Steve Webb: These people felt that they had the moral
authority to commit murder!
This is the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from
Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004, I'm your
hopefully-on-the-mend OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. It's
Gospels Saturday, and we'll read Acts 23 and 24. The website is
lifespringmedia.com, and I'll have contact information at the
end of the show. Before we read, let's pray. Our gracious
heavenly Father, how we love you, and thank you so much for
your Word. Thank you for revealing yourself to us through
it. I pray that as we read today, you would teach us. I
pray that you would touch our hearts. I pray this in Jesus'
name. Amen. Okay, are you ready? Let's get started.
Acts, chapter 23. Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and
said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all
good conscience to this day.” At this the high priest Ananias
ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. Then
Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed
wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you
yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”
Those who were standing near Paul said, “How dare you insult
God’s high priest!” Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not
realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do
not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’” Then Paul,
knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others
Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a
Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial
because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.” When
he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and
the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. (The Sadducees say
that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither
angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these
things.) There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers
of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously.
“We find nothing wrong with this man,” they said. “What if a
spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” The dispute became so
violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to
pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him
away from them by force and bring him into the barracks. The
following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take
courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you
must also testify in Rome.” The next morning some Jews formed a
conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink
until they had killed Paul. More than forty men were involved in
this plot. They went to the chief priests and the elders and
said, “We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until
we have killed Paul. Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition
the commander to bring him before you on the pretext of
wanting more accurate information about his case. We
are ready to kill him before he gets here.” But when the son of
Paul’s sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks
and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions and said,
“Take this young man to the commander; he has something to
tell him.” So he took him to the commander. The centurion said,
“Paul, the prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring this young
man to you because he has something to tell you.” The
commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside and
asked, “What is it you want to tell me?” He said: “Some Jews
have agreed to ask you to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin
tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate
information about him. Don’t give it to them, because more
than forty of them are waiting in ambush for him. They have
taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed
him. They are ready now, waiting for your consent to their
request.” The commander dismissed the young man with
this warning: “Don’t tell anyone that you have reported this to
me.” 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. Provide horses for Paul so that he may be taken
safely to Governor Felix.” He wrote a letter as follows:
Claudius Lysias, To His Excellency, Governor Felix:
Greetings. 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. I wanted to know why
they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin.
I found that the execution had to do with questions about their
law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death
or imprisonment. 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. So the
soldiers, carrying out their orders, took Paul with them
during the night and brought him as far as Antipatris. The next
day they let the cavalry go on with him, while they returned to
the barracks. When the cavalry arrived in Caesarea, they
delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to
him. The governor read the letter and asked what province
he was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, 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.
Acts chapter 24. Five days later Ananias, the high priest,
arrived with some of the Jewish elders and the lawyer Tertullus,
to present their case against Paul to the governor. When Paul
was called in, Tertullus presented the charges against
Paul in the following address to the governor: “You have provided
a long period of peace for us Jews and with foresight have
enacted reforms for us. For all of this, Your Excellency, we are
very grateful to you. But I don’t want to bore you, so
please give me your attention for only a moment. We have found
this man to be a troublemaker who is constantly stirring up
riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of
the cult known as the Nazarenes. Furthermore, he was trying to
desecrate the Temple when we arrested him. You can find out
the truth of our accusations by examining him yourself.” Then
the other Jews chimed in, declaring that everything
Tertullus said was true. The governor then motioned for Paul
to speak. Paul said, “I know, sir, that you have been a judge
of Jewish affairs for many years, so I gladly present my
defense before you. You can quickly discover that I arrived
in Jerusalem no more than twelve days ago to worship at the
Temple. My accusers never found me arguing with anyone in the
Temple, nor stirring up a riot in any synagogue or on the
streets of the city. These men cannot prove the things they
accuse me of doing. “But I admit that I follow the Way, which
they call a cult. I worship the God of our ancestors, and I
firmly believe the Jewish law and everything written in the
prophets. I have the same hope in God that these men have, that
he will raise both the righteous and the unrighteous. Because of
this, I always try to maintain a clear conscience before God and
all people. “After several years away, I returned to Jerusalem
with money to aid my people and to offer sacrifices to God. My
accusers saw me in the Temple as I was completing a purification
ceremony. There was no crowd around me and no rioting. But
some Jews from the province of Asia were there—and they ought
to be here to bring charges if they have anything against me!
Ask these men here what crime the Jewish high council found me
guilty of, except for the one time I shouted out, ‘I am on
trial before you today because I believe in the resurrection of
the dead!’” At that point Felix, who was quite familiar with the
Way, adjourned the hearing and said, “Wait until Lysias, the
garrison commander, arrives. Then I will decide the case.” He
ordered an officer to keep Paul in custody but to give him some
freedom and allow his friends to visit him and take care of his
needs. A few days later Felix came back with his wife,
Drusilla, who was Jewish. Sending for Paul, they listened
as he told them about faith in Christ Jesus. As he reasoned
with them about righteousness and self-control and the coming
day of judgment, Felix became frightened. “Go away for now,”
he replied. “When it is more convenient, I’ll call for you
again.” He also hoped that Paul would bribe him, so he sent for
him quite often and talked with him. After two years went by in
this way, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. And because
Felix wanted to gain favor with the Jewish people, he left Paul
in prison.
Let's think for a moment about the conspiracy to kill Paul that
we read about in chapter 23, verses 12 through 22. We read
that it was a group of Jews and they bound themselves with an
oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. So here,
these people felt that they had the moral authority to commit
murder! What? How can this be? The Mosaic law clearly states
that murder is forbidden. It's even in the 10 commandments,
right? Thou shalt not murder. (Sidenote: the 10 commandments
does not say thou shalt not kill. Killing and murder are two
completely different things.) So what's going on here is an
excellent example of what can happen when a group of people
have such an extreme and rigid view of an agenda or ideology,
that they're willing to do anything to defend that
ideology. My goodness, that sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't
it? The more things change, the more they remain the same. These
Jews thought that Paul's message contradicted the law, and they
were so extremely incensed that he would dare to preach a
different message that they would not and could not accept
his reasoned response to them. They were so rigidly adhering to
the letter of the law that they could no longer hear God's voice
in the intent of the law, which Jesus came to fulfill. And so
they conjured up this scheme to silence Paul. You might call it
a permanent cancellation. When a group is so passionately affixed
on an ideology that any opposing idea results in invectives and
violence. There's a problem, folks. If we can't agree to
disagree and discuss our differences in a calm and
reasoned fashion, we know that something's wrong. Listen, just
because I disagree with you does not mean that I hate you, nor
does it give you the right to call me names or strike me or
destroy my property or do some other kinds of violence against
me. This is true in matters of religion, in matters of culture,
in matters of politics. Civilized people don't behave
this way. But then there does seem to be a shortage of
civilized people today, doesn't there? I'd love to hear from
you. If you have thoughts or questions, send a boostagram or
call the Lifespring Family Hotline or go to the comments
page or write an email. I'll tell you how to do all that
stuff at the end of the show. Tomorrow will be Epistles Sunday
and our reading will be 3 John.
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