SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/29/2018
9:56 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Prosecution”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 24:1-9
Message of the verses: “1 After five days
the high priest Ananias came down with some elders, with an attorney named
Tertullus, and they brought charges to the governor against Paul. 2 After Paul
had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying to the governor,
"Since we have through you attained much peace, and since by your
providence reforms are being carried out for this nation, 3 we acknowledge this
in every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, with all thankfulness. 4 “But,
that I may not weary you any further, I beg you to grant us, by your kindness,
a brief hearing. 5 “For we have found this man a real pest and a fellow who
stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader
of the sect of the Nazarenes. 6 “And he even tried to desecrate the temple; and
then we arrested him. [[We wanted to judge him according to our own Law. 7 “But
Lysias the commander came along, and with much violence took him out of our
hands, 8 ordering his accusers to come before you.]] By examining him yourself
concerning all these matters you will be able to ascertain the things of which
we accuse him." 9 The Jews also joined in the attack, asserting that these
things were so.”
We
see in the first verse that it only took five days for the high priest Ananias
to put together a team of both political and religious people, and to also hire
a lawyer to go down to meet with the governor, Felix. Now much is really know about the lawyer
except that he probably was chosen because he was well versed in Roman
law. This kind of thing was really not
unusual for Jews to do. He may have been
a Roman or he may have been a Hellenistic Jew.
John
MacArthur writes “The hearing began ‘after Paul had been summoned.’ Before ‘Tertullus began to accuse him,’ he
addressed Felix with the type of flowery, flattering, complimentary speech
(known as the capitation benevolentiae)
customary in such situations.
Unfortunately, there was not much good that could be said about Felix,
procurator (governor) of Judea from A. D. 52-59. A former slave, Felix owed his position to
the influence of his brother Pallas, a favorite of Emperor Claudius. The Roman historian Tacitus disdainfully dismissed
him with the comment ‘He exercised the power of a king with the mind of a slave’
(F. F. Bruch).”
The
lawyer for the Jews, Tertullus continued the flattery stating things that were
actually half-truths. The way that Felix
maintained peace was not exactly a good way, but in the end did promote some
sort of peace in Judah during his reign as governor.
After
that he then turned to the case at hand that is against Paul. I have to say that the leaders that came down
to accuse Paul must have really been frightened of him or else they would have
been content to have him out of Jerusalem, but they wanted him dead, and so
their lawyer begins to address why this should happen to governor Felix.
The
first charge against Paul to be brought up is the charge of sedition or
insurrection, or rebellion, which was probably the most serious of charges to
be brought up. This was the first of
three charges and this one was against Roman law. The next was sectarianism which
was a violation of Jewish law, and the third was sacrilege, a violation of God’s
law. This all sound pretty good
considering they did this in probably less than three days considering it took
probably two days to get there given the fact that it was 65 miles from
Jerusalem.
As
I said the first charge of rebellion was against Roman law because it went
against what is known as Pax Romana. In just a few years the very Jews who are
charging Paul with the breaking of this Roman law will face the furry of how
the Romans dealt with those why were causing trouble, as beginning with 66 A.
D. and then going to 70 A. D. the Romans will eventually destroy Jerusalem and
the temple, something very precious with the Jews, but resulted in the fact
that they had surely broken God’s law in crucifying our Lord Jesus Christ,
something they are still paying for.
I
was wondering what this charge of Paul being a real pest meant and John MacArthur
writes “That description of Paul accurately reflects the Sanhedrin’s hatred for
him but was not a specific charge.” With
that we will stop this SD and Lord willing pick up tomorrow with the remaining
verses concerning “The Prosecution.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “James.”
Today’s Bible question: “What did Joseph call his brothers when they
first came to Egypt?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/29/2018 10:32 AM
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