Why Would Jews Vow To Kill Paul?

This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the Book of Acts. We’re in Acts Chapter 23, and Dave, I believe we left off at Verse 12. Acts 23, picking up with Verse 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. And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy. 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. Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you tomorrow, as though ye would inquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him.” Well, Dave it’s pretty bold of them.

Dave:

Well, they realize that they, some of them are going to die in the attempt. I mean, these guys are so hateful of Paul and of what he has been teaching about this Jesus, to dare say that this Jesus rose from the dead? And that He’s the Messiah, that He’s the Saviour—they are really angry and they are fanatics, religious fanatics. They think they are following God, and they’re going to make an attack, and there are going to be some soldiers around there. And somehow, they are going to kill Paul, and they don’t care whether they themselves get killed in the process or what punishment they will receive.

Tom:

Right, because they are doing this for God.

Dave:

They think so. But of course, it was a very foolish oath to make because I don’t think they stuck by it.

Tom:

I think, after a week or so, they began to rationalize, but I don’t know, we’re just speculating here.

Dave:

Well, but Paul was removed, they took him away, as we’ll come to. That, maybe, was an out for them.

Tom:

Yeah, it was the removed clause, yeah. Verse 16: “And when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him, and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain: for he hath a certain thing to tell him. So he took him, and brought him to the chief captain, and said, Paul the prisoner called me unto him, and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto thee. Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and went with him aside privately, and asked him, What is that thou hast to tell me? And he said, The Jews have agreed to desire thee that thou wouldest bring down Paul tomorrow into the council, as though they would inquire somewhat of him more perfectly. But do not thou yield unto them: for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him: and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee. So the chief captain then let the young man depart, and charged him, See thou tell no man that thou hast showed these things to me. And he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and horsemen threescore and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night; And provide them beasts, that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor.”

Dave:

Well, the Lord had just stood by Paul the night before, telling him, Fear not, Paul, you’re going to testify for me at Rome. So this is how he is going to get to Rome. Paul is going to—well, we’ll come to it—he’s eventually going to have to appeal to Caesar, knowing that otherwise the Jews are going to kill him, and justice would not be done. And we’ve talked about that in the past, whether it was at Philippi where the magistrates said a word to the prison, Well, let them go.Paul says, Wait a minute, they beat us unlawfully, being Romans, and they have mistreated us as they should not treat a Roman citizen, and now they want to have us just quietly slip out of town, let them come here and tell us. So, Paul is going to appeal to Rome, but that’s—we haven’t gotten to that yet. So the centurion takes this very, very seriously and, wow, he springs into action immediately, and he’s got the means of getting Paul to Caesarea where there were many more soldiers, maybe even at least the headquarters in that area for the Roman army and they’ve got a castle, etc. We’re going to take him immediately in the night and then we’ll let them know about it tomorrow.

Tom:

Verse 25: “And he wrote a letter after this manner: Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix sendeth greeting. This man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed of them: then came I with an army, and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman.”

Dave:

Hold on, Tom. (laughs)

Tom:

Yeah he seems to be adding—padding his part a little bit.

Dave:

Right, right, he doesn’t want to admit that he was the one who was going to beat him. It was only after Paul said, Hey, you shouldn’t be doing this, I’m a Roman citizen, that he stopped. But now he’s got it turned around. I learned that he was a Roman and I stopped them from doing this.

Tom:

Right, he’s a hero in is own mind.

Dave:

Right.

Tom:

And Verse 28: “And when I would have known the cause wherefore they accused him, I brought him forth into their council: Whom I perceived to be accused of questions of their law, but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bonds. And when it was told me how that the Jews laid wait for the man, I sent straightway to thee, and gave commandment to his accusers also to say before thee what they had against him. Farewell.”

Dave:

Yeah, well, it’s a little bit dishonesty, that’s politics.

Tom:

Sure, well it’s also the heart of man, I mean, if we can look to advance ourselves, to promote ourselves, then we’re going to do it.

Dave:

Yeah, but you can’t do that with God, He knows.

Tom:

“Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul, and brought him by night to Antipatris.” And, “On the morrow they left the horsemen to go with him, and returned to the castle: Who, when they came to Caesarea, and delivered the epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him. And when the governor had read the letter, he asked of what province he was.And when he understood that he was of Cilicia; I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s judgment hall.”

Dave:

Well Tom, as we have mentioned in the past, there’s a lot of detail here, and when we research it we find out it’s all accurate. Now, the critics—

Tom:

You mean these verses aren’t just spiritual platitudes that we, haven’t you heard that before? Somebody said, Oh, the Bible, it’s just got these spiritual platitudes, and we can kind of take them any way we want and become more spiritual. How are you going to be spiritual with—this is historic documentation?

Dave:

Well, if we go back to Genesis, for example, that’s what I love about the Bible, these are real people, real nations that we read of in Abraham’s day, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and so forth. This is not make believe, but it’s history, you couldn’t have written that centuries later. But the Jesus seminar, for example, supposed biblical scholars, the critics: Oh, well, the New Testament, that wasn’t written until centuries after the fact—Wait a minute, we’ve got details, we will see some more as we go along, but we’re getting details that you couldn’t possibly have known centuries later in those days.Where would you have researched this, names, dates, places that are absolutely verifiable? On the one hand you would say, Why all this detail.On the other hand, well, it’s a true story. We’re seeing the evidence that the Bible is an eye witness account. Of course, the Holy Spirit is watching over it, making certain that it is accurate. So whether it’s talking about history, whether it’s talking about geography, whatever it’s talking about, when the Bible says it you can count on it. And that gives us confidence when it talks about salvation, the resurrection of Christ, and so forth, you can absolutely count on it.