Whether such a result was in any degree attained we do not know: the immediate consequence of the dissension which occurred in the assembly was that Paul was like to be torn in pieces, and was carried off by the Roman soldiers. In the night he had a vision, as at Corinth (xviii, 9, 10) and on the voyage to Rome (xxvii, 23, 24), of the Lord standing bj' him, and en- couraging him. "Be of good cheer, Paul," said his Master ; " for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusa- lem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." It was not safet}' that the apostle longed for, but oppor- tunity to bear witness of Christ.
Probably the factious support which Paul had gained by his manner of bearing witness in the council died away as soon as the meeting was dissolved. On the next day a conspiracy was formed, which the historian relates with a singular fulness of details. More than forty of the Jews bound themselves under a vow nei- ther to eat nor to drink until thej^ had killed Paul. Their plan was to persuade the Roman commandant to send down Paul once more to the council, and then to set upon him by the way and kill him. This conspir- ac}' became known in some way to a nephew of Paul, his sister's son, who was allowed to see his uncle and inform him of it, and by his desire was taken to the captain, who was thus put on his guard against the plot. This discovery baffled the conspirators, and it is to be presumed that they obtained some dispensation from their vow. The consequence to Paul was that he was hurried away from Jerusalem. The chief captain, Claudius L3-sias, determined to send him to CiEsarea, to Felix, the governor or procurator of Judaea. He therefore put him in charge of a strong guard of sol- diers, who took him by night as far as Antipatris. Thence a smaller detachment conveyed him to Cajsa- rea, M'here they delivered up their prisoner into the hands of the governor, together with a letter, in which Claudius Lysias explained to Felix his reason for sending Paul, and announced that his accusers would follow. Felix, Luke tells us, with that particularity which marks this portion of his narrative, asked of what province the prisoner was; and being told that he was of Cilicia, he promised to give him a hearing when his accusers should come. In the mean time he ordered him to be guarded — chained, probably, to a soldier— in the government-house, which had been the palace of Herod the Great.
(2.) Detention ai'Cccsarea. — Paul was henceforth, to the end of the period embraced in the Acts, if not to the end of his life, in Roman custody. This custody was in fact a protection to him, without which he would have fallen a victim to the animosity of the Jews. He seems to have been treated throughout with humanity
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and consideration. His own attitude towards Ro- man magistrates was invariably tluxt of a respectful butindeijeudent citizen; and while his franchise se- cured him from open injustice, his character and con- duct could not fail to win him the good-will of those into whose hands he came. The governor before whom he was now to be tried, according to Tacitus and Jose- phus, was a mean and dissolute tyrant. See Felix. "Per omnem sievitiam ac libidinem jus regium servili ingenio exercuit" (Tacitus, Hist, v, 9). But these characteristics, except perhaps the servile ingenium, do not appear in our history'. The orator or counsel re- tained by the Jews, and l)rought down by Ananias and the elders, when thev arrived in the course of five da3's at Caisarea, begins the proceedings of the trial profes- sionally by complimenting the governor. The charge he goes on to set forth against Paul shows precisely the light in which he was regarded by the fanatical Jews. He is a pestilent fellow (Xoi/uii.) ; he stirs up divisions among the Jews throughout the world ; he is a ringleader of the sect {ct'iptauoc) of the Nazarenes. His last offence had been an attempt to profane the Temple. Paul met the charge in his usual manner. He was glad that his judge had been for some years governor of a Jewish province ; " because it is in thy power to ascertain that, not more than twelve days since, I came up to Jerusalem to worship." The em- phasis is upon his coming up to worship. He denied positively the charges of stirring up strife and of pro- faning the Temple. But he admitted that "after the way (i lyv oEuv) which they call a sect, or a heresy" — so he worshipped the God of his fathers, believing all things written in the law and in the prophets. Again he gave prominence to the hope of a resurrection, which he held, as he said, in common with his accusers. His loyalty to the faith of his fathers he had shown by coming up to Jerusalem expressly to bring alms for his nation and offerings, and by undertaking the cere- monies of purification in the Temple. What fault, then, could any Jew possibly find in him? — The apos- tle's answer was straightforward and complete. He had not violated the law of his fathers ; he was still a true and lo3'al Israelite. Felix, it appears, knew a good deal about "the way" (r(}<_ iiCoii\ as well as about the customs of the Jews, and was pi-oljably sat- isfied that Paul's account was a true one. He made an excuse for putting off the matter, and gave orders that the prisoner should be treated with indulgence, and that his friends should be allowed free access to him. After a while Felix heard him again. His wife, Drusilla, was a Jewess, and thej^ were both curious to hear the eminent preacher of the new faith in Christ. But Paul was not a man to entertain an idle curiosity. He began to reason concerning righteousness, temper- ance, and the coming judgment, in a manner which alarmed Felix, and caused him to put an end to the conference. He frequently saw him afterwards, how- ever, and allowed him to understand that a bribe would procure his release. But Paul would not resort to this method of escape, and he remained in custodj^ until Felix left the province. The imprincipled governor had good reason to seek to ingratiate himself with the Jews ; and to please them he handed over Paul, as an untried prisoner, to his successor Festus.