Acts 23:11-22

The Lord Protected Paul From the Jews

With all the hostility the Jews had shown him since his arrival in Jerusalem, Paul may have doubted if he would ever escape that city and fulfill his desire to preach in Rome. The Lord appeared to him at night and encouraged him to continue to be of good cheer, which is the meaning of the imperative used in Acts 23:11, according to Lenski. The Lord assured the apostle that he would get to give the same testimony in Rome as he had in Jerusalem.

The next morning, more than forty Jews took an oath to neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. Bruce believes their vow may have been something like the following, "So may God do to us, and more also, if we eat or drink until we have killed Paul." He also noted that the "Mishnah makes provision for relief from such vows as could not be fulfilled 'by reason of constraint.'" The forty plus men reported their plan to the chief priests and elders and enlisted their help in the conspiracy by asking time to get the captain to bring Paul before the council again on the pretext of more thoroughly judging his case. They hoped to kill Paul as he was being brought from the barracks to the council meeting place (Acts 23:12-15).

God, in his providence, had Paul's sister's son in a position to hear the plot. He then entered into the barracks where the apostle was being kept and informed him of the intention of the conspirators. Paul immediately called for a centurion and asked him to take his nephew to the chief captain. The centurion did just as requested and brought this young man to the commander. The fact that he took the young man by the hand may indicate how young he really was. At any rate, the commander asked Paul's nephew what he had to tell him. He revealed the entire plot against his uncle. The chief captain then asked him to tell no one what he had reported to him in private and let the young man go (Acts 23:16-22).