Acts 23:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The Jews were greatly angered that the Roman official was not wholly on their side. They were also angered that the trial of Paul had not fulfilled their desire to deliver the apostle to death.

Then certain fanatics from among them, forty men in number, took a vow neither to eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

To carry out their murderous design, they told the high priest and the other members of the Sanhedrin to ask the commander to bring Paul before them again for trial. During his journey to the Sanhedrin, they intended to kill him.

But their design was discovered, and Paul’s nephew brought it to the commander’s attention.

“Having called one of the centurions.” In order not to spread the matter abroad, and to keep it as secret as possible, the apostle does not tell the centurion about it. Instead, he asks that his nephew be taken directly to the tribune.

Thus only three knew of the plot against his life: Paul himself, his nephew, and the tribune (v. 22).

“It is worthy of wonder,” says Chrysostom, “how Paul was not troubled when he heard of the plot against him. He did not say, ‘What does this mean? Is what Christ told me true?’ (v. 11). No, he neither thought nor felt anything of the kind, but only believed. Yet while believing, he did not sleep. He did not fail to do what could be done with the help of human wisdom.”

“He took him by the hand,” that is, in a friendly manner, and withdrew aside, so that no one would hear and the secret would be preserved.

The centurion’s presentation of Paul’s kinsman to the tribune is remarkable for its simplicity and naturalness. The author of Acts was evidently interested in every detail of this matter, especially in the kindly attention that Roman authority sometimes showed to defenders of innocent sufferers.

Since the Apostle Paul wished the disclosure of the treacherous murder being prepared against him to proceed secretly, the commander also, as if by some prompting, received his kinsman privately and gave him the opportunity to speak in secret.