Acts 25

Ac 25:1-12.

FESTUS,

COMING TO

JERUSALEM,

DECLINES TO

HAVE

PAUL

BROUGHT

THITHER FOR

JUDGMENT, BUT

GIVES THE

PARTIES A

HEARING ON

HIS

RETURN TO

CÆSAREA--ON

FESTUS

ASKING THE

APOSTLE IF

HE

WOULD

GO TO

JERUSALEM FOR

ANOTHER

HEARING BEFORE

HIM,

HE

IS

CONSTRAINED IN

JUSTICE TO

HIS

CAUSE TO

APPEAL TO THE

EMPEROR.

1-3. Festus . . . after three days . . .

ascended . . . to Jerusalem--to make himself acquainted

with the great central city of his government without delay.

2. Then the high priest--a successor of him before whom Paul had

appeared

(Ac 23:2).

and the chief of the Jews--and "the whole multitude of the Jews"

(Ac 25:24)

clamorously.

informed him against Paul . . .

3. desired favour--in

Ac 25:15,

"judgment."

against him--It would seem that they had the insolence to ask him to

have the prisoner executed even without a trial

(Ac 25:16).

laying wait . . . to kill him--How deep must have been

their hostility, when two years after the defeat of their former

attempt, they thirst as keenly as ever for his blood! Their plea for

having the case tried at Jerusalem, where the alleged offense took

place, was plausible enough; but from

Ac 25:10

it would seem that Festus had been made acquainted with their causeless

malice, and that in some way which Paul was privy to.

4-6. answered that Paul should be kept--rather, "is in custody."

at Cæsarea, and . . . himself would depart shortly

thither.

5. Let them . . . which among you are able, go down--"your leading

men."

7. the Jews . . . from Jerusalem--clamorously, as at

Jerusalem; see

Ac 25:24.

many and grievous complaints against Paul--From his reply, and Festus'

statement of the case before Agrippa, these charges seem to have been a

jumble of political and religious matter which they were unable to

substantiate, and vociferous cries that he was unfit to live. Paul's

reply, not given in full, was probably little more than a challenge to

prove any of their charges, whether political or religious.

9, 10. Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure--to ingratiate himself

with them.

said, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and . . . be judged . . . before

me--or, "under my protection." If this was meant in earnest, it was

temporizing and vacillating. But, possibly, anticipating Paul's refusal,

he wished merely to avoid the odium of refusing to remove the trial to

Jerusalem.

10. Then said Paul, I stand at Cæsar's judgment seat--that

is, I am already before the proper tribunal. This seems to imply that

he understood Festus to propose handing him over to the Sanhedrim for

judgment (and see on

Ac 25:11),

with a mere promise of protection from him. But from going to Jerusalem

at all he was too well justified in shrinking, for there assassination

had been quite recently planned against him.

to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou knowest very well--literally,

"better," that is, (perhaps), better than to press such a proposal.

if there be none of these things . . . no man may deliver me unto

them--The word signifies to "surrender in order to gratify" another.

11. I appeal to Cæsar--The right of appeal to the supreme power, in

case of life and death, was secured by an ancient law to every Roman

citizen, and continued under the empire. Had Festus shown any

disposition to pronounce final judgment, Paul, strong in the

consciousness of his innocence and the justice of a Roman tribunal,

would not have made this appeal. But when the only other alternative

offered him was to give his own consent to be transferred to the great

hotbed of plots against his life, and to a tribunal of unscrupulous and

bloodthirsty ecclesiastics whose vociferous cries for his death had

scarcely subsided, no other course was open to him.

12. Festus--little expecting such an appeal, but bound to respect it.

having conferred with the council--his assessors in judgment, as to

the admissibility of the appeal.

said, Hast thou--for "thou hast."

to Cæsar shalt thou go--as if he would add perhaps "and see if thou

fare better."

Ac 25:13-27.

HEROD

AGRIPPA II

ON A

VISIT TO

FESTUS,

BEING

CONSULTED BY

HIM ON

PAUL'S

CASE,

DESIRES TO

HEAR THE

APOSTLE,

WHO

IS

ACCORDINGLY

BROUGHT

FORTH.

13. King Agrippa--great-grandson of Herod the Great, and

Drusilla's brother (see on

Ac 24:24).

On his father's awful death

(Ac 12:23),

being thought too young (seventeen) to succeed, Judea, was attached to

the province of Syria. Four years after, on the death of his uncle

Herod, he was made king of the northern principalities of Chalcis, and

afterwards got Batanea, Iturea, Trachonitis, Abilene, Galilee, and

Perea, with the title of king. He died A.D. 100,

after reigning fifty-one years.

and Bernice--his sister. She was married to her uncle Herod, king of

Chalcis, on whose death she lived with her brother Agrippa--not without

suspicion of incestuous intercourse, which her subsequent licentious

life tended to confirm.

came to salute Festus--to pay his respects to him on his accession to

the procuratorship.

14, 15. when there many--"several"

days, Festus declared Paul's cause--taking advantage of the presence

of one who might be presumed to know such matters better than himself;

though the lapse of "several days" ere the subject was touched on shows

that it gave Festus little trouble.

16-21. to deliver any man to die--On the word "deliver up,"

see on

Ac 25:11.

18. as I supposed--"suspected"--crimes punishable by civil law.

19. questions . . . of their own superstition--rather,

"religion" (see on

Ac 17:22).

It cannot be supposed that Festus would use the word in any

discourteous sense in addressing his Jewish guest.

one Jesus--"Thus speaks this miserable Festus of Him to whom every

knee shall bow" [BENGEL].

whom Paul affirmed--"kept affirming."

to be alive--showing that the resurrection of the Crucified One had

been the burden, as usual, of Paul's pleading. The insignificance of the

whole affair in the eyes of Festus is manifest.

20. because I doubted of such manner of questions--The "I" is emphatic.

"I," as a Roman judge, being at a loss how to deal with such matters.

21. the hearing of Augustus--the imperial title first conferred by the

Roman Senate on Octavius.

22-27. I would also hear--"should like to hear."

the man myself--No doubt Paul was fight when he said, "The king knoweth

of these things . . . for I am persuaded that none of these things are

hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner"

(Ac 26:26).

Hence his curiosity to see and hear the man who had raised such

commotion and was remodelling to such an extent the whole Jewish

life.

23. when Agrippa was come, and Bernice, with great pomp--in the same

city in which their father, on account of his pride, had perished, eaten

up by worms [WETST].

with the chief captains--(See on

Ac 21:32).

JOSEPHUS

[Wars of the Jews, 3.4.2] says that five cohorts, whose full

complement was one thousand men, were stationed at Cæsarea.

principal men of the city--both Jews and Romans. "This was the most

dignified and influential audience Paul had yet addressed, and the

prediction

(Ac 9:15)

was fulfilled, though afterwards still more remarkably at Rome

(Ac 27:24;

2Ti 4:16, 17)

[WEBSTER and WILKINSON].

26. I have no certain--"definite"

thing to write my lord--Nero. "The writer's accuracy should be remarked

here. It would have been . . . a mistake to apply this term ("lord") to

the emperor a few years earlier. Neither Augustus nor Tiberius would let

himself be so called, as implying the relation of master and slave. But

it had now come (rather, "was coming") into use as one of the imperial

titles" [HACKET].