Page 110 - Acts Student Textbook

feel to know that such a group of men had so conspired against one. The remainder of the story
reveals, however, that these men either broke their oath or else they died of thirst and starvation!
This shows the folly of such oaths. (Stringer, however, states that Jewish law allowed for release from
such an oath if it could not be carried out, so the matter was not as severe as it sounded.)

How did Paul know about the plot? (23:16-22)

By the providence of God, however, Paul’s nephew (his sister’s son) heard about the plot and was
able to go into the barracks, or the castle, to warn Paul about it. Paul asked a centurion to take the
young man to the commanding officer so the message could be conveyed to him. This was done, and
the commander asked the young man privately what the message was. Doubtless, this was the
means the Lord used to fulfill his promise to Paul that he would be spared. It is interesting that Paul
had a sister. Little is ever told us about his family. We do not know if his sister was a Christian, but
she or her son was at least concerned for Paul’s life. We are not told specifically how he learned
about the plot; but with forty men involved, it would be hard to keep such a plot well hidden. He was
possibly a Pharisee also. This attack would have also involved the killing of the Roman guards!
(23:21).

How does the commander react in providing protection to Paul? (23:23,24)

He called two centurions and commanded them to
prepare their soldiers (two hundred of them) plus seventy
horsemen and two hundred spearmen, to take Paul to
Caesarea. Uttly here suggests that, “The contingent of
troops to accompany Paul was apparently either: (1) 200
infantry (foot sodiers), 70 cavalry (horsemen), and 200
lancers (spearmen) or (2) 200 lancers (spearmen) and 70
cavalry (horsemen). The western family of Greek
manuscripts has a long descriptive addition (cf. NKJV).”
60
They were to provide also horses for Paul, and take him
the third hour of the night. This is obviously Roman time.
They started counting the night at 06:00pm. This would be 09:00pm. to go to Felix the governor.
These were, of course, extreme measures and showed that the commander was seriously
determined to keep Paul safe. The soldiers would greatly outnumber the forty men who had made
the vow. Roman rulers took very seriously the responsibility to protect a prisoner, especially if he was
a Roman citizen. The chief captain (commander) made certain he did not fail. Moving Paul to
Caesarea would remove him from the source of danger in Jerusalem, and would also save the
commander from further responsibility. Paul would become the responsibility of the governor
himself, Felix.

What was the content of the commander’s letter to Felix, and what do we learn from it? (23:25-35)

The letter explained who Paul was and why the commander had sent him to Felix. From this letter
we learn several things. We learn that the commander’s name was Claudius Lysias. We also learn
that he now realized that Paul was accused only of things pertaining to Jewish law, but had done
nothing worthy of death or bonds (though he did not release him but kept him in bonds!). This is the
required letter of explanation of Paul's case by the officer in charge (cf. 25:12ff). He was hoping Felix
would hear the case himself and decide it. He said that he had commanded Paul’s accusers to bring
their charges before Felix. Of course, he had not done this yet at the time he wrote the letter, but
doubtless he intended to accomplish it before Felix would receive the letter. The most interesting

60 Ibid, (23:23)
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