Chapter XXIV. ST. PAUL SENT TO CAESAREA.

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We read in the Book of Acts, "And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle."

In the midst of the troubles and dangers with which he was now surrounded, the faithful servant of God was not left without comfort and encouragement; for we read, that "the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul."

These men belonged to a party amongst the Jews, who were particularly strict in the observance of all the forms and ceremonies of the Law; and for their zeal or eagerness in this matter, they were called Zealots. These Zealots, quite overlooking the Moral Law, which commanded "Thou shalt not kill," taught, that it was right to kill any man who did not observe the whole of the Ceremonial Law: they therefore made a practice of murdering, whenever they had an opportunity, all whom they looked upon as enemies of the Law, without waiting for any trial to decide whether or not they deserved punishment.

The Chief Priest and elders, instead of trying to prevent such wickedness, too often approved of the practices of the Zealots; as by their means they got rid of many whom they feared and hated, and who certainly could not justly have been found guilty of any crime, for which they could have been put to death. These Jewish Zealots had bound themselves by a curse to kill St. Paul; that is, they expressed a wish that God would bring evil upon them, if they did not kill St. Paul, before they ate or drank anything. Any such oaths are very sinful at all times, even if the act we bind ourselves to do is a good and righteous one, because it may not please God that we should do it: man proposes, but God disposes; and we must be content with striving to do what is right and useful, and leave the issue in His hands.

The Zealots, though they wickedly bound themselves by such an oath, knew that there was no risk in any case of their being starved to death, because any of their Rabbis could absolve, or set them free from such oaths, whenever they did not find it convenient to keep them.

There were more than forty of the Zealots which made this conspiracy against St. Paul; and they, knowing that the Chief Priests and elders would be only too glad to have the Apostle silenced in any way, went to them to get their help in the execution of this wicked plot. They told the Priests and elders how they had bound themselves by a curse to kill St. Paul: and then said, "Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to-morrow, as though ye would inquire something more perfectly concerning him; and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him."

This was a plan very likely to succeed: Claudius Lysias would have thought it very natural that the Sanhedrim should wish to examine St. Paul quietly, which could not be done in the tumult and excitement of the day before. He would, therefore, have sent his prisoner down with a small guard of soldiers, sufficient to prevent his escaping: these, the Zealots who would be lying in wait, could easily overpower by their greater number, and thus they would have no difficulty in murdering the Apostle. It is sad to think that priests and rulers, whose duty it was to teach the people what was right, and to see that every man was treated justly, should have agreed thus to entrap and slay a man who had been guilty of no crime: but so it was, for they consented to do their part in the proposed scheme.

The enemies of St. Paul must now have thought his destruction certain: but they forgot that if the Lord was on the Apostle's side, all their plots would come to nothing. And so it proved: for the Lord, Who had work for His faithful servant to do, caused this plot to become in some way known to a young man, the son of St. Paul's sister. We know nothing of this young man; whether he was still a Jew, or had, as is more probable, become a Christian: all we are told is, "And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul."

We have now another example as to the duty of using all human means, whilst humbly depending upon the blessing of God, without which all our efforts are unavailing. St. Paul had the promise of God, that he should live to preach the Gospel in Rome; therefore he was well assured that the Zealots could not harm him. He also knew that the Almighty could work a miracle for his deliverance; but he knew that to depend upon such a display of Divine power, would be tempting God, not trusting in Him. St. Paul felt, that the Lord, Who most generally brings about events through human actions, had now given him the means of saving his own life; and that it was his duty to make use of them, in order to defeat the wicked plot contrived by the Zealots and the Council.

When St. Paul had heard from his sister's son the plot laid for his destruction, he "called one of the centurions unto him, and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain: for he hath a certain thing to tell him. So" the centurion "took him, and brought him to the chief captain, and said, Paul the prisoner called me unto him, and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto thee. Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and went with him aside privately, and asked him, What is that thou hast to tell me?" Then the young man told him all that was proposed, and begged him not to yield to the request of the Council. Having heard what he had to say, "the chief captain then let the young man depart, and charged him, See thou tell no man that thou hast shewed these things to me." Claudius Lysias immediately took measures to save St. Paul, without giving any cause or pretence for a disturbance, by refusing what would appear to be a reasonable request from the Sanhedrim: and he determined at once to send his prisoner out of the city, so that when asked to produce him before the Council, he could truly say, that it was no longer in his power to do so. We read that "he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to CÆsarea, and horsemen three-score and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night; and provide them beasts, that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor," whose residence was at CÆsarea. At the same time Claudius Lysias wrote a letter to be given to Felix, by those who conducted St. Paul to CÆsarea. "And he wrote a letter after this manner: Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix sendeth greeting. 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. And when I would have known the cause wherefore they accused him, I brought him forth into their council: 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. 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."

Now this letter was not quite a truthful account of what had happened: Claudius Lysias told the story most favourably for himself, by making it appear that he rescued St. Paul because he was a Roman citizen; whereas he did not know that fact, till he was on the point of scourging the prisoner—a circumstance of which he makes no mention. In relating anything, either by word of mouth or by letter, we should be very careful to state exactly what happened, whether it is favourable to ourselves or not. Saying that he had given commandment to the accusers to go down to CÆsarea with their complaints, was different; because by the time the letter reached Felix, the command would be given. Of course he could say nothing to the Jews that evening, as it was needful to send the Apostle away secretly; but we may be sure that the next day, when the Council demanded that St. Paul should be brought before them for further examination, this advice was given to them. The third hour of the night was about nine o'clock in the evening, and "then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul, and brought him by night to Antipatris," a city about thirty-eight miles from Jerusalem, and twenty-seven from CÆsarea. It had been rebuilt, like many other cities, by Herod the Great, who called it Antipatris, after his father Antipater.

Here St. Paul was quite out of reach of the Zealots who had banded to kill him, and so large a guard was therefore quite unnecessary: so that "on the morrow" the soldiers "left the horsemen to go with him, and returned to the castle" of Antonia. The horsemen went on, "who, when they came to CÆsarea, and delivered the epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him. And when the governor had read the letter, he asked of what province" the prisoner was. And when he understood that he was of Cilicia, "I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's judgment hall." Herod's judgment hall, in which Felix commanded the Apostle to be kept till his accusers should come down, was a large building erected by Herod the Great as a palace for himself: part of it was afterwards made into a residence for the Roman governor of JudÆa; and part of it was used as a prison for prisoners, not charged with any great or serious crime. Here, then, St. Paul was kept for five days. "And after five days Ananias the high priest descended," or went down to CÆsarea, "with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul."

An orator was a person who was able to make a good speech upon any subject set before him. Many men made a business of this; that is, a man who was able to speak well, would speak for others, who were not able to do so, on condition of being paid for his services. Thus, if any man were accused of a crime, he would get one of these public orators to speak for him at the time of trial, and try to persuade the Judge that he was innocent, whether he really were so or not. The same sort of thing is done amongst us, by barristers—men who have made it their business to study the laws of their country, in order to advise and help others who are ignorant in such matters. The Jewish priests and rulers were so very anxious that Felix should believe St. Paul to be in the wrong, and condemn him accordingly, that they had engaged an orator named Tertullus, to come and speak for them, and make the best of their case; so as to persuade Felix to condemn St. Paul, and thus gratify their malice.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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