Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Acts 23

Paul is brought before Ananias and a council that is half Pharisees and half Sadducees. Ananias commands Paul to slapped in the mouth (this was unlawful) and Paul prophecies that God will smite him. Ananias was later killed by his own followers. Then Paul does a smart thing. He tells the Pharisee how he is a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee and believed in the resurrection like them. The Pharisees then defend Paul against the Sadducees and such an uproar starts that Lysias, the chief captain, has to come and take Paul away to the Antonio Fortress to avoid having a riot in the city he is in charge of.

Jesus appears to Paul a third time and tells him that he will bear witness of Christ in Rome. Meanwhile, Paul's nephew hears about an oath that 40 men take that they will not eat until they have killed Paul and he informs Lysias. Lysias then orders Paul to be taken to the Felix, the governor, in Caesarea where he will be safer in a Roman city more than in Jewish Jerusalem. We can get an idea of how big the uproar over Paul is because to avoid any confrontation and keep Paul safe, Lysias sends Paul away at 3 am surrounded by 440 soldiers, spearmen, and horsemen. Paul is then kept in the governors quarters in Antipatris, a fortress and city built by Herod the Great and named after Herod's father Antipater.

One interesting thing about Felix. He was married to Drusilla, a Jew and sister of Herod Agrippa II. Drusilla had left her husband and "married" Felix which would have been adultry and against Jewish law

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