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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadGreater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 658. Felix
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Literature
Burrell, D. J., A Quiver of Arrows (1904), 172.
Buss, S., Roman Law and History in the New Testament (1901), 373.
Chapman, J. W., Bells of Gold, 42.
Church, R. W., Village Sermons, i. (1892) 231.
Fraser, J., University Sermons (1887), 118.
Gibbon, J. M., The Vision and the Call (1894), 33.
Goodwin, H., Parish Sermons, ii. (1861) 179.
Hiley, R. W., A Year's Sermons, iii. (1897) 105.
Hobhouse, W., The Spiritual Standard (1896), 130.
Howson, J. S., The Companions of St. Paul (1874), 145.
Little, W. J. K., The Journey of Life (1893), 65.
McFadyen, J. E., The City with Foundations (1909), 221.
M‘Garvey, J. W., Sermons (1894), 172.
Maclaren, A., The Acts of the Apostles (Bible Class Expositions) (1894), 262.
Maclaren, A., Expositions: The Acts of the Apostles xiii.-end (1907), 281.
Mills, B. R. V., The Marks of the Church (1901), 198.
Morrison, G. H., The Footsteps of the Flock (1904), 362.
Pierson, A. T., Dr. Pierson and his Message (ed. J. K. Maclean), 206.
Price, A. C., Fifty Sermons, iv. (1886) 17.
Seekings, H. S., The Men of the Pauline Circle (1914), 227.
Smellie, A., In the Hour of Silence (1899), 393.
Smith, Gipsy, As Jesus Passed by (1905), 139.
Trench, R. C., Westminster and Other Sermons (1888), 32.
Vaughan, J., in Anglican Pulpit Library, ix. 97.
Whyte, A., Bible Characters: Stephen to Timothy (1901), 48.
Church of England Pulpit, xlii. (1896) 139 (T. B. Naylor).
Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, i. (1915) 405 (G. P. Gould).
Dictionary of the Bible, ii. (1899) 1 (A. Robertson).
Literary Churchman, xxxi. (1885) 471 (J. H. Buchanan).
Twentieth Century Pastor, xxxii. (1913) 181 (N. D. Hillis).
The career of Felix corresponded in one sense with his name. He ought to have been a happy man, for he was eminently a successful one.
Felix and his brother Pallas were originally slaves, and then freedmen, in the house of a noble Roman lady, Antonia, mother of the Emperor Claudius. Pallas became the favourite, and subsequently minister, of the emperor. He procured for his brother Felix the important post of procurator of Judæa about a.d. 52. The historian Tacitus writes of Felix as one who, trusting to his brother's powerful influence at court, knew he could commit any wrong with impunity. He was notoriously avaricious, cruel, and licentious, but withal a man of great energy and talent, wielding, however, as Tacitus tells us, “the power of a tyrant with the temper of a slave.” According to Josephus, he was one of the most corrupt and oppressive governors ever despatched from Rome to rule over Judæa.
He married three wives, each one of royal birth. The name of one of his wives is unrecorded: the other two were both named Drusilla. There was the Drusilla of Act_24:24, who was the daughter, the sister, and the wife of a king; the daughter of Agrippa i., the sister of Agrippa ii., and the wife of Azizus, king of Emesa. It is almost past belief that a princess so connected could have condescended to a union with an enfranchised slave. The other Drusilla was a daughter of Juba, king of Mauritania, and a granddaughter of Antony and Cleopatra.
As procurator of Judæa Felix ruled with vigour and ability, upon which he was complimented by Tertullus; but his servile origin was perceptible in all his deeds. During the whole of his term of office, the province was in a disturbed condition, torn to pieces by false prophets, robbers, sicarii, and other disorderly characters. In the suppression of these disorders he did good service, justifying to some extent the complimentary address of Tertullus, “by thee we enjoy much peace, and by thy providence evils are corrected for this nation.” St. Paul more wisely contented himself by saying, “I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation”; for, in fact, his ruthless massacres of Galilæans, Samaritans, and Jews had altogether failed to bring peace to the distracted land.
But vain the sword and vain the bow,-
They never can work war's overthrow;
The hermit's prayer and the widow's tear
Alone can free the world from fear.1 [Note: W. Blake, “The Grey Monk.”]