acts 23

Read Acts 23 at Bible Gateway.

The division among the teachers of the Law, between Sadducees and Pharisees, arose sometime after the return from captivity in Babylon. Before the captivity, there was one Torah party - those who adhered to the written Torah. After the captivity, some traditions of the elders were elevated to the same status as written Torah by one party of teachers of the Law. One party maintained the concept of an Oral Law (traditions of the elders) which was not part of the written Torah, but which was, they said, passed down through the generations from Sinai. Eventually the Oral Law was written in a book called the Talmud. The Pharisees were the Torah party that embraced the Oral Law as well as the Torah. They also embraced other concepts which were prevalent in Babylon, such as hierarchies of angels and demons, and the like.

The Sadducees rejected the Oral Law and anything which smacked of Babylonianism or additions to the written Torah. Their objection to the resurrection may be an extreme position based on a rejection of reincarnation, which was a Babylonian concept. The rabbis are in general, the descendants of the Pharisee Torah party, and the Karaite Jews (who reject the Talmud and rabbinical Judaism) are in general, the descendants of the Sadducee Torah party.

Paul was wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove, in garnering support in the council from his fellow Pharisees, by stating that his trial was because of his belief in the resurrection of the dead - the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The reason the plot was made to kill Paul, was because they saw that first of all, the council was unlikely to unite to condemn him before the Roman governor. Secondly, as a Roman citizen, without a condemnation from the Jewish council, they saw no chance at all for getting Rome to agree that he ought to be condemned to death. They believe he deserved death, but I believe that their unreasoning fury against him was spiritually motivated, not rationally motivated. As the enemy stirred up the mob to be irrationally motivated against Jesus, so now he was stirring up whomever he could use to be irrationally motivated against Paul. The Father used this incident to send Paul to Rome to testify before the Roman emperor. But first he had to go through the ranks, so to speak, starting in Jerusalem.

Now the problem the centurion was having, was in writing a cheirographon against Paul. Remember we learned that Jesus had a cheirographon - a written list of his accused crime - nailed above the cross when He was crucified. His cheirographon read "King of the Jews." The cheirographon was an integral piece of Roman justice, and no prisoner could be held or tried or condemned without it. It was the list what he had done that broke Roman law. We have something similar in American law (much of our practice comes from Roman law). If someone is taken to the police station in handcuffs, he has to be accused of a crime or set free. He cannot be held indefinitely and for no reason.

When the centurion sent Paul to Felix, the Roman governor, he was stating essentially in his letter, that did not have a cheirographon to send with the prisoner, because he could not determine from the Jews what his crime was. So it fell to Felix to determine what his crime had been.This is why Paul's accusers were commanded to appear before Felix also.

And all the while, Paul needed to keep his faith and trust in YHVH for his life, his vindicaton, and his deliverance. He knew God could miraculously set His people free from chains - he himself had experienced it. But our life, once we become a believer, is not about our comfort. It is about our witness to the world that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God! We have seen numerous times in Acts where God allowed His people to be discomfited, if it got them where He wanted them - as a witness to Him! So we can trust in Him at all times, and His praise shall continually be in our mouths! He is on His throne no matter in what circumstance we find ourselves!