Acts 25
(Acts 25:1-5, ESV Bible)
First Order of Business
Three days after his arrival in Caesarea, Festus traveled to Jerusalem, where he introduced himself to the Jewish leadership. He encountered Paul's adversaries, "the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews" (Acts 25:2). The chief priests in view certainly included the Sadducean elite like Ananias son of Nebedeus who still nursed his hatred for the Apostle Paul.
A new procurator often dispensed favors to earn loyalties. Ananias and his colleagues asked Festus for "a concession against Paul, that he might have him brought to Jerusalem." Ananias had no real interest in bringing Paul before the Sanhedrin again, but he knew he could activate the forty Sicarii Zealots who had previously sworn an oath to kill Paul. They planned to set "an ambush to kill him on the way." Festus was wary about the request. He had already discovered that the prisoner was a Roman citizen, and he had a duty to protect him. He refused the request, but offered to reopen the case against Paul. He told them to come with him to Caesarea and offer their prosecution before his tribunal.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
(Acts 25:6-8)
Polos’ Fourth Defense: Before Festos
After just over a week in Jerusalem, Festus returned to Caesarea. A delegation from the chief priests accompanied him. Paul had waited two years for Felix to reach a decision. Less than two weeks after Festus took office, Paul stood before his tribunal.
The prosecution stayed with their original strategy. They accused Paul of "many and serious charges ... which they could not prove." They again accused him of violating the Torah, profaning the Temple, and instigating insurrections against Rome. Paul responded with a flat denial of all three charges: "I have committed no offense either against the Torah of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar." Interpreters of Paul's writings should let his own defense ring in their ears. Contrary to traditional theology, Paul protests, "I have done no wrong against the Torah."
Festus quickly realized that this was not a matter for a Roman court. He wanted to grant Ananias and the chief priests the boon they had requested, but he had the integrity to consult his prisoner first. He asked Paul, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me on these charges?"
Paul did not trust Festus. He knew that he would not survive the change of venue, and he perceived that Festus was hoping to turn him over to his prosecutors. He refused the offer and demanded trial only in a Roman court of law. He said, "I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know." He said that if he had committed any crime worthy of death by Roman law, he was willing to pay that penalty, but he refused to be turned over to his enemies on the basis of false charges. Even so, he knew that it was within Festus' power to release him to their custody, and he had no reason to believe that the new procurator would not attempt to buy some favor with his subjects by doing so. Paul played his last card and said, "I appeal to Caesar."
The emperor's right of appeal (provocatio) developed from an older right to appeal to the sovereign people (populous Romanus), one of the oldest privileges of a Roman citizen that dates back to the founding of the republic. Roman law affirmed the right to such appeal in strong language specifically to protect Roman citizens from injustice in Roman courts.
The appeal to Caesar brought the trial to a dead stop. Festus conferred with his legal advisors to confirm that Paul did have the right to such an appeal. When they agreed that the man was within his rights, Festus said tersely, "You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go."
One might wonder why Paul thought it prudent to appeal to the corrupt and wicked Caesar Nero, but Nero's dark side had not yet manifested. During the early years of his reign, his mother, Agrippina, and his advisors Seneca and Burrhus kept him on a short leash. People spoke of Nero in glowing terms. They considered him the best emperor since Augustus, and they spoke hopefully of a new golden age for Rome. Paul had no reason to think that Nero would not grant him a fair hearing.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
(Acts 25:13, ESV Bible)
Agrippas and Bernikah
King Agrippa II did not have a good relationship with Felix, the former procurator. He was eager to get off to a better start with Festus. He had authority over parts of Galilee, the Temple, and the high priesthood. To successfully manage his obligations, he needed the cooperation of the Roman procurator, something he had not received from Felix. He and his sister, Queen Bernice, traveled from Caesarea Philippi (Neronias) to Caesarea by the sea to pay their respects to the incoming governor.
At the time he met Festus, Herod Agrippa II was only thirty-three years old. His sister Queen Bernice was a year younger. The young king and queen were at the height of their power and popularity. They enjoyed celebrity status among both Jews and Romans alike.
They arrived at Caesarea with their royal retinue and all the pomp and ceremony befitting a king and queen. Festus felt a little awestruck. He received them ceremoniously into the praetorium, the promontory palace built by their great-grandfather and once occupied by their father.
Bernice used to live there. The palace was situated on a natural stone formation that jutted out into the sea a little south of Herod's artificial harbor.
The royal siblings stayed in Caesarea for several days and brought Festus up to speed on Judean politics. They explained the basics of Jewish sensitivities and warned him about the potential landmines that a Roman procurator might blunder across. They could offer him simple, practical advice on negotiating his way around the sanctity of Jerusalem: Don't let your soldiers trespass in the Temple, don't bring legionary standards into Jerusalem, and so forth. They warned him about the dangerous Sicari Zealots and Zealot ambitions to touch off an insurrection, and they briefed him on the political divide between Pharisees and Sadducees. Festus quickly realized that he knew very little about Jews and Judaism, and he highly valued Agrippa's advice.
Festus took advantage of the opportunity to consult the king on a difficult case. Felix had left a prisoner. The charges against him were of a religious nature: "They simply had some points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a dead man, Jesus, whom Paul asserted to be alive" (Acts 25:19). The entire dispute made no sense to Festus. He told Agrippa that he was at a loss for how to investigate the matter. Then, to complicate matters, the prisoner appealed to Caesar. Festus did not know how to formulate the charges or even what the charges should be, and he did not want to appear incompetent before Caesar. He confessed that he felt out of his element and completely uncertain about how to proceed, "I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord [Caesar] ... For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate also the charges against him" (Acts 25:26-27). Festus asked the king to consider Paul's case from a Jewish perspective. Festus was competent enough in Roman law without the king's help, but he wanted Agrippa II to hear Paul and determine if the man had committed some offense against Jewish law.
Young King Agrippa II agreed to look into the case. He said, "I also would like to hear the man myself." Festus said with relief, "Tomorrow, you will hear him."
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.
(Acts 25:23, ESV Bible)
Audience with Royalty
Festus decided to make an event out of the hearing. The next day, King Agrippa and Queen Bernice entered the palace's auditorium in royal pomp and splendor. The local military tribunes accompanied the king and queen, and, behind them, all the prominent Romans of the city filled the seats. Then Festus gave the order to bring in Paul. Two soldiers accompanied the chained man. Paul had cleaned himself up to make himself as presentable as possible, but his Nazirite locks now had two years of growth (assuming he was under the vow in Acts 21 and had been removed from the Temple before he could complete it). He looked the part of an ancient prophet.
Paul considered the irony of the situation. As a free man, he had never had such opportunities handed to him. As a prisoner in chains, he had already testified about Yeshua to Drusilla, and now he would present the good news of the kingdom to her older siblings Agrippa and Bernice. If he could bring a Hasmonean king and queen to the Messiah-the great-grandchildren of Herod the Great-that would be a great triumph for the gospel. He considered the Master's words, "You will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles" (Matthew 10:18).
Paul had heard that this younger Agrippa was fair and just (for a Herodian), but he did not depend on a favorable outcome. He could not forget that the king's great-grandfather had once tried to kill the Master, nor did he forget that the king's father, Agrippa I, had put James the son of Zebedee to death.
Festus began with a formal introduction. Addressing the king and all the noblemen present, he motioned toward the shackled prisoner and said, "You see this man about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that he ought not to live any longer. But I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death." This was an exaggeration. Only a few prominent Jewish leaders had appealed to him for Paul, but it made the proceedings sound more dramatic. Festus told the crowd that Paul had appealed to Caesar, but he had, as yet, not been formally charged, nor did he know how to charge him. Therefore, he had assembled everyone, and especially King Agrippa, to hear the case and advise him on what to write to Caesar.
References
This lesson is adapted from Daniel Lancaster's teachings in The Sent Ones, as presented by First Fruits of Zion for the Torah Club.