The Plot Against Paul
Acts 23:1-15 KJV 1 And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men
and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this
day. 2 And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to
smite him on the mouth. 3 Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee,
thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and
commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? 4 And they that stood
by said, Revilest thou God's high priest? 5 Then said Paul, I wist not,
brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak
evil of the ruler of thy people. 6 But when Paul perceived that the one part
were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men
and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and
resurrection of the dead I am called in question. 7 And when he had so
said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees:
and the multitude was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no
resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both. 9
And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees'
part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit
or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God. 10 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. 11 And 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. 12 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. 13 And they
were more than forty which had made this conspiracy. 14 And they came
to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under
a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. 15 Now
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therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him
down unto you to morrow, as though ye would enquire something more
perfectly concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill
him.
Introduction
Paul’s statement of defense did not go well for him. The mob was even more determined to kill him. The chief captain brought him back into the castle and commanded that he be scourged to find out just why the mob were so intent to kill him. When Paul questioned if it was legal to scrouge an uncondemned Roman citizen, that brought things to a screeching halt.
Learning this, the chief captain ordered the Sanhedrin to convene to question Paul. This is what is under consideration in this part.
Paul Before the Sanhedrin
Paul calmly began to give his testimony before the Sanhedrin. There were, no doubt, some members of the council present who were present when Stephen was stoned and who also approved of Paul’s going to Damascus to arrest the disciples. These would know of Paul’s integrity when he served the council and could presume that his integrity was still the same.
Paul states that he had lived in all good conscience before God even up to that particular day that he was standing before them. He had lived before God as a God-fearing citizen of the commonwealth of Israel. He had always considered himself as a member of the true faith of the theocracy of Israel.
He always had the highest interest concerning the spiritual good of her people.
This statement angered the high priest who was named Ananias. He ordered those standing close to Paul to slap him in the mouth to shut him up. This was a common method in the East of silencing a speaker.
It was a common method of silencing a speaker in the East, and is common to this day. But for a judge to order such done to a prisoner who was prefacing his defence, by asserting his integrity, was a callous act of infamy.
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Yet our Lord was also treated in this manner…. Paul apparently forgot that he was before his judges and ought not to have spoken until being asked.1
This no doubt angered Paul, we can determine this by his tart reply to Ananias. He promptly stated to him that God would smite him, and then called him a whited wall. This was an insult, the one phrase that indicated hypocrisy. Jesus used a similar expression, “whited sepulchre,” when confronted the Pharisees on one occasion.
He did not even wait for Paul to finish his testimony before he drew a conclusion. No doubt he was in league with those who were trying to kill Paul. Ananias was appointed as the high priest by one the Herods about AD
47. He held the office for approximately twelve years. Josephus accused him of embezzling the tithes of the ordinary priests and handing out lavish bribes. He was known for his greed. He was much hated by the Jewish nationalists because of his ties with the Roman Empire and their policies.
Immediately after Paul’s reply, some of those who were standing close to him, “Do you dare revile the High Priest of God?” To the which Paul replied that he did not know that he was the high priest. He then quoted Exodus 22:28. Perhaps he did not know him because either he was not the same high priest that Paul knew when he lived in Jerusalem over twenty years before, or because he was dressed so that Paul did not recognize him as such. Paul quickly offered his apology for his disrespect.
The Divided Council
Paul observed that one part of the council was composed of Sadducees and the other was composed of Pharisees. Paul himself was a Pharisee. The Sadducees were liberals, skeptics, doubters, and deniers of 1) the resurrection of the dead, 2) of the existence of angels, and 3) of the existence of spirits.
The Pharisees were of a different religious persuasion than the Sadducees.
The Sadducees rejected all of the Old Testament as being authentic or 284
inspired, except the Pentateuch. The Pharisees accepted all of the Old Testament as being true.
Paul loudly proclaimed that he was a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. He insisted that he believe strongly in the hope and resurrection of the dead. He was being called into question concerning this to give an account. The resurrection was a cardinal tenet of the true Hebrew faith, as well as it is of the Christian faith.2
Because of his statement, the council was greatly divided. The Pharisees and the Sadducees each held opposing views concerning the subject and strived against one another because of it. The Sadducees staunchly held to the false belief that there was no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit. The Pharisees strongly confess all of those.
It did not take long for there to arise a great cry, with the scribes that were with the Pharisees, began to say, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit
or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God. The scribes knew the law because they were the ones who wrote it. They, therefore, found no evil or dishonesty in Paul’s reference to the Scriptures. This only made matters worse.
The dissension became so great that the chief captain began to fear for Paul’s safety. He was afraid that Paul “should have been pulled in pieces of them.” This was not an unfounded fear because it could easily happen.
Lysias gave orders for the soldiers to go down and take Paul away to safety even if they had to use force to do it. They rescued Paul yet again and brought him into the safety of the castle.
Paul Encouraged
No one is exempt from discouragement when things go against us and there seems to be no outlet or hope. No doubt Paul thought of all the predictions of the danger that could befall him if he went to Jerusalem and now it seemed that they would be fulfilled in his death there. He must have felt this way because in the night following the council disruption, he received a 285
Visitor. The Lord (Jesus) came and stood beside Paul and said, Be of good
cheer, Paul; for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou
bear witness also at Rome.
Paul had testified of Jesus before the mob that attempted to murder him and then before the raging Sanhedrin, he proclaimed the Gospel. He had done his duty for the Lord in the face of life-threatening dangers. He was bold and brave in spite of the attempts to take his life. He had already written to the church at Philippi that for him to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21). This was his situation on those days. Now that the turmoil had quite for the time being, Paul had time for reflection. It was in those low hours of the night when things can begin to look as dark as the night around him, Jesus came to give him the encouragement that he needed. Paul had a desire to go to Rome and had even expressed his desire to go to Rome. He would now go, but not in the manner that he had imagined.
The Plot
When the morning came, some forty of the Jews formed a conspiracy to kill Paul. They were so serious about it that they bound themselves with a curse that they would neither eat nor drink until they had accomplished their deed.
"These Jews with this murder-plot and pledge-curse approaching the chief priests and elders said," laid out their premeditated murderous intentions and commitments,
before the chief priests and elders, evidently some of the council of the Sanhedrin, the judges or adjudicators of Jewish law. "With a voluntary, self-imposed, great curse, we have cursed ourselves," the reflexive pronoun (heautous) indicates a self-imposed "called down" or "called upon"
ourselves a great curse, “That individually and collectively
we will eat nothing," even "taste nothing," a rash vow or pledge, "Until we have liquidated, exterminated, or slain Paul," till he is murdered. These vowed to take the law into 286
their own hands, without permission or direction of the Roman law which was legally to give its order or consent before the Jews could even put one of their own nation to
death; Pilate had to give his consent, even for Jesus to be crucified, (after both he and Herod had publicly announced
that they had found him innocent of the charges laid against
him).3
They made plans with the leadership of the council to have Paul brought down again as though they would question him more. Then when he was down, they would move in and kill him.
Conclusion
“Tune in again next week to see the exciting conclusion of this story!” Seriously, the Lord was still protecting Paul in spite of all the plots and evil plans against him.
The world may plot and plan against us, but when we are doing what God wants us to do, He is in control of events. Paul did not need to be worried, we need not to be worried, when we are doing God’s will for our lives.
1 Albert Garner, Power Bible CD, his comments on Acts 23:2
2 IBID, verse 6
3 IBID, verse 14
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