The Plot

 Seventh Saturday after Pentecost

Lectionary texts:

Saturday:

OT: 1 Chronicles 13

NT: Ephesians 1:20-23

Sunday:

OT: 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19

Psalter: Psalm 24 (UMH 755)

Epistle: Ephesians 1:3-14

Gospel Mark 6:14-29

Our Acts Bible Study returns. Please read Acts 23:12-22.

In the immediately preceding verses God tells Paul that he will go on to testify in Rome. Meanwhile a group of about 40 Jewish men participating in a plot to kill Paul take a vow neither to eat nor to drink until their murderous deed is done. 

Why has Paul prompted such virulent opposition in Jerusalem.  Mob mentality certainly plays a role. At a certain point mobs collectively cease to think and want only to act. I would say that January 6 is another example of this. Moreover, it is much less what Paul has said and done and much more what the mob has heard that Paul has said and done. Most of the Palestinian Jews at this time were separatists. They wanted to have nothing to do with gentiles. Paul had everything to do with gentiles. The false accusation that he had brought a gentile into the Temple topped it all off.

In verse 16 Paul's nephew gets wind of the plot, goes to visit Paul in prison, and tells him of the plot. This is the only mention in the NT of any relatives of Paul. He had at minimum a sister and her son living in Jerusalem. Paul's nephew gains access to the prison likely because Paul, as a Roman citizen, had greater privileges than non-citizens would have. 

Paul tells the guard to take his nephew to see the Tribune and tell him about the plot. Throughout this narrative the Tribune, Claudius Lysias, sides with Paul. Luke tends to portray Romans, and particularly Roman government officials, in a positive light. Notice how polite Claudius Lysias is to Paul's nephew. 

The Tribune, of course, has other motives than proper etiquette in dealing with Paul's nephew. The major purpose of Roman provincial officials was to keep order in the provinces. Internal Jewish affairs were not of interest to Claudius Lysias. Order was. Mob violence and lynching would demonstrate that the Tribune did not have control over his jurisdiction. This could get him demoted or worse.

Although in a fight between 40 Jewish conspirators and 300 well armed Roman soldiers, Claudius Lysias's side would easily win, killing Jews would provoke more hostility and resentment among a Jewish populace that in another eight years would go into all out war against the Romans. Get Paul out of Jerusalem and things would calm down. That is precisely what Claudius Lysias will do in our next Acts Bible Study. 

God of Jews and gentiles,

We praise you for the protection of Paul. Again and again you saved him from deathly peril. Would that we had a small measure of Paul's courage in being witnesses for your gospel. In the name of Jesus.

Faithfully, 

Christian