Acts 25:27

For it seemeth to me unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him.

Agrippa was naturally interested in Paul, the great teacher of Christianity, just as his relative, some thirty years before, had been desirous of seeing Jesus, Luke 23:8. His family had always held the same relation to Christ and the Gospel. His grandfather had attempted to kill Jesus at Bethlehem in the slaughter of the innocents, his uncle had murdered John the Baptist and mocked Jesus, his father had slain James the apostle and oppressed the Church. Agrippa would probably not have gone one step out of his way to see or hear Paul, but at this unexpected opportunity to, become acquainted with the doctrine of the Nazarenes he was truly pleased. So he expressed his wish that he might hear the man himself, with the understanding that he would then be enabled to render a proper opinion; and he received the promise of Festus that this opportunity would be given him the next day. At the appointed time, therefore, Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, with an extraordinary, Oriental show of splendor, very likely attired in all their regal finery and attended by a full retinue of servants, all this in the same city in which their father, upon a similar occasion, had been stricken by God and had been eaten by worms. The distinguished visitors were received and conducted, and thus entered into the hall appointed for this informal hearing, hardly the judgment-hall, since a formal trial was out of the question. The brilliancy of the occasion, which was in the nature of a reception, was enhanced by the presence of chiliarchs and of the most distinguished men of the city, surely the most brilliant audience which Paul, whom Festus now ordered to be brought in, had ever faced. Although Agrippa knew the purpose of the assembly, the governor now made a formal speech, addressed to him and to all men that were present, presenting to them the man who was causing all this excitement among the Jews. They saw before them this man, concerning whom the entire multitude of the Jews had had a conference with him, had made complaint to him, both in Jerusalem and in Caesarea. They had loudly voiced their opinion that he should no longer live. But Festus had come to the conclusion that Paul had done nothing worthy of death, and now the prisoner himself had appealed to Caesar, the Roman emperor, to the name that was given divine honor by the Romans. And so Festus had judged that he would send him. It was a solemn, impressive occasion, and the governor made the most of it by stressing its importance and exaggerating his part in the drama. But the difficulty confronting him, as he further explained, one that placed him in a bad predicament, was this, that he had nothing definite to write to his lord, the emperor, concerning Paul. For this reason he had brought him forth before this illustrious assembly and especially before King Agrippa, in order that he might, after some sort of an examination had been held, have something precise to write. For since the charge of treason had been contradicted by Paul with great emphasis, the question still remaining seemed partly obscure and partly absurd. And all this was done since it seemed unreasonable, senseless, to the governor that any one sending a man bound as a prisoner should not indicate, in the accompanying letter, what reasons he had for this step. The situation surely was awkward. He was about to send Paul to Rome, to appear in the emperor's court, though he had not one charge against him; and at the same time he must be sent, since he had appealed to Caesar. Agrippa would therefore probably be able to help him, that he might draw up such letters in the case as not to appear a fool in Nero's eyes. Thus Paul obtained the chance to testify of Christ before this great and magnificent assembly. And thus in many other cases sinners of all classes have the opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which alone will save their souls. O that every one of them would but hear!

Summary. Paul, arraigned before Festus, finds it necessary to appeal to Caesar, after which his case is laid before the visiting Agrippa.