Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 23:31 - 23:35
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The journey and the arrival in Caesarea:
v. 31. Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.
v. 32. On the morrow they left the horsemen to go with him, and returned to the castle;
v. 33. who, when they came to Caesarea and delivered the epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him.
v. 34. And when the governor had read the letter, he asked of what province he was. And when he understood that he was of Cilicia,
v. 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.
The start from Jerusalem was made by night, to attract as little attention as possible, and the armed escort was so strong that it could easily have warded off the attack of a band of assassins. The fact also that the soldiers left by the road to the north served to have them escape notice. Four miles to the north they marched, over the old road whose paving stones are still visible in places, and then turned to the east across the mountains of Ephraim and down into the beautiful plain of Sharon, where Antipatris was located. This was a forced march of fully thirty miles, and must have been a great strain to Paul. But they were now beyond all possible danger of an attack from Jerusalem. The four hundred men infantry therefore turned back at this point and returned to the barracks at the Tower of Antonia in Jerusalem, letting the troopers continue the journey with Paul. These men arrived in Caesarea in due time, delivered the letter to the governor, and presented Paul to him. The procurator read the letter and then asked Paul what kind of province he belonged to, imperial or senatorial, since he needed this information to complete the report of Lysias concerning the case. "A procurator of Judea, like Felix, was subordinate only to the governor of Syria, inasmuch as the latter could bring his supreme power to bear in casts of necessity. The military command and the independent jurisdiction of the procurator gave him practically sole power in all ordinary transactions, but the governor could take the superior command if he had reason to fear Revolutionary or other serious difficulties. " When Felix had found out that Paul hailed from Cilicia, and could thus enter the case properly, he promised him a judicial hearing as soon as his accusers would present themselves. In the meantime the governor gave command that Paul should be kept in the praetorium of Herod, the palace which Herod Agrippa I had erected there, chap. 12:19, and which contained also a guard-room, where Paul might be confined. Note: We find Paul here once more under the protection of the Roman government For that reason the government has been ordained of God, to protect peaceful citizens, and therefore also the Christians, against sedition and violence. And thus the Lord holds His protecting hand over them that are His. Unless He permits it for reasons of His own, the raving and raging of all the enemies can bring no harm to His Church.
Summary.Paul is arraigned before the Roman tribunal in the presence of the Sanhedrin, and is made the object of a murderous plot of the Jews, upon whose exposure he is sent to Felix, the governor, by Lysias, the Roman tribune at Jerusalem.