Acts 23:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Forty men gathered together. Such were these people that, when agreement was needed for good, not even two came together. But when it was for evil, a whole crowd assembled.

The Jews were greatly angered that the Roman official was not entirely on their side. They were also angered that Paul's trial had not fulfilled their desire to hand the Apostle over to death. Then certain fanatics from among them, forty in number, vowed neither to drink nor eat until they had killed Paul. To carry out their murderous design, they told the high priest and the other ranks of the Sanhedrin to ask the tribune to bring Paul to them again for trial. During his journey to the Sanhedrin, they intended to kill him. But their design was discovered and brought to the tribune's knowledge by Paul's nephew. The tribune continued to respect and protect Paul as a Roman citizen.

But the Apostle's life was not safe in Jerusalem, even under Roman protection. On the very next day it became known that a conspiracy, sealed by an oath, had been formed against him by fanatics. Jewish fanaticism at this time was in extreme agitation. By all kinds of disturbances and violence it had been driven to a diseased frenzy. Many secret murderers had multiplied, the so-called Sicarii. They were ready to plunge a dagger into anyone who merely seemed dangerous to the people, to their faith, or to their political rights. Now forty men swore neither to eat nor drink until they had killed the Apostle Paul.

More than forty: if not these, then others were to fulfill this vow. With so many bound by oath, Paul's death at their hands seemed unavoidable. But the Lord judged otherwise, and the evildoers' vow remained unfulfilled. The curse was probably removed from them afterward. According to information found in the Talmud, such curses, when the vow proved completely impossible to fulfill, could be absolved by wise rabbis, once every measure and means had been taken to fulfill it without success.

The oath of the forty enemies of the Apostle Paul neither to eat nor drink until they killed him was a bold act of self-will. It aimed to subject God's will to itself under the pretext of doing something seemingly worthy, namely fasting, and for a supposedly good purpose, the killing of an imagined enemy of God. This is a terrible and fanatical abuse of the sacred custom of swearing by the name of God, which is permitted in the most important circumstances. At the same time, it is one of the clearest examples of what an oath must not be. 'Seeing that everything had failed, these wicked men begin to act on their own. Thus malice never rests, despite any obstacles. Yet how many circumstances disposed them to calm their anger and come to their senses!' 'Do you see,' says St.