Paul Sent to Felix the Governor

After a crowd tried to kill Paul, members of the Sanhedrin tried to kill Paul, and a conspiracy of forty Jewish men took an oath to kill Paul, there remained no doubt that Paul would not be safe as long as he was in the city. Even the Roman tribune could not be sure that he could protect the Apostle as he awaited trial on charges of violating the temple (see Acts 21:27–23:22). Further, the tribune was in a precarious position with the Roman government. He could expect punishment of some kind if a Roman citizen such as Paul were to be assassinated while in his custody, and he could easily lose control of the Jews who were clamoring for the Apostle’s death. Thus, as Luke tells us in today’s passage, the tribune acted to get Paul out of Jerusalem.

The tribune sent Paul to Caesarea, where Marcus Antonius Felix, the governor of Judea, resided. He owed his position as governor to the influence of his brother Pallas, who served in the Roman imperial court of Claudius. Felix’s governorship began in AD 52, and he frequently had to put down Jewish rebellions during his reign, usually with a degree of ruthlessness that few other leaders at the time demonstrated. The tribune called for 270 soldiers—infantry, cavalry, and spearmen—to escort Paul to Caesarea. The large size of that military party speaks to the danger that Paul was in and how determined the tribune was to see Paul protected. Paul was given a mount, a horse or mule, to ride because the trip needed to be quick (Acts 23:23–24).

The tribune, whose name was Claudius Lysias, sent a letter with Paul to Felix that described the circumstances of Paul’s arrest and the hearing that the Apostle had had before the tribune. Lysias made sure to report that his investigation had found Paul guilty of no capital crime. The soldiers took Paul as far as Antipatris, about thirty-five miles away from Jerusalem. Then all the soldiers except the horsemen, the cavalry, returned to Jerusalem, and the cavalry took Paul on to Caesarea, twenty-seven or so miles farther away. Because they had traveled so far from Jerusalem, Paul’s life was in less danger from his opponents, so fewer soldiers were needed to guard him (vv. 25–33). Felix made sure that Paul was from a Roman province originally, for if that were not the case, another would have jurisdiction. Then he had Paul put under guard at the praetorium, the palace that Herod the Great had built at Caesarea. He would hear Paul’s case only after the Apostle’s accusers arrived (vv. 34–35).