mh_parser/vol_split/44 - Acts/Chapter 25.xml

<div2 id="Acts.xxvi" n="xxvi" next="Acts.xxvii" prev="Acts.xxv" progress="26.99%" title="Chapter XXV">
<h2 id="Acts.xxvi-p0.1">A C T S.</h2>
<h3 id="Acts.xxvi-p0.2">CHAP. XXV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Acts.xxvi-p1">Some think that Felix was turned out, and Festus
succeeded him, quickly after Paul's imprisonment, and that the two
years mentioned in the close of the foregoing chapter are to be
reckoned from the beginning of Nero's reign; but it seems more
natural to compute them from Paul's being delivered into the hands
of Felix. However, we have here much the same management of Paul's
case as we had in the foregoing chapter; cognizance is here taken
of it, I. By Festus the governor; it is brought before him by the
Jews, <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.1-Acts.25.3" parsed="|Acts|25|1|25|3" passage="Ac 25:1-3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. The
hearing of it is appointed to be, not at Jerusalem, as the Jews
desired, out at Cæsarea, <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.4-Acts.25.6" parsed="|Acts|25|4|25|6" passage="Ac 25:4-6">ver.
4-6</scripRef>. The Jews appear against Paul and accuse him
(<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.7" parsed="|Acts|25|7|0|0" passage="Ac 25:7">ver. 7</scripRef>), but he stands upon
his own innocency (<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.8" parsed="|Acts|25|8|0|0" passage="Ac 25:8">ver. 8</scripRef>);
and to avoid the removing of the cause to Jerusalem, to which he
was pressed to consent, he at length appeals to Cæsar, <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.9-Acts.25.12" parsed="|Acts|25|9|25|12" passage="Ac 25:9-12">ver. 9-12</scripRef>. II. By king Agrippa, to
whom Festus relates his case (<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.13-Acts.25.21" parsed="|Acts|25|13|25|21" passage="Ac 25:13-21">ver.
13-21</scripRef>), and Agrippa desires he might have the hearing of
it himself, <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.22" parsed="|Acts|25|22|0|0" passage="Ac 25:22">ver. 22</scripRef>. The
court is accordingly set, and Paul brought to the bar (<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.23" parsed="|Acts|25|23|0|0" passage="Ac 25:23">ver. 23</scripRef>), and Festus opens the cause
(<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.24-Acts.25.27" parsed="|Acts|25|24|25|27" passage="Ac 25:24-27">ver. 24-27</scripRef>), to
introduce Paul's defence in the next chapter.</p>
<scripCom id="Acts.xxvi-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25" parsed="|Acts|25|0|0|0" passage="Ac 25" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Acts.xxvi-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.1-Acts.25.12" parsed="|Acts|25|1|25|12" passage="Ac 25:1-12" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Acts.25.1-Acts.25.12">
<h4 id="Acts.xxvi-p1.12">Paul Arraigned before Festus; Paul's Fourth
Defence; Paul Appeals to Cæsar.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Acts.xxvi-p2">1 Now when Festus was come into the province,
after three days he ascended from Cæsarea to Jerusalem.   2
Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him against
Paul, and besought him,   3 And desired favour against him,
that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying wait in the way to
kill him.   4 But Festus answered, that Paul should be kept at
Cæsarea, and that he himself would depart shortly <i>thither.</i>
  5 Let them therefore, said he, which among you are able, go
down with <i>me,</i> and accuse this man, if there be any
wickedness in him.   6 And when he had tarried among them more
than ten days, he went down unto Cæsarea; and the next day sitting
on the judgment seat commanded Paul to be brought.   7 And
when he was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem stood
round about, and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul,
which they could not prove.   8 While he answered for himself,
Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple,
nor yet against Cæsar, have I offended any thing at all.   9
But Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure, answered Paul, and
said, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these
things before me?   10 Then said Paul, I stand at Cæsar's
judgment seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done
no wrong, as thou very well knowest.   11 For if I be an
offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not
to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse
me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Cæsar.   12
Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, Hast
thou appealed unto Cæsar? unto Cæsar shalt thou go.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p3">We commonly say, "New lords, new laws, new
customs;" but here was a new governor, and yet Paul had the same
treatment from him that he had from the former, and no better.
Festus, like Felix, is not so just to him as he should have been,
for he does not release him; and yet not so unjust to him as the
Jews would have had him to be, for he will not condemn him to die,
nor expose him to their rage. Here is,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p4">I. The pressing application which the high
priest and other Jews used with the governor to persuade him to
abandon Paul; for to send him to Jerusalem was in effect to abandon
him. 1. See how speedy they were in their applications to Festus
concerning Paul. As soon as ever he <i>had come into the
province,</i> and had taken possession of the government, into
which, probably, he was installed at Cæsarea, within <i>three days
he went up to Jerusalem,</i> to show himself there, and presently
the priests were upon him to proceed against Paul. He staid
<i>three days at Cæsarea,</i> where Paul was a prisoner, and we do
not find that in that time Paul made any application to him to
release him, though, no doubt, he could have made good friends,
that he might hope to have prevailed by; but as soon as ever he
comes up to Jerusalem the priests are in all haste to make an
interest with him against Paul. See how restless a thing malice is.
Paul more patiently bears the lengthening out of his imprisonment
than his enemies do the delay of his prosecution even to the death.
2. See how spiteful they were in their application. They
<i>informed the governor against Paul</i> (<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.2" parsed="|Acts|25|2|0|0" passage="Ac 25:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>) before he was brought upon a fair
trial, that so they might, if possible, prejudge the cause with the
governor, and make him a party who was to be the judge. But this
artifice, though base enough, they could not confide in; for the
governor would be sure to hear him himself, and then all their
informations against him would fall to the ground; and therefore
they form another project much more base, and that is to
assassinate Paul before he came upon his trial. These inhuman
hellish methods, which all the world profess at least to abhor,
have these persecutors recourse to, to gratify their malice against
the gospel of Christ, and this too under colour of zeal for Moses.
<i>Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum—Such was their dire
religious zeal.</i> 3. See how specious the pretence was. Now that
<i>the governor was himself at Jerusalem they desired he would send
for Paul thither,</i> and try him there, which would save the
prosecutors a great deal of labour, and looked most reasonable,
because he was charged with having profaned the temple at
Jerusalem, and it is usual for criminals to be tried in the court
where the fact was committed; but that which they designed was to
way-lay him as he was brought up, and to murder him upon the road,
supposing that he would not be brought up under so strong a guard
as he was sent down with, or that the officers that were to bring
him up might be bribed to give them an opportunity for their
wickedness. It is said, <i>They desired favour against Paul.</i>
The business of prosecutors is to demand justice against one that
they suppose to be a criminal, and, if he be not proved so, it is
as much justice to acquit him as it is to condemn him if he be. But
to desire favour against a prisoner, and from the judge too, who
ought to be of counsel for him, is a very impudent thing. The
favour ought to be for the prisoner, <i>in favorem vitæ—to favour
his life,</i> but here they desire it against him. They will take
it as a favour if the governor will but condemn Paul, though they
can prove no crime upon him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p5">II. The governor's resolution that Paul
shall take his trial at Cæsarea, where he now is, <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.4-Acts.25.5" parsed="|Acts|25|4|25|5" passage="Ac 25:4,5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. See how he manages
the prosecutors. 1. He will not do them the kindness to send for
him to Jerusalem; no, he gave orders <i>that Paul should be kept at
Cæsarea.</i> It does not appear that he had any suspicion, much
less any certain information, of their bloody design to murder him
by the way, as the chief priests had when he sent him to Cæsarea
(<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.23.30" parsed="|Acts|23|30|0|0" passage="Ac 23:30"><i>ch.</i> xxiii. 30</scripRef>); but
perhaps he was not willing so far to oblige the high priest and his
party, or he would maintain the honour of his court at Cæsarea and
require their attendance there, or he was not willing to be at the
trouble or charge of bringing Paul up; whatever was his reason for
refusing it, God made use of it as a means of preserving Paul out
of the hands of his enemies. Perhaps now they were more careful to
keep their conspiracy secret than they had been before, that the
discovery of it might not be now, as it was then, the defeat of it.
But though God does not, as then, bring it to light, yet he finds
another way, as effectual, to bring it to nought, by inclining the
heart of the governor, for some other reasons, not to remove Paul
to Jerusalem. God is not tied to one method, in working out
salvation for his people. He can suffer the designs against them to
be concealed, and yet not suffer them to be accomplished; and can
make even the carnal policies of great men to serve his gracious
purposes. 2. Yet he will do them the justice to hear what they have
to say against Paul, if they will go down to Cæsarea, and appear
against him there: "<i>Let those among you who are able,</i> able
in body and purse for such a journey, or able in mind and tongue to
manage the prosecution—<i>let those among you</i> who are fit to
be managers, <i>go down with me, and accuse this man;</i> or, those
who are competent witnesses, who are able to prove any thing
criminal upon him, let them go and give in their evidence, if there
be any such wickedness in him as you charge upon him." Festus will
not take it for granted, as they desire he should, that there is
wickedness in him, till it is proved upon him, and he has been
heard in his own defence; but, if he be guilty, it lies upon them
to prove him so.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p6">III. Paul's trial before Festus. Festus
staid <i>at Jerusalem about ten days,</i> and then <i>went down to
Cæsarea,</i> and the prosecutors, it is likely, in his retinue; for
he said they should <i>go down with him;</i> and, since they are so
eager in the prosecution, he is willing this cause should be first
called; and, that they may hasten home, he will despatch it <i>the
next day.</i> Expedition in administering justice is very
commendable, provided more haste be not made than good speed. Now
here we have, 1. The court set, and the prisoner called to the bar.
Festus <i>sat in the judgment-seat,</i> as he used to do when any
cause was brought before him that was of consequence, and he
<i>commanded Paul to be brought,</i> and to make his appearance,
<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.6" parsed="|Acts|25|6|0|0" passage="Ac 25:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Christ, to
encourage his disciples and keep up their spirits under such awful
trials of their courage as this was to Paul, promised them that the
day should come when they <i>should sit on thrones, judging the
tribes of Israel.</i> 2. The prosecutors exhibiting their charges
against the prisoner (<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.7" parsed="|Acts|25|7|0|0" passage="Ac 25:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>): <i>The Jews stood round about,</i> which intimates
that they were many. <i>Lord, how are they increased that trouble
me!</i> It intimates also that they were unanimous, they stood by
one another, and resolved to hold together; and that they were
intent upon the prosecution, and eager in clamouring against Paul.
They <i>stood round about,</i> if possible, to frighten the judge
into a compliance with their malicious design, or, at least, to
frighten the prisoner, and to put him out of countenance; but in
vain: he had too just and strong an assurance to be frightened by
them. <i>They compassed me about like bees, but they are quenched
as the fire of thorns,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.118.12" parsed="|Ps|118|12|0|0" passage="Ps 118:12">Ps.
cxviii. 12</scripRef>. <i>When they stood round about him, they
brought many and grievous accusations against Paul,</i> so it
should be read. They charged him with high crimes and misdemeanors.
The articles of impeachment were many, and contained things of a
very heinous nature. They represented him to the court as black and
odious as their wit and malice could contrive; but when they had
opened the cause as they thought fit, and came to the evidence,
there they failed: <i>they could not prove</i> what they alleged
against him, for it was all false, and the complaints were
groundless and unjust. Either the fact was not as they opened it,
or there was no fault in it; <i>they laid to his charge things that
he knew not,</i> nor they neither. It is no new thing for the most
excellent ones of the earth to have all manner of evil said against
them falsely, not only <i>in the song of the drunkards,</i> and
upon <i>the seat of the scornful,</i> but even <i>before the
judgment-seat.</i> 3. The prisoner's insisting upon his own
vindication, <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.8" parsed="|Acts|25|8|0|0" passage="Ac 25:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>.
Whoever reproaches him, his own heart does not, and therefore his
own tongue shall not; <i>though he die, he will not remove his
integrity from him.</i> When it came to his turn to speak <i>for
himself,</i> he insisted upon his general plea, Not guilty:
<i>Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor
yet against Cæsar, have I offended any thing at all.</i> (1.) He
had not violated the law of the Jews, nor taught any doctrine
destructive of it. <i>Did he make void the law by faith? No, he
established the law.</i> Preaching Christ, <i>the end of the
law,</i> was no offence against the law. (2.) He had not profaned
the temple, nor put any contempt at all upon the temple-service;
his helping to set up the gospel temple did not at all offend
against that temple which was a type of it. (3.) He had not
offended against Cæsar, nor his government. By this it appears that
now his cause being brought before the government, to curry favour
with the governor and that they might seem friends to Cæsar, they
had charged him with some instances of disaffection to the present
higher powers, which obliged him to purge himself as to that
matter, and to protest that he was no enemy to Cæsar, not so much
as those were who charged him with being so.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p7">IV. Paul's appeal to the emperor, and the
occasion of it. This gave the cause a new turn. Whether he had
before designed it, or whether it was a sudden resolve upon the
present provocation, does not appear; but God puts it into his
heart to do it, for the bringing about of that which he had said to
him, <i>that he must bear witness to Christ at Rome,</i> for there
the emperor's court was, <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.23.11" parsed="|Acts|23|11|0|0" passage="Ac 23:11"><i>ch.</i>
xxiii. 11</scripRef>. We have here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p8">1. The proposal which Festus made to Paul
to go and take his trial at Jerusalem, <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.9" parsed="|Acts|25|9|0|0" passage="Ac 25:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. <i>Festus</i> was <i>willing to
do the Jews a pleasure,</i> inclined to gratify the prosecutors
rather than the prisoner, as far as he could go with safety against
one that was a citizen of Rome, and therefore asked him whether he
would be willing to go up to Jerusalem, and clear himself there,
where he had been accused, and where he might have his witnesses
ready to vouch for him and confirm what he said. He would not offer
to turn him over to the high priest and the sanhedrim, as the Jews
would have had him; but, <i>Wilt thou go thither, and be judged of
these things before me?</i> The president, if he had pleased, might
have ordered him thither, but he would not do it without his own
consent, which, if he could have wheedled him to give it, would
have taken off the odium of it. In suffering times, the prudence of
the Lord's people is tried as well as their patience; being sent
forth therefore as sheep in the midst of wolves, they have need to
be wise as serpents.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p9">2. Paul's refusal to consent to it, and his
reasons for it. He knew, if he were removed to Jerusalem,
notwithstanding the utmost vigilance of the president, the Jews
would find some means or other to be the death of him; and
therefore desires to be excused, and pleads, (1.) That, as a
citizen of Rome, it was most proper for him to be tried, not only
by the president, but in that which was properly his court, which
sat at Cæsarea: <i>I stand at Cæsar's judgment-seat, where I ought
to be judged,</i> in the city which is the metropolis of the
province. The court being held in Cæsar's name, and by his
authority and commission, before one that was delegated by him, it
might well be said to be his judgment seat, as, with us, all writs
run in the name of the sovereign, in whose name all courts are
held. Paul's owning that he ought to be judged at Cæsar's
judgment-seat plainly proves that Christ's ministers are not
exempted from the jurisdiction of the civil powers, but ought to be
subject to them, as far as they can with a good conscience; and, if
they be guilty of a real crime, to submit to their censure; if
innocent, yet to submit to their enquiry, and to clear themselves
before them. (2.) That, as a member of the Jewish nation, he had
done nothing to make himself obnoxious to them: <i>To the Jews have
I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest.</i> It very well
becomes those that are innocent to plead their innocency, and to
insist upon it; it is a debt we owe to our own good name, not only
not to bear false witness against ourselves, but to maintain our
own integrity against those who bear false witness against us. (3.)
That he was willing to abide by the rules of the law, and to let
that take its course, <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.11" parsed="|Acts|25|11|0|0" passage="Ac 25:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>. If he be guilty of any capital crime that deserves
death, he will not offer either to make resistance or to make his
escape, will neither flee from justice nor fight with it: "I refuse
not to die, but will accept of the punishment of my iniquity." Not
that all who have committed any thing worthy of death are obliged
to accuse themselves, and offer themselves to justice; but, when
they are accused and brought to justice, they ought to submit, and
to say both God and the government are righteous; as it is
necessary that some should be made examples. But, if he be
innocent, as he protests he is, "<i>If there be none of these
things whereof these accuse me,</i>—if the prosecution be
malicious and they are resolved to have my blood right or
wrong,—<i>no man may deliver me unto them,</i> no, not the
governor himself, without palpable injustice; for it is his
business as much to protect the innocent as to punish the guilty;"
and he claims his protection.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p10">3. His appealing to court. Since he is
continually in danger of the Jews, and one attempt made after
another to get him into their hands, <i>whose tender mercies were
cruel,</i> he flies to the <i>dernier resort—the last refuge</i>
of oppressed innocency, and takes sanctuary there, since he cannot
have justice done him in any other way: "<i>I appeal unto
Cæsar.</i> Rather than be delivered to the Jews" (which Festus
seems inclined to consent to) "let me be delivered to Nero." When
David had divers times narrowly escaped the rage of Saul, and
concluded he was such a restless enemy that he should <i>one day
perish by his hands,</i> he came to this resolution, being in a
manner compelled to it, <i>There is nothing better for me than to
take shelter in the land of the Philistines,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.27.1" parsed="|1Sam|27|1|0|0" passage="1Sa 27:1">1 Sam. xxvii. 1</scripRef>. So Paul here. But it is a
hard case that a son of Abraham must be forced to appeal to a
Philistine, to a Nero, from those who call themselves the seed of
Abraham, and shall be safer in Gath or Rome than in Jerusalem.
<i>How is the faithful city become a harlot!</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p11">V. The judgment given upon the whole
matter. Paul is neither released nor condemned. His enemies hoped
the cause would be ended in his death; his friends hoped it would
be ended in his deliverance; but it proved neither so nor so, they
are both disappointed, the thing is left as it was. It is an
instance of the slow steps which Providence sometimes takes, not
bringing things to an issue so soon as we expect, by which we are
often made ashamed both of our hopes and of our fears, and are kept
still waiting on God. The cause had before been adjourned to
another time, now to another place, to another court, that Paul's
<i>tribulation might work patience.</i> 1. The president takes
advice upon the matter: <i>He conferred with the
council</i>—<b><i>meta tou symbouliou,</i></b> not with the
council of the Jews (that is called <b><i>synedrion</i></b>), but
with his own counsellors, who were always ready to assist the
governor with their advice. <i>In multitude of counsellors there is
safety;</i> and judges should consult both with themselves and
others before they pass sentence. 2. He determines to send him to
Rome. Some think Paul meant not an appeal to Cæsar's person, but
only to his court, the sentence of which he would abide by, rather
than be remitted to the Jew's council, and that Festus might have
chosen whether he would have sent him to Rome, or, at least,
whether he would have joined issue with him upon the appeal. But it
should seem, by what Agrippa said (<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.26.32" parsed="|Acts|26|32|0|0" passage="Ac 26:32"><i>ch.</i> xxvi. 32</scripRef>), that <i>he might have
been set at liberty if he had not appealed to Cæsar</i>—that, by
the course of the Roman law, a Roman citizen might appeal at any
time to a superior court, even to the supreme, as causes with us
are removed by <i>certiorari,</i> and criminals by <i>habeas
corpus,</i> and as appeals are often made to the house of peers.
Festus, therefore, either of choice or of course, comes to this
resolution: <i>Hast thou appealed unto Cæsar? Unto Cæsar thou shalt
go.</i> He found there was something very extraordinary in the
case, which he was therefore afraid of giving judgment upon, either
one way or other, and the knowledge of which he thought would be an
entertainment to the emperor, and therefore he transmitted it to
his cognizance. In our judgment before God those that by justifying
themselves appeal to the law, to the law they shall go, and it will
condemn them; but those that by repentance and faith appeal to the
gospel, to the gospel they shall go, and it will save them.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Acts.xxvi-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.13-Acts.25.27" parsed="|Acts|25|13|25|27" passage="Ac 25:13-27" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Acts.25.13-Acts.25.27">
<h4 id="Acts.xxvi-p11.3">Agrippa's Visit to Festus; Paul Arraigned
before Agrippa.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Acts.xxvi-p12">13 And after certain days king Agrippa and
Bernice came unto Cæsarea to salute Festus.   14 And when they
had been there many days, Festus declared Paul's cause unto the
king, saying, There is a certain man left in bonds by Felix:  
15 About whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the
elders of the Jews informed <i>me,</i> desiring <i>to have</i>
judgment against him.   16 To whom I answered, It is not the
manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that he
which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have licence
to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him.  
17 Therefore, when they were come hither, without any delay on the
morrow I sat on the judgment seat, and commanded the man to be
brought forth.   18 Against whom when the accusers stood up,
they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed:  
19 But had certain questions against him of their own superstition,
and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.
  20 And because I doubted of such manner of questions, I
asked <i>him</i> whether he would go to Jerusalem, and there be
judged of these matters.   21 But when Paul had appealed to be
reserved unto the hearing of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept
till I might send him to Cæsar.   22 Then Agrippa said unto
Festus, I would also hear the man myself. To morrow, said he, thou
shalt hear him.   23 And on the morrow, when Agrippa was come,
and Bernice, with great pomp, and was entered into the place of
hearing, with the chief captains, and principal men of the city, at
Festus' commandment Paul was brought forth.   24 And Festus
said, King Agrippa, and all men which are here present with us, ye
see this man, about whom all the multitude of the Jews have dealt
with me, both at Jerusalem, and <i>also</i> here, crying that he
ought not to live any longer.   25 But when I found that he
had committed nothing worthy of death, and that he himself hath
appealed to Augustus, I have determined to send him.   26 Of
whom I have no certain thing to write unto my lord. Wherefore I
have brought him forth before you, and specially before thee, O
king Agrippa, that, after examination had, I might have somewhat to
write.   27 For it seemeth to me unreasonable to send a
prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes <i>laid</i> against
him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p13">We have here the preparation that was made
for another hearing of Paul before King Agrippa, not in order to
his giving judgment upon him, but in order to his giving advice
concerning him, or rather only to gratify his curiosity. Christ had
said, concerning his followers, <i>that they should be brought
before governors and kings.</i> In the former part of this chapter
Paul was brought before Festus the governor, here before Agrippa
the king, for a testimony to both. Here is,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p14">I. The kind and friendly visit which king
Agrippa made to Festus, now upon his coming into the government in
that province (<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.13" parsed="|Acts|25|13|0|0" passage="Ac 25:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>): <i>After certain days, king Agrippa came to
Cæsarea.</i> Here is royal visit. Kings usually think it enough to
send their ambassadors to congratulate their friends, but here was
a king that came himself, that made the majesty of a prince yield
to the satisfaction of a friend; for personal converse is the most
pleasant among friends. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p15">1. Who the visitants were. (1.) King
Agrippa, the son of that Herod (surnamed <i>Agrippa</i>) who killed
James the apostle, and was himself eaten of worms, and great
grandson of Herod the Great, under whom Christ was born. Josephus
calls this <i>Agrippa the younger;</i> Claudius the emperor made
him king of Chalcis, and <i>tetrarch of Trachonitis and
Abylene,</i> mentioned <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.3.1" parsed="|Luke|3|1|0|0" passage="Lu 3:1">Luke iii.
1</scripRef>. The Jewish writers speak of him, and (as Dr.
Lightfoot tells us) among other things relate this story of him,
"That reading the law publicly, in the latter end of the year of
release, as was enjoined, the king, when he came to those words
(<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.15" parsed="|Deut|17|15|0|0" passage="De 17:15">Deut. xvii. 15</scripRef>), <i>Thou
shalt not set a stranger king over thee, who is not of thy
brethren,</i> the tears ran down his cheeks, for he was not of the
seed of Israel, which the congregation observing, cried out, Be of
good comfort, king Agrippa, thou art our brother; for he was of
their religion, though not of their blood." (2.) Bernice came with
him. She was his own sister, now a widow, the widow of his uncle
Herod, king of Chalcis, after whose death she lived with this
brother of hers, who was suspected to be too familiar with her,
and, after she was a second time married to Polemon king of
Cilicia, she got to be divorced from him, and returned to her
brother king Agrippa. Juvenal (<i>Sat.</i> 6) speaks of a diamond
ring which Agrippa gave to Bernice, his incestuous sister:—</p>
<verse id="Acts.xxvi-p15.3">
<l class="t1" id="Acts.xxvi-p15.4">———————Berenices</l>
<l class="t1" id="Acts.xxvi-p15.5">In digito factus pretiosior; hunc dedit olim</l>
<l class="t1" id="Acts.xxvi-p15.6">Barbarus incestæ, dedit hunc Agrippa sorori.</l>
<l class="t1" id="Acts.xxvi-p15.7"/>
<l class="t1" id="Acts.xxvi-p15.8">That far-famed gem which on the finger glow'd</l>
<l class="t1" id="Acts.xxvi-p15.9">Of Bernice (dearer thence), bestowed</l>
<l class="t1" id="Acts.xxvi-p15.10">By an incestuous brother.</l>
</verse>
<attr id="Acts.xxvi-p15.11"><span class="smallcaps" id="Acts.xxvi-p15.12">Gifford.</span></attr>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p16">And both Tacitus and Suetonius speak of a
criminal intimacy afterwards between her and Titus Vespasian.
Drusilla, the wife of Felix, was another sister. Such lewd people
were the great people generally in those times! <i>Say not that the
former days were better.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p17">2. What the design of this visit was: they
<i>came to salute Festus,</i> to give him joy of his new promotion,
and to wish him joy in it; they came to compliment him upon his
accession to the government, and to keep up a good correspondence
with him, that Agrippa, who had the government of Galilee, might
act in concert with Festus, who had the government of Judea; but it
is probable they came as much to divert themselves as to show
respect to him, and to share in the entertainments of his court,
and to show their fine clothes, which would do vain people no good
if they did not go abroad.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p18">II. The account which Festus gave to king
Agrippa of Paul and his case, which he gave.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p19">1. To entertain him, and give him some
diversion. It was a very remarkable story, and worth any man's
hearing, not only as it was surprising and entertaining, but, if it
were truly and fully told, very instructive and edifying; and it
would be particularly acceptable to Agrippa, not only because he
was a judge, and there were some points of law and practice in it
well worth his notice, but much more as he was a Jew, and there
were some points of religion in it much more deserving his
cognizance.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p20">2. To have his advice. <i>Festus</i> was
but newly come to be a judge, at least to be a judge in these
parts, and therefore was diffident of himself and of his own
ability, and willing to have the counsel of those that were older
and more experienced, especially in a matter that had so much
difficulty in it as Paul's case seemed to have, and therefore he
declared it to the king. Let us now see the particular account he
gives to king Agrippa concerning Paul, <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.14-Acts.25.21" parsed="|Acts|25|14|25|21" passage="Ac 25:14-21"><i>v.</i> 14-21</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p21">(1.) He found him a prisoner when he came
into the government of this province; and therefore could not of
his own knowledge give an account of his cause from the beginning:
<i>There is a certain man left in bonds by Felix;</i> and
therefore, if there were any thing amiss in the first taking of him
into custody, Festus is not to answer for that, for he found him in
bonds. When <i>Felix, to do the Jews a pleasure, left Paul
bound,</i> though he knew him to be innocent, he knew not what he
did, knew not but he might fall into worse hands than he did fall
into, though they were none of the best.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p22">(2.) That the Jewish sanhedrim were
extremely set against him: "The <i>chief priests and the elders
informed me</i> against him as a dangerous man, and not fit to
live, and desired he might therefore be condemned to die." These
being great pretenders to religion, and therefore to be supposed
men of honour and honesty, Festus thinks he ought to give credit to
them; but Agrippa knows them better than he does, and therefore
Festus desires his advice in this matter.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p23">(3.) That he had insisted upon the Roman
law in favour of the prisoner, and would not condemn him unheard
(<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.16" parsed="|Acts|25|16|0|0" passage="Ac 25:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): "<i>It is
not the manner of the Romans,</i> who herein govern themselves by
the law of nature and the fundamental rules of justice, to
<i>deliver any man to die,</i> to grant him to destruction" (so the
word is), "to gratify his enemies with his destruction, <i>before
the accused has the accusers face to face,</i> to confront their
testimony, and have both licence and time given him to answer for
himself." He seems to upbraid them as if they reflected upon the
Romans and their government in asking such a thing, or expecting
that they would condemn a man without trying him: "No," says he, "I
would have you to know, whatever you may allow of among yourselves,
the Romans allow not of such a piece of injustice among them."
<i>Audi et alteram partem—Hear the other side,</i> had become a
proverb among them. This rule we ought to be governed by in our
private censures in common conversation; we must not give men bad
characters, nor condemn their words and actions, till we have heard
what is to be said in their vindication. See <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:John.7.51" parsed="|John|7|51|0|0" passage="Joh 7:51">John vii. 51</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p24">(4.) That he had brought him upon his
trial, according to the duty of his place, <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.17" parsed="|Acts|25|17|0|0" passage="Ac 25:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. That he had been expeditious in
it, and the prosecutors had not reason to complain of his being
dilatory, for <i>as soon as ever they had come</i> (and we are sure
they lost no time) <i>without any delay, on the morrow,</i> he had
brought on the cause. He had likewise tried him in the most solemn
manner: He <i>sat on the judgment-seat,</i> as they used to do in
weightier causes, while those that were of small moment they judged
<i>de plano—upon even ground.</i> He called a great court on
purpose for the trial of Paul, that the sentence might be
definitive, and the cause ended.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p25">(5.) That he was extremely
<i>disappointed</i> in the charge they brought against him
(<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.18-Acts.25.19" parsed="|Acts|25|18|25|19" passage="Ac 25:18,19"><i>v.</i> 18, 19</scripRef>):
<i>When the accusers stood up against him,</i> and opened their
indictment, <i>they brought no accusations of such things as I
supposed.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p26">[1.] He supposed by the eagerness of their
prosecution, and their urging it thus upon the Roman governors one
after another, <i>First,</i> That they had something to accuse him
of that was dangerous either to private property or the public
peace,—that they would undertake to prove him a robber, or a
murderer, or a rebel against the Roman power,—that he had been in
arms to head a sedition,—that if he were not that Egyptian who
lately made an uproar, and commanded a party of cut-throats, as the
chief captain supposed him to be, yet he was one of the same
kidney. Such were the outcries against the primitive Christians, so
loud, so fierce, that the standers-by, who judged of them by those
outcries, could not but conclude them the worst of men; and to
represent them so was the design of that clamour, as it was against
our Saviour. <i>Secondly,</i> That they had something to accuse him
of that was cognizable in the Roman courts, and which the governor
was properly the judge of, as Gallio expected (<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.18.14" parsed="|Acts|18|14|0|0" passage="Ac 18:14"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 14</scripRef>); otherwise it was
absurd and ridiculous to trouble him with it, and really an affront
to him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p27">[2.] But to his great surprise he finds the
matter is neither so nor so; they had <i>certain questions against
him,</i> instead of proofs and evidences against him. The worst
they had to say against him was disputable whether it was a crime
or no-moot-points, that would bear an endless debate, but had no
tendency to fasten any guilt upon him, questions fitter for the
schools than for the judgment-seat. And they were questions <i>of
their own superstition,</i> so he calls their religion; or, rather,
so he calls that part of their religion which Paul was charged with
doing damage to. The Romans protected their religion according to
their law, but not their superstition, nor the tradition of their
elders. But the great question, it seems, was <i>concerning one
Jesus that was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.</i> Some think
the superstition he speaks of was the Christian religion, which
Paul preached, and that he had the same notion of it that the
Athenians had, that it was the introducing of a new demon, even
Jesus. See how slightly this Roman speaks of Christ, and of his
death and resurrection, and of the great controversy between the
Jews and the Christians whether he were the Messiah promised or no,
and the great proof of his being the Messiah, his resurrection from
the dead, as if it were no more than this, There was one Jesus that
was dead, and Paul affirmed he was alive. In many causes issue is
joined upon this question, whether such a person that has been long
absent be living or dead, and proofs are brought on both sides; and
Festus will have it thought that this is a matter of no more
moment. Whereas this Jesus, whom he prides himself in being thus
ignorant of, as if he were below his notice, is he that <i>was
dead, and is alive, and lives for evermore, and has the keys of
hell and of death,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.1.18" parsed="|Rev|1|18|0|0" passage="Re 1:18">Rev. i.
18</scripRef>. What Paul affirmed concerning Jesus, that he is
alive, is a matter of such vast importance that if it be not true
we are all undone.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p28">(6.) That therefore he had proposed to Paul
that the cause might be adjourned to the Jewish courts, as best
able to take cognizance of an affair of this nature (<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.20" parsed="|Acts|25|20|0|0" passage="Ac 25:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): "<i>Because I doubted
of such manner of questions,</i> and thought myself unfit to judge
of things I did not understand, <i>I asked him whether he would go
to Jerusalem,</i> appear before the great sanhedrim, <i>and there
be judged of these matters.</i>" He would not force him to it, but
would be glad if Paul would consent to it, that he might not have
his conscience burdened with a cause of this nature.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p29">(7.) That Paul had chosen rather to remove
his cause to Rome than to Jerusalem, as expecting fairer play from
the emperor than from the priests: "He <i>appealed to be reserved
to the hearing of Augustus</i> (<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.21" parsed="|Acts|25|21|0|0" passage="Ac 25:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), having no other way to stop
proceedings here in this inferior court; and therefore I
<i>commanded him to be kept</i> a close prisoner <i>till I might
send him to Cæsar,</i> for I did not see cause to refuse his
appeal, but rather was pleased with it."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p30">III. The bringing of him before Agrippa,
that he might have the hearing of his cause.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p31">1. The king desired it (<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.22" parsed="|Acts|25|22|0|0" passage="Ac 25:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>): "I thank you for your account
of him, but <i>I would also hear the man myself.</i>" Agrippa knows
more of this matter, of the cause and of the person, than Festus
does; he has heard of Paul, and knows of what vast concern this
question is, which Festus makes such a jest of, whether Jesus be
alive or no. And nothing would oblige him more than to hear Paul.
Many great men think it below them to take cognizance of the
matters of religion, except they can hear them like themselves in
the judgment-seat. Agrippa would not for all the world have gone to
a meeting to hear Paul preach, any more than Herod to hear Jesus;
and yet they are both glad to have them brought before them, only
to satisfy their curiosity. Perhaps Agrippa desired to hear him
himself, that he might be in a capacity to do him a kindness, and
yet did him none, only put some credit upon him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p32">2. Festus granted it: <i>To-morrow thou
shalt hear him.</i> There was a good providence in this, for the
encouragement of Paul, who seemed buried alive in his imprisonment,
and deprived of all opportunities of doing good. We know not of any
of his epistles that bore date from his prison at Cæsarea. What
opportunity he had of doing good to his friends that visited him,
and perhaps to a little congregation of them that visited him every
Lord's-day, was but a low and narrow sphere of usefulness, so that
he seemed to be thrown by as a <i>despised broken vessel, in which
there was no pleasure;</i> but this gives him an opportunity of
preaching Christ to a great congregation, and (which is more) to a
congregation of great ones. Felix heard him in private concerning
the faith of Christ. But Agrippa and Festus agree he shall be heard
in public. And we have reason to think that his sermon in the next
chapter, though it might not be so instrumental as some other of
his sermons for the conversion of souls, redounded as much to the
honour of Christ and Christianity as any sermon he ever preached in
his life.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p33">3. Great preparation was made for it
(<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.23" parsed="|Acts|25|23|0|0" passage="Ac 25:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>): <i>The next
day</i> there was a great appearance <i>in the place of
hearing,</i> Paul and his cause being much talked of, and the more
for their being much talked against.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p34">(1.) Agrippa and Bernice took this
opportunity to show themselves in state, and to make a figure, and
perhaps for that end desired the occasion, that they might see and
be seen; for <i>they came with great pomp,</i> richly dressed, with
gold and pearls, and costly array; with a great retinue of footmen
in rich liveries, which made a splendid show, and dazzled the eyes
of the gazing crowd. They came <b><i>meta polles
phantasias</i></b>—<i>with great fancy,</i> so the word is. Note,
Great pomp is but great fancy. It neither adds any read excellency,
nor gains any real respect, but feeds a vain humour, which wise men
would rather mortify than gratify. It is but a show, a dream, a
fantastical thing (so the word signifies), superficial, and <i>it
passeth away.</i> And the pomp of this appearance would put one for
ever out of conceit with pomp, when the pomp which Agrippa and
Bernice appeared in was, [1.] Stained by their lewd characters, and
all the beauty of it sullied, and all virtuous people that knew
them could not but contemn them in the midst of all this pomp as
vile persons, <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p34.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.15.4" parsed="|Ps|15|4|0|0" passage="Ps 15:4">Ps. xv. 4</scripRef>.
[2.] Outshone by the real glory of the poor prisoner at the bar.
What was the honour of their fine clothes, compared with that of
his wisdom, and grace, and holiness, his courage and constancy in
suffering for Christ! His bonds in so good a cause were more
glorious than their chains of gold, and his guards than their
equipage. Who would be fond of worldly pomp that here sees so bad a
woman loaded with it and so good a man loaded with the reverse of
it?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p35">(2.) The chief captains and principal men
of the city took this opportunity to pay their respects to Festus
and to his guests. It answered the end of a ball at court, it
brought the fine folks together in their fine clothes, and served
for an entertainment. It is probable that Festus sent Paul notice
of it overnight, to be ready for a hearing the next morning before
Agrippa. And such confidence had Paul in the promise of Christ,
that it should be <i>given him in that same hour what he should
speak,</i> that he complained not of the short warning, nor was put
into confusion by it. I am apt to think that those who were to
appear in pomp perplexed themselves more with care about their
clothes than Paul, who was to appear as a prisoner, did with care
about his cause; for he knew whom he had believed, and who stood by
him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxvi-p36">IV. The speech with which Festus introduced
the cause, when the court, or rather the audience, was set, which
is much to the same purport with the account he had just now given
to Agrippa. 1. He addressed himself respectfully to the company:
"<i>King Agrippa, and all men who are here present with us.</i>" He
speaks <i>to all the men</i>—<b><i>pantes andres,</i></b> as if he
intended a tacit reflection upon Bernice, a woman, for appearing in
a meeting of this nature; he does not refer any thing to her
judgment nor desire her counsel; but, "<i>All you that are present
that are men</i> (so the words are placed), I desire you to take
cognizance of this matter." The word used is that which signifies
men in distinction from women; what had Bernice to do here? 2. He
represents the prisoner as one that the Jews had a very great spite
against; not only the rulers, but <i>the multitude of them, both at
Jerusalem and here at Cæsarea,</i> cry out <i>that he ought not to
live any longer,</i> for they think he has lived too long already,
and if he live any longer it will be to do more mischief. They
could not charge him with any capital crime, but they wanted to
have him out of the way. 3. He confesses the prisoner's innocency;
and it was much for the honour of Paul and his bonds that he had
such a public acknowledgement as this from the mouth of his judge
(<scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p36.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.25" parsed="|Acts|25|25|0|0" passage="Ac 25:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>): <i>I found
that he had committed nothing worthy of death.</i> Upon a full
hearing of the case, it appeared there was no evidence at all to
support the indictment: and therefore, though he was inclinable
enough to favour the prosecutors, yet his own conscience brought in
Paul <i>not guilty.</i> And why did he not discharge him then, for
he stood upon his deliverance? Why, truly, because he was so much
clamoured against, and he feared the clamour would turn upon
himself if he should release him. It is a pity but every man that
has a conscience should have courage to act according to it. Or
perhaps because there was so much smoke that he concluded there
could not but be some fire, which would appear at last, and he
would detain him a prisoner in expectation of it. 4. He acquaints
them with the present state of the case, that the prisoner had
appealed to the emperor himself (where by he put ann honour upon
his own cause, as knowing it not unworthy the cognizance of the
greatest of men), and that he had admitted his appeal: <i>I have
determined to send him.</i> And thus the cause now stood. 5. He
desires their assistance in examining the matter calmly and
impartially, now that there was no danger of their being
interrupted, as he had been with the noisiness and outrage of the
prosecutors-that he might have at least such an insight into the
cause as was necessary to his stating it to the emperor, <scripRef id="Acts.xxvi-p36.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.25.26-Acts.25.27" parsed="|Acts|25|26|25|27" passage="Ac 25:26,27"><i>v.</i> 26, 27</scripRef>. (1.) He thought
it <i>unreasonable to send a prisoner,</i> especially so far as
Rome, <i>and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him,</i>
that the matter might be prepared as much as possible, and put in a
readiness for the emperor's determination; for he is supposed to be
a man of great business, and therefore every affair must be laid
before him in as little compass as possible. (2.) He could not as
yet write <i>any thing certain</i> concerning Paul; so confused
were the informations that were given in against him, and so
inconsistent, that Festus could make nothing at all of them. He
therefore desired Paul might thus be publicly examined, that he
might be advised by them what to write. See what a great deal of
trouble and vexation those were put to, and to what delay, nay, and
to what hazard, in the administration of public justice, who live
at such a distance from Rome, and yet were subject to the emperor
of Rome. The same was this nation of ours put to (which is about as
far distant from Rome the other way) when it was in ecclesiastical
affairs subject to the pope of Rome, and appeals were upon all
occasions made to his court; and the same mischiefs, and a thousand
worse, would those bring upon us who would again entangle us in
that yoke of bondage.</p>
</div></div2>