seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Acts 23:23 Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, “Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. 24 Provide horses for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix.”
25 He wrote a letter as follows:
26 Claudius Lysias,
To His Excellency, Governor Felix:
Greetings.
27 This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. 28 I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. 29 I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment. 30 When I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him.
31 So the soldiers, carrying out their orders, took Paul with them during the night and brought him as far as Antipatris. 32 The next day they let the cavalry go on with him, while they returned to the barracks. 33 When the cavalry arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. 34 The governor read the letter and asked what province he was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, 35 he said, “I will hear your case when your accusers get here.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s palace.
Well, there you have it. They snuck Paul out at night. Come to think of it, Paul could have just preached to the murderous crowd to sleep and thrown them out three story windows.... lol... but that didn't occur to them, I guess. So, they snuck Paul out of town during the night.This is from the commentary.
Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen: 470 trained Roman soldiers would escort Paul out of Jerusalem. It was as if God wanted to exaggerate His faithfulness to Paul, and show him beyond any doubt that the promise of Jesus was true.
Provide mounts to set Paul on, and bring him safely to Felix the governor: Not only did Paul escape Jerusalem alive, he did so riding a horse — actually, several mounts were made available to Paul.
Boy... I don't know how they "snuck" with 470 trained Roman soldiers and all those animals. They had to be quite loud. I guess the commander figured the mob would be outnumbered and go away. I don't understand why they chose to leave under cover of night.... when they had to be loud! There were almost 500 men. Wait, good Jewish men were at home at night. They wouldn't be out prowling the bars, so they would have been at home.... right?They didn't put him in a jail cell this time. He was kept in Herod's palace under guard. He had been beaten really severely the day before. I wonder if they brought in a doctor to help with his wounds.
This is from the same commentary.
Took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris: The 200 soldiers only went as far as Antipatris because the most dangerous part of the road was only up to this point.
i. “Up to Antipatris [about 25 miles] the country was dangerous and inhabited by Jews; after that the country was open and flat, quite unsuited for any ambush and largely inhabited by Gentiles.” (Barclay)
The plot to murder Paul on the road was a bust....
They also presented Paul to him: Paul made it out of Jerusalem and to Caesarea on the coast. The plot of the 40 assassins failed.
i. Some wonder if the men who made the vow of fasting died because they failed in their mission to kill Paul. This was probably not the case. Ancient rabbis allowed for four types of vows to be broken: “Vows of incitement, vows of exaggeration, vows made in error, and vows that cannot be fulfilled by reason of constraint” — exclusions allowing for almost any contingency. (Longenecker)
The plot was a bust. I wonder, did Paul say prayers of thanks?Did Paul thank God?
