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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 23:23 - 23:30
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Paul Brought to Caesarea.
The preparations for the journey:
v. 23. And he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and horsemen three score and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night;
v. 24. and provide them beasts that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix, the governor.
v. 25. And he wrote a letter after this manner:
v. 26. Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent Governor Felix sendeth greeting.
v. 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.
v. 28. And when I would have known the cause wherefore they accused him, I brought him forth into their council;
v. 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.
v. 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 they had against him. Farewell.
It is to the credit of Lysias that he chose the course which both justice and prudence dictated. By ignoring the information received he might have become an accomplice in the murder of Paul. By slaying the assassins as they were making their assault, he would have made the Jews his bitter enemies. But he acted quickly and prudently. He summoned two of the centurions in his command and ordered them to make ready for a march to Caesarea, have in readiness to march, about nine o'clock in the evening, two hundred men infantry, heavily armed soldiers, and seventy cavalry, and two hundred light-armed soldiers, javelin-throwers or lance-bearers. Saddle-animals were also to be provided, in order that they might set Paul on one of them, with a change, if necessary, and lead him safely down to Felix, the governor, who resided at Caesarea, the political capital of the province. If Lysias had only one thousand men in his command at Jerusalem, 760 infantry and 240 cavalry, he reduced his force considerably in order to provide a safe escort to Paul, but the gravity of the situation was fully appreciated by him, and he took his measures accordingly. He also wrote a letter to the governor as to the man higher in rank and the highest court in the province. This letter is interesting because colored by the understanding of Lysias, and because it naturally aims to place his own conduct in the most favorable light. Luke gives a summary of this letter. It opens with the usual complimentary, introductory greeting of the writer to the addressee. Lysias says of Paul, whom he mentions with respect, that he had been taken, laid hold on, by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, when he, appearing seemingly just in time with the soldiers under his command, had taken him away and thus rescued him. Here the fact that Lysias refers to the army would naturally imply that it took all the soldiers of the garrison to quell the disturbance, and would impress the governor with his circumspection. The same is true of the statement that he had done so after having learned that Paul was a Roman citizen. Here also the tribune, for the sake of emphasizing his zeal in the public service, strains the truth, for he found out only after the rescue that Paul was a Roman. The writer then continues to tell how he had earnestly wanted to find out the reason why they were accusing him, and had taken him into a meeting of their Synedrion. There he had found out only so much that he was accused concerning certain demands of the Jews' law, but that he had committed no crime which merited death or even imprisonment. In the meantime he had been informed that some of them were plotting against this man, to take his life, wherefore he had sent to the governor without delay (again emphasizing his zeal), incidentally announcing to the accusers that they must bring their matter before the governor. The entire letter shows that Lysias was making every effort to impress Felix favorably, for in the great game of politics one never can tell just how much a good impression may be worth, and advancement was always welcome. Christians will make the application of such stories by remembering the Lord's injunction to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, Mat_10:16.