And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy.
More than forty men joined together in the conspiracy to kill Paul. They bound themselves by an oath or curse to eat and drink nothing until they had killed him. The plot pursued murder under a false appearance of religion. Their abstinence from food was a fast for strife and violence, of the kind condemned in Isaiah.
The verse shows Paul meeting the difficulties of Christian warfare while his enemies lay in wait for him. The same kind of trying places will come again, with spies watching on the track and lying in wait. Believers will be brought before councils and thrust into prison.
Meeting those trials as Paul did requires rising to a higher and holier standard and to an advanced position of faith that knows God and the power of His grace. It requires lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting and believing that God hears prayer.
More than forty men joined together in the conspiracy to kill Paul. They bound themselves by an oath or curse to eat and drink nothing until they had killed him. The plot pursued murder under a false appearance of religion. Their abstinence from food was a fast for strife and violence, of the kind condemned in Isaiah.
The verse shows Paul meeting the difficulties of Christian warfare while his enemies lay in wait for him. The same kind of trying places will come again, with spies watching on the track and lying in wait. Believers will be brought before councils and thrust into prison.
Meeting those trials as Paul did requires rising to a higher and holier standard and to an advanced position of faith that knows God and the power of His grace. It requires lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting and believing that God hears prayer.