none of them might fly
off, upon conscience of the horror of the fact, at second thoughts:
<I>They bound themselves under an anathema,</I> imprecating the
heaviest curses upon themselves, their souls, bodies, and families, if
they did not kill Paul, and so quickly <I>that they would not eat nor
drink till they had done it.</I> What a complication of wickedness is
here! To design to kill an innocent man, a good man, a useful man, a
man that had done them no harm, but was willing to do them all the good
he could, was <I>going in the way of Cain,</I> and proved them to be of
<I>their father the devil, who was a murderer from the beginning;</I>
yet, as if this had been a small matter,
(1.) They bound themselves to it. To incline to do evil, and intend to
do it, is bad; but to engage to do it is much worse. This is entering
into covenant with the devil; it is swearing allegiance to the prince
of darkness; it is leaving no room for repentance; nay, it is bidding
defiance to it.
(2.) They bound one another to it, and did all they could, not only to
secure the damnation of their own souls, but of theirs whom they drew
into the association.
(3.) They showed a great contempt of the providence of God, and a
presumption upon it, in that they bound themselves to do such a thing
within so short a time as they could continue fasting, without any
proviso or reserve for the disposal of an overruling Providence. When
we say, <I>To-morrow we will do this or that,</I> be it ever so lawful
and good, forasmuch as <I>we know not what shall be on the morrow,</I>
we must add, <I>If the Lord will.</I> But with what face could they
insert a proviso for the permission of God's providence when they knew
that what they were about was directly against the prohibitions of
God's work?
(4.) They showed a great contempt of their own souls and bodies; of
their own souls in imprecating a curse upon them if they did not
proceed in this desperate enterprise (what a woeful dilemma did they
throw themselves upon! God certainly meets them with his curse if they
do go on in it, and they desire he would if they do not!)--and of their
own bodies too (for wilful sinners are the destroyers of both) in tying
themselves out from the necessary supports of life till they had
accomplished a thing which they could never lawfully do, and perhaps
not possibly do. Such language of hell those speak that wish God to
damn them, and the devil to take them, if they do not do so and so.
<I>As they love cursing, so shall it come unto them.</I> Some think the
meaning of this curse was, they would either kill Paul, as an Achan, an
accursed thing, a troubler of the camp; or, if they did not do it, they
would make themselves accursed before God in his stead.
(5.) They showed a most eager desire to compass this matter, and an
impatience till was done: not only like David's enemies, <I>that were
mad against him,</I> and <I>sworn against him</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:8">Ps. cii. 8</A>),
but like the servants of Job against his enemy: <I>O that we had of
this flesh! we cannot be satisfied,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+31:31">Job xxxi. 31</A>.
Persecutors are said to <I>eat up God's people as they eat bread;</I>
it is as much a gratification to them as meat to one that is hungry,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+14:4">Ps. xiv. 4</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
5. What method they took to bring it about. There is no getting near
Paul in the castle. He is there under the particular protection of the
government, and is imprisoned, not, as others are, lest he should do
harm, but lest he should have harm done him; and therefore the
contrivance is that the chief priests and elders must desire the
governor of the castle to let Paul come to them to the council-chamber,
to be further examined (they have some questions to ask him, or
something to say to him), and the, in his passage from the castle to
the council, they would put an end to all disputes about Paul by
killing him; thus the plot was laid,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:14,15"><I>v.</I> 14, 15</A>.
Having been all day employed in engaging one another to this
wickedness, towards evening they come to the principal members of the
great sanhedrim, and, though they might have concealed their mean
design and yet might have moved them upon some other pretence to send
for Paul, they are so confident of their approbation of this villainy,
that they are not ashamed nor afraid to own to them <I>that they have
bound themselves under a great curse,</I> without consulting the
priests first whether they might lawfully do it, <I>that they will eat
nothing</I> the next day <I>till they have killed Paul.</I> They design
to breakfast the next morning upon his blood. They doubt not but the
chief priests will not only countenance them in the design, but will
lend them a helping hand, and be their tools to get them an opportunity
of killing Paul; nay, and tell a lie for them too, pretending to <I>the
chief captain that they would enquire something more perfectly
concerning him,</I> when they meant no such thing. What a mean, what an
ill opinion had they of their priests, when they could apply to them on
such an errand as this! And yet, vile as the proposal was which was
made to them (for aught that appears), the priests and elders consented
to it, and at the first work, without boggling at it in the least,
promised to gratify them. Instead of reproving them, as they ought,
for their wicked conspiracy, they bolstered them up in it, because it
was against Paul whom they hated; and thus they made themselves
partakers of the crime as much as if they had been the first in the
conspiracy.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. How the plot was discovered. We do not find that the plotters,
though they took an oath of fidelity, took an oath of secrecy, either
because they thought it did not need it (they would every one keep his
own counsel) or because they thought they could accomplish it, though
it should take wind and be known; but Providence so ordered it that it
was brought to light, and so as effectually to be brought to nought.
See here,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. How it was discovered to Paul,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
There was a youth that was related to Paul, <I>his sister's son,</I>
whose mother probably lived in Jerusalem; and some how or other, we are
not told how, <I>he heard of their lying in wait,</I> either overheard
them talking of it among themselves, or got intelligence from some that
were in the ploy: and <I>he went into the castle,</I> probably, as he
used to do, to attend on his uncle, and bring him what he wanted, which
gave him a free access to him and <I>he told Paul</I> what he heard.
Note, God has many ways of bringing <I>to light the hidden works of
darkness;</I> though the contrivers of them <I>dig deep to hide them
from the Lord,</I> he can made a <I>bird of the air to carry the
voice</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+10:20">Eccl. x. 20</A>),
or the conspirators' own tongues to betray them.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. How it was discovered to the chief captain by the young man that
told it to Paul. This part of the story is related very particularly,
perhaps because the penman was an eye-witness of the prudent and
successful management of this affair, and remembered it with a great
deal of pleasure.
(1.) Paul had got a good interest in the officers that attended, by his
prudent peaceable deportment. He could call one of the centurions to
him, though a centurion was one in authority, that had soldiers under
him, and used to call, not to be called to, and he was ready to come at
his call
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>);
and he desired that he would introduce this young man to the chief
captain, to give in an information of something that concerned the
honour of the government.
(2.) The centurion very readily gratified him,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
He did not send a common soldier with him, but went himself to keep the
young man in countenance, to recommend his errand to the chief captain,
and to show his respect to Paul: "<I>Paul the prisoner</I> (this was
his title now) <I>called me to him, and prayed me to bring this young
man to thee;</I> what his business is I know not, but <I>he has
something to say to thee.</I>" Note, It is true charity to poor
prisoners to act for them as well as to give to them. "<I>I was sick
and in prison,</I> and you went on an errand for me," will pass as well
in the account as, "<I>I was sick and in prison, and you came unto
me,</I> to visit me, or sent me a token." Those that have acquaintance
and interest should be ready to use them for the assistance of those
that are in distress. This centurion helped to save Paul's life by this
piece of civility, which should engage us to be ready to do the like
when there is occasion. <I>Open thy mouth for the dumb,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+31:8">Prov. xxxi. 8</A>.
Those that cannot give a good gift to God's prisoners may yet speak a
good word for them.
(3.) The chief captain received the information with a great deal of
condescension and tenderness,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
He <I>took the young man by the hand,</I> as a friend or father, to
encourage him, that he might not be put out of countenance, but might
be assured of a favourable audience. The notice that is taken of this
circumstance should encourage great men to take themselves easy of
access to the meanest, upon any errand which may give them an
opportunity of doing good--<I>to condescend to those of low estate.</I>
This familiarity to which this Roman tribune or colonel admitted Paul's
nephew is here upon record to his honour. Let no man think he
disparages himself by his humility or charity. He <I>went with him
aside privately,</I> that none might hear his business, <I>and asked
him, "What is it that thou hast to tell me?</I> Tell me wherein I can
be serviceable to Paul." It is probable that the chief captain was the
more obliging in this case because he was sensible he had run himself
into a premunire in binding Paul, against his privilege as a Roman
citizen, which he was willing now to atone for.
(4.) The young man delivered his errand to the chief captain very
readily and handsomely
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:20,21"><I>v.</I> 20, 21</A>).
"<I>The Jews</I>" (he does not say who, lest he should invidiously
reflect upon <I>the chief priests and the elders;</I> and his business
was to save his uncle's life, not to accuse his enemies) "<I>have
agreed to desire thee that thou wouldest bring down Paul to-morrow into
the council,</I> presuming that, being so short a distance, thou wilt
send him without a guard; <I>but do not thou yield unto them,</I> we
have reason to believe thou wilt not when thou knowest the truth;
<I>for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty me,</I> who
have sworn to be the death of him, <I>and now are they ready looking
for a promised from thee,</I> but I have happily got the start of
them."
(5.) The captain dismissed the young man with a charge of secrecy:
<I>See that thou tell no man that thou hast shown these things unto
me,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
The favours of great men are not always to be boasted of; and not fit
to be employed in business. If it should be known that the chief
captain had this information brought to him, perhaps they would compass
and imagine the death of Paul some other way; "therefore keep it
private."</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. How the plot was defeated: The chief captain, finding how
implacable and inveterate the malice of the Jews was against Paul, how
restless they were in their designs to do him a mischief, and how near
he was to become himself accessory to it as a minister, resolves to
send him away with all speed out of their reach. He received the
intelligence with horror and indignation at the baseness and
bloody-mindedness of these Jews; and seemed afraid lest, if he should
detain Paul in his castle here, under ever so strong a guard, they
would find some way or other to compass their end notwithstanding,
either beating the guards or burning the castle; and, whatever came of
it, he would, if possible, protect Paul, because he looked upon it that
he did not deserve such treatment. What a melancholy observation is it,
that the Jewish <I>chief priests,</I> when they knew of this
assassination-plot, should countenance it, and assist in it, while a
Roman <I>chief captain,</I> purely from a natural sense of justice and
humanity, when he knows it, sets himself to baffle it, and puts himself
to a great deal of trouble to do it effectually!</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
1. He orders a considerable detachment of the Roman forces under his
command to get ready <I>to go to C&aelig;sarea</I> with all expedition, and
to bring Paul thither <I>to Felix the governor,</I> where he might
sooner expect to have justice done him than by the great sanhedrim at
Jerusalem. I see not but the chief captain might, without any
unfaithfulness to the duty of his place, have set Paul at liberty, and
given him leave to shift for his own safety, for he was never legally
committed to his custody as a criminal, he himself owns <I>that nothing
was laid to his charge worthy of bonds</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>),
and he ought to have had the same tenderness for his liberty that he
had for his life; but he feared that this would have incensed the Jews
too much against him. Or perhaps, finding Paul to be a very
extraordinary man, he was proud to have him his prisoner, and under his
protection; and the mighty parade with which he sent him off intimates
as much. <I>Two centurions,</I> or captains of the hundreds, are
employed in this business,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:23,24"><I>v.</I> 23, 24</A>.
They must <I>get ready two hundred soldiers,</I> probably those under
their own command, <I>to go to C&aelig;sarea;</I> and with these
<I>seventy horse, and two hundred spearmen</I> besides, which some
think were the <I>chief captain's</I> guards; whether they were horse
or foot is not certain, most probably foot, as pikemen for the
protection of the horse. See how justly God brought the Jewish nation
under the Roman yoke, when such a party of the Roman army was necessary
to restrain them from the most execrable villanies! There needed not
all this force, there needed not any of it, to keep Paul from being
rescued by his friends; ten times this force would not have kept him
from being rescued by an angel, if it had pleased God to work his
deliverance that way, as he had sometimes done; but,
(1.) The chief captain designed hereby to expose the Jews, as a
headstrong tumultuous people, that would not be kept within the bounds
of duty and decency by the ordinary ministers of justice, but needed to
be awed by such a train as this; and, hearing how many were in the
conspiracy against Paul, he thought less would not serve to defeat
their attempt.
(2.) God designed hereby to encourage Paul; for, being
thus attended, he was not only kept safely in the hands of his friends,
but out of the hands of his enemies. Yet Paul did not desire such a
guard, any more than Ezra did
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+8:22">Ezra viii. 22</A>),
and for the same reason, because he trusted in God's all-sufficiency;
it was owing, however, to the governor's own care. But he was also made
considerable; thus his <I>bonds in Christ</I> were made manifest all
the country over
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+1:13">Phil. i. 13</A>);
and, son great an honour having been put upon them before by the
prediction of them, it was agreeable enough that they should be thus
honourably attended, <I>that the brethren in the Lord might wax the
more confident by his bonds,</I> when they same him rather guarded as
the patriot of his country than guarded against as the pest of his
country, and so great a preacher made so great a prisoner. When his
enemies hate him, and I doubt his friends neglect him, then does a
Roman tribune patronise him, and carefully provide,
[1.] For his ease: <I>Let them provide beasts, that they may set Paul
on.</I> Had his Jewish persecutors ordered his removal by <I>habeas
corpus</I> to C&aelig;sarea, they would have made him run on foot, or
dragged him thither in a cart, or on a sledge, or have horsed him
behind one of the troopers; but the chief captain treats him like a
gentleman, though he was his prisoner, and orders him a good horse to
ride upon, not at all afraid that he should ride away. Nay, the order
being that they should provide, not a beast, but beasts, to set Paul
on, we must either suppose that he was allowed so great a piece of
state as to have a led horse, or more, that if he did not like one he
might take to another; or (as some expositors conjecture) that he had
beasts assigned him for his friends and companions, as many as pleased
to go along with him, to divert him in his journey, and to minister to
him.
[2.] For his security. They have a strict charge given them by their
commander in chief <I>to bring him safely to Felix the governor,</I> to
whom he is consigned, and who was supreme in all civil affairs among
the Jews, as this chief captain was in military affairs. The Roman
historians speak much of this Felix, as a man of mean extraction, but
that raised himself by his shifts to be governor of Judea, in the
execution of which office, Tacitus, <I>Hist.</I> 5, says this of him:
<I>Per omnem s&aelig;vitiam ac libidinem jus regium servili ingenio
exercuit--He used royal power with a servile genius, and in connection
with all the varieties of cruelty and lust.</I> To the judgement of
such a man as this is poor Paul turned over; and yet better so than in
the hands of <I>Ananias the high priest!</I> Now, a prisoner, thus upon
his deliverance by course of law, ought to be protected as well as a
prince.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
2. The chief captain orders, for the greater security of Paul, that he
be taken away at <I>the third hour of the night,</I> which some
understand of three hours after sun-set, that, it being now after
<I>the feast of pentecost</I> (that is, in the midst of summer), they
might have the cool of the night to march in. Others understand it of
<I>three hours after midnight, in the third watch, about three in the
morning,</I> that they might have the day before them, and might get
out of Jerusalem before Paul's enemies were stirring, and so might
prevent any popular tumult, and leave them to roar when they rose, like
a lion disappointed of his prey.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
3. <I>He writes a letter to Felix the governor</I> of this province, by
which he discharges himself from any further care about Paul, and
leaves the whole matter with Felix. This letter is here inserted
<I>totidem verbis--verbatim,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
It is probable that Luke the historian had a copy of it by him, having
attended Paul in this remove. Now in this epistle we may observe,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(1.) The compliments he passes upon <I>the governor,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>.
He is <I>the most excellent governor Felix,</I> this title being given
him of course, his excellency, &c. He sends him <I>greeting,</I> wishes
him all health and prosperity; may he rejoice, may he ever rejoice.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(2.) The just and fair account which he gives him of Paul's case:
[1.] That he was one that the Jews had a pique against: <I>They had
taken him,</I> and would <I>have killed him;</I> and perhaps Felix knew
the temper of the Jews so well that he did not think much the worse of
him for that,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>.
[2.] That he had protected him because he was a Roman: "When they were
about to kill him, <I>I came with an army,</I> a considerable body of
men, <I>and rescued him;</I>" which action for a citizen of Rome would
recommend him to the Roman governor.
[3.] That he could not understand the merits of his cause, nor what it
was that made him so odious to the Jews, and obnoxious to their
ill-will. He took the proper method to know: he <I>brought him forth
into their council</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>),
to be examined there, hoping that, either from their complaints or his
own confession, he would learn something of the ground of all this
clamour, but he found <I>that he was accused of questions of their
law</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>),
about <I>the hope of the resurrection of the dead,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
This chief captain was a man of sense and honour, and had good
principles in him of justice and humanity; and yet see how slightly he
speaks of another world, and the great things of that world, as if that
were a question, which is of undoubted certainty, and which both sides
agreed in, except the Sadducees; and as if that were a question only
<I>of their law,</I> which is of the utmost concern to all mankind! Or
perhaps he refers rather to the question about their rituals than about
their doctrinals, and the quarrel he perceived they had with him was
for lessening the credit and obligation of their ceremonial law, which
he looked upon as a thing not worth speaking of. The Romans allowed the
nations they conquered the exercise of their own religion, and never
offered to impose theirs upon them; yet, as conservators of the public
peace, they wound not suffer them, under colour of their religion, to
abuse their neighbours.
[4.] That thus far he understood that there was <I>nothing laid to his
charge worthy of death or of bonds,</I> much less proved or made out
against him. The Jews had, by their wickedness, made themselves odious
to the world, had polluted their own honour and profaned their own
crown, had brought disgrace upon their church, their law, and their
holy place, and then they cry out against Paul, as having diminished
the reputation of them; and was this a crime <I>worthy of death or
bonds?</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
(3.) His referring Paul's case to Felix
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:30"><I>v.</I> 30</A>):
"<I>When it was told me that the Jews laid wait for the man,</I> to
kill him, without any legal process against him, <I>I sent straightaway
to thee,</I> who art the most proper person to head the cause, and give
judgment upon it, and let <I>his accusers</I> go after him, if they
please, and <I>say before thee what they have against him,</I> for,
being bred a soldier, I will never pretend to be a judge, and so
<I>farewell.</I>"</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
4. Paul was accordingly conducted to C&aelig;sarea; the soldiers got him
safely out of Jerusalem by night, and left the conspirators to consider
whether they should east and drink or no before they had killed Paul;
and, if they would not repent of the wickedness of their oath as it was
against Paul, they were now at leisure to repent of the rashness of it
as it was against themselves; if any of them did starve themselves to
death, in consequence of their oath and vexation at their
disappointment, they fell unpitied. Paul was conducted to
<I>Antipatris,</I> which was seventeen miles from Jerusalem, and about
the mid-way to C&aelig;sarea,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:31"><I>v.</I> 31</A>.
Thence <I>the two hundred foot-soldiers,</I> and <I>the two hundred
spearmen, returned</I> back to Jerusalem, to their quarters in <I>the
castle;</I> for, having conducted Paul out of danger, there needed not
strong a guard, but <I>the horsemen</I> might serve to bring him to
C&aelig;sarea, and would do it with more expedition; this they did, not
only to save their own labour, but their master's charge; and it is an
example to servants, not only to act obediently according to their
masters' orders, but to act prudently, so as may be most for their
masters' interest.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
5. He was delivered into the hands of Felix, as his prisoner,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:33"><I>v.</I> 33</A>.
The officers <I>presented the letter,</I> and <I>Paul with it, to
Felix,</I> and so discharged themselves of their trust. Paul had never
affected acquaintance or society with great men, but with the
disciples, wherever he came; yet Providence overrules his sufferings so
as by them to give him an opportunity of witnessing to Christ before
great men; and so Christ had foretold concerning his disciples, <I>that
they should be brought before rulers and kings for his sake, for a
testimony against them,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mk+13:9">Mark xiii. 9</A>.
<I>The governor</I> enquired <I>of what province</I> of the empire the
prisoner originally was, and was told <I>that he was a native of
Cilicia,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:34"><I>v.</I> 34</A>;
and,
(1.) He promises him a speedy trial
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+23:35"><I>v.</I> 35</A>):
"<I>I will hear thee when thing accusers have come,</I> and will have
an ear open to both sides, as becomes a judge."
(2.) He ordered him into custody, that he should <I>be kept</I> a
prisoner <I>in Herod's judgment-hall,</I> in some apartment belonging
to that palace which was denominated from Herod the Great, who built
it. There he had opportunity of acquainting himself with great men that
attended the governor's court, and, no doubt, he improved what
acquaintance he got there to the best purposes.</P>
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