The tribune therefore dismissed the young man, charging him that he should tell no man that he had made known these things unto him.
ο μεν ουν χιλιαρχος απελυσεν τον νεανιαν παραγγειλας μηδενι εκλαλησαι οτι ταυτα ενεφανισας προς με
4 Church Fathers comment on this verse
The commander did well by ordering this to be kept hidden, so that it would not become known. But how, you ask, did he believe that what the young man said was true? From what had happened before, he concluded that they could do this. See what deceit there was. The chief priests themselves were, as it were, placed under necessity. Do not marvel. If those men were resolved on such a deed and took all the danger upon themselves, these men were still more able to do the same.
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.
The commander continued to respect and protect the Roman citizen in Paul. Therefore, on the night before the day when the conspirators expected to carry out their plan, he sent him under a strong guard to Caesarea, to Felix, the proconsul of Judea.
In a special letter, he explained to him the circumstances of the apostle’s arrest, his Roman citizenship, and his political innocence.
“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 preparation of a large escort for Paul shows that the commander expected an attack from Paul’s enemies with strong arms and with support from the Sicarii, who were always ready for every seditious deed.
There is a supposition that other plans existed besides the plan of the forty conspirators, and that the commander feared a popular uprising.
“So large an escort was a wise precaution, in order to bring Paul, a Roman citizen, safely to Caesarea. Lysias’ care for the apostle’s comfort and safety is evident here, as is his favorable disposition toward him.”
It seems that those who testified against him were also sent to Caesarea together with the Apostle Paul. Having this in mind, Saint John Chrysostom says: “If Paul had been recognized as innocent, why were the accusers sent there?
“So that the case might be examined more precisely, and so that this man might appear all the more pure” (cf. v. 30).
There were many accusers. Therefore the escort naturally had to be considerable, especially in view of the extreme malice of the accusers mentioned.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 15 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS