Requesting favour against him, that he would command him to be brought to Jerusalem, laying wait to kill him in the way.
αιτουμενοι χαριν κατ αυτου οπως μεταπεμψηται αυτον εις ιερουσαλημ ενεδραν ποιουντες ανελειν αυτον κατα την οδον
5 Church Fathers comment on this verse
They asked it as a favor. But why, if Paul ought justly to die? The words “they urged him, asking” show that they requested this favor from him. They wanted him to pronounce sentence on Paul, because they feared Paul’s word. What do you fear? What do you dread? It is plainly said that he “was kept in custody at Caesarea.” Could he then escape?
When Festus, soon after assuming office, came to Jerusalem, the high priest and the most prominent of the Jews appeared before him with complaints against Paul. They asked him to summon the apostle for trial before them in Jerusalem, plotting to kill him on the road. But the procurator did not grant their request. He proposed that they appear for trial in Caesarea, where Paul was being kept under guard and where he himself intended shortly to return. Consequently, when he returned to Caesarea, Paul’s accusers also came there.
One of the first questions Festus had to face was the case of the Apostle Paul. Two years of imprisonment had prevented the Jews' evil design from being carried out. Yet it could not suppress their mortal hatred for the man who, by freely offering the Gospel to the Gentiles, gave them one of the most fatal signs of their approaching fall.
The terrible slaughter in the marketplace between Jews and Syrian Greeks, which had caused Felix's removal, left behind an ineradicable enmity. The Jews of Caesarea unanimously demanded the immediate punishment of the Apostle Paul.
When Festus arrived in Jerusalem, he was met with the same outcry. Paul's death was demanded not only by the mob, but also by delegations of the chief representatives of Jerusalem, led by Ishmael Ben-Fabi, the new high priest.
The Jews always used their characteristic cleverness to take advantage of every newly arrived governor's inexperience. They tried, as far as possible, to incline him in their favor before he had settled into his position and while he naturally wished to make a favorable impression on all.
But Festus was not among those base and weak procurators ready to commit a crime merely to gain popularity. The Palestinian Jews soon found that they were dealing with a man in no way disposed to indulge them.
The people, with their hierarchs at their head, asked him for their first favor. They wanted him not to remove the Apostle Paul's case from their jurisdiction, but to bring the prisoner to Jerusalem. There they wished to subject him once more to the judgment of the Sanhedrin. This time every measure would be taken to keep him from evading judgment by stirring up theological disputes among them.
In reality, these ritualists were far less troubled by murder than by ceremonial defilement. They had already arranged that, if Festus granted their request, their hired assassins would immediately finish off the Apostle Paul on the road.
Festus, however, penetrated their evil designs and declined to consent to their request. He used the plausible pretext that, since the Apostle Paul was now in Caesarea, he would immediately return there and fully hear their complaints.
Since the Jews continued to insist on their request, Festus gave them a haughty and purely Roman answer. He said that it was not the Roman custom to sacrifice a man's life for the benefit of his accusers. Therefore he must confront the accused personally with his accusers and give the accused full opportunity for defense.
The high priest and his accomplices saw that they could gain nothing by intimidating Festus or flattering him. They therefore had to content themselves once more with forming the most influential delegation possible, in order to succeed in the accusation.
They asked the new governor as a favor to summon Paul to Jerusalem, as though for trial before the Sanhedrin in the governor’s presence. In reality, they intended to kill him on the road. They urged the procurator to grant their request, no doubt saying much about the prisoner in order to prejudice the new ruler against him. They even directly demanded his condemnation, as Festus himself later recounts (v. 15).
The Jews' hatred against the Apostle Paul did not die out during the years Felix kept him languishing under guard in Caesarea. As soon as a new procurator appeared in place of Felix, on his first journey from Caesarea to Jerusalem they asked him to summon Paul, ostensibly to examine his case. In reality, they meant to kill him on the road.
So great was the hatred for him among the high priest, who was then Ishmael, and the most notable Jews. Clearly the successes of Christianity, both in Judea and everywhere, were very great. Therefore the enemies of Christianity wished to pour out their malice by murdering one of its most zealous spreaders.
"They were so persistent that they again began to attack, as they had attacked none of the apostles. This was arranged by God, so that Paul, dealing with such beasts, might depart from Jerusalem. Yet they again ask that he be brought there for trial. But here God ordered matters so that the governor did not agree to it. Since he had recently received authority, he might have decided to please the Jews, but God did not permit it."
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 16 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS