25:1 Now three days after Festus had arrived in the
province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. 2 And the chief priests and
the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul, and they urged
him, 3 asking as a favor against Paul [1] that he summon him to
Jerusalem—because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way. 4 Festus
replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go
there shortly. 5 “So,” said he, “let the men of authority among you go down with
me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them bring charges
against him.”(Acts 25:1-5 (ESV)
Festus was different from Felix in almost every respect
except that of the office he now held. Within three days of his arrival in the
province, he is in Jerusalem meeting the Sanhedrin. It’s actually quite
incredible when one considers all the logistics that must have gone into moving
even back then.
The Sanhedrin has an open floor to bring up any concerns and
they bring up Paul straightway. They aren’t going to let this go. That they
bring him up so soon shows the extent to which they thought he was a threat.
Festus seems to have been briefed concerning Paul himself,
which tends to indicate that Felix was very well aware of the political
ramifications the imprisonment of Paul entailed. The Sanhedrin is still trying
to take what they perceive as justice into their own hands. They want to ambush
and kill him on the way to Jerusalem.
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