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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadGreater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 666. Agrippa as Judge
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Agrippa as Judge
2. This double character of Agrippa made Paul also the more ready to make his defence before him. Agrippa would thoroughly understand the points at issue, and at the same time was no bigot; rather, his actual relations to the high priests would dispose him to give Paul an impartial hearing. Accordingly the Apostle made a great effort and delivered the speech which is evidently intended by St. Luke to form a climax in his work. The solemnity of the occasion is marked by its elaborate setting, and the repetitions which it involves. Three times over we read the account of Festus' dealings with the Jews and thereby three times is the Apostle's innocence insinuated. For the third time we hear the story of Paul's conversion. That famous episode is now told by the Apostle in a scene of pomp and before a distinguished audience of Jewish and Gentile magnates, before a Roman governor and a Jewish king-in a word “before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.”
The request to give his assistance fell in with Agrippa's own desire. Like his sister Drusilla, he also had been curious to see Paul and “had intended” to ask Festus for an opportunity of “hearing the man”-a somewhat contemptuous expression when compared with the more polite word (for man) used by Festus in verses 5 and 14.
Extract from Bishop Hannington's Diary, written while in prison in Busoga:-
“Afternoon.-To my surprise my guards came kneeling down, so different to their usual treatment, and asked me to come out. I came out, and there was the chief and about a hundred of his wives come to feast their eyes on me in cruel curiosity.”1 [Note: E. C. Dawson, James Hannington, 436.]
3. Festus decided to make Paul's “hearing” an occasion for a compliment to the king. In compensation for their loss of liberty and real power, the dependent princes and wealthy provincials found scope for their ambition in the outward show of dress and ceremonial, of decorations and grand titles. So Festus gave the young Herodian prince the opportunity of making a public display with the semblance of power; for he conceded to him (it would seem) the judge's seat. Agrippa permits Paul to speak, takes precedence of the governor in rising from his seat, and pronounces the final verdict. The scene was to be in the palace; not in its basilica or hall of justice, but in the auditorium or hall of hearing. This would be the hall devoted to matters of public ceremonial, oratorical displays, and similar shows, thus corresponding to the “schools” and “porches” in the public gymnasia. Agrippa and Bernice accordingly came to the palace in royal state, with much splendour of apparel and escort; and then, together with the procurator and the chief captains of the Roman garrison, the chief men of the city, both Jews and Syrians, and the notables who had accompanied them from the province, they entered the audience-chamber and took their seats. Then Paul was brought in, still wearing his chain, and Festus presented him to the king and assembled magnates.
The scene was one well calculated to call out Paul's characteristic courage and boldness of speech; and, inspired by the comfort of the Holy Ghost, he stretched forth his arm, with the chain hanging from it-as it were to call God to witness-and began his apologia.
It is often said that every Christian is a missionary: it is no less true that every Christian is an apologist, a defender of the faith; and if St. Francis Xavier was right in saying that of all the means for extending the faith, none could compare with a holy life, the same is true of the various means by which men try to defend Christianity against attack. And here the duty is the same for all. The difference between priest and layman in the Christian Society is a difference of function. We have each our several duties to do for God, but there is one duty which rests upon us all simply because we are Christians, and that is the duty of so living that people may “take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus.”1 [Note: Aubrey Moore.]
4. Festus could make little of Paul's speech, but he was startled by its enthusiasm: he was so affected as to cry out-“Paul, thou art mad.” For support Paul turned to Agrippa, but again his enthusiasm carried him into his characteristic boldness of speech. He was convinced that his story appeared perfectly sane to the king; for the facts of the crucifixion and the growth of the Church had happened, not in an obscure corner, but in broad daylight before all the Jews at Jerusalem; and his theology was taken out of the Jewish Scriptures. At this personal address Agrippa probably showed some sign of discomfort. St. Paul, whose charity believed and hoped all things, may have taken it for the dawning of faith; and he drove the charge home by a direct appeal. Agrippa must assent, for he believed the Scriptures. “King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.” This was too much. As it was, the young king had no doubt found the practice of Judaism irksome enough in the scoffing society of Rome, and it was too much to expose him to the astonishment of the Roman governor and the distinguished audience by extorting from him the patronage, if not the profession, of this new faith. His courtly breeding was equal to the occasion, and he passed it off by a piece of raillery: “A little more persuasion and you will make me too a Christian.” Agrippa uses the term by which the followers of “the Christ” (verse 23) were known to the Gentile world. At once St. Paul falls back into his soberness, but with intense earnestness he takes up the king's word: “I would to God that, whether with little or with much, not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, might become such as I am, except these bonds.”
Agrippa is half amused and half angry at the Apostle's presumption in supposing that so easily or so quickly he was going to land his fish, “It is a more difficult task than you fancy, Paul, to make a Christian of a man like me.” That is the real meaning of his words, and I think that, rightly understood, they yield lessons of no less value than those that have been so often drawn from them as they appear in our Authorized Version.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]
Far be it from us to say, that solemnity is an essential of greatness; that no great man can have other than a rigid vinegar aspect of countenance, never to be thawed or warmed by billows of mirth! There are things in this world to be laughed at, as well as things to be admired; and his is no complete mind, that cannot give to each sort its due. Nevertheless, contempt is a dangerous element to sport in; a deadly one, if we habitually live in it. The faculty of love, of admiration, is to be regarded as the sign and the measure of high souls: unwisely directed, it leads to many evils; but without it there cannot be any good. Ridicule, on the other hand, is indeed a faculty much prized by its possessors; yet, intrinsically, it is a small faculty. It is directly opposed to Thought, to Knowledge, properly so called; its nourishment and essence is Denial, which hovers only on the surface, while Knowledge dwells far below. Moreover it is by nature selfish and morally trivial; it cherishes nothing but our Vanity, which may in general be left safely enough to shift for itself. Little “discourse of reason,” in any sense, is implied in Ridicule: a scoffing man is in no lofty mood, for the time; shows more of the imp than of the angel.2 [Note: Carlyle, Miscellaneous Essays, ii. 133.]