Who also hath gone about to profane the temple: whom we took, and would have judged according to our law.
Five days after Paul reached Caesarea his accusers came down from Jerusalem for a speedy hearing before the Roman governor Felix, with Tertullus the hired orator speaking for them. In that hearing the claim that he had gone about to profane the temple was one of the charges brought against him. It was joined with calling him a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world and a ringleader or leader of the sect of the Nazarenes. Profaning the temple was presented as an offense not only against Jewish law but against Roman law, because Roman law protected the Jews in their religious worship. Sedition made him guilty of treason against the emperor and the government, and leadership of the Nazarenes made him guilty of heresy against the law of Moses, so that if the crimes were proved they meant conviction for high treason against the government.
The verse records the claim that the accusers had seized him and would have judged him according to their own Jewish religious or ecclesiastical law, specifically by the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem. The charges were vehemently supported by the Jews present, who made no effort to conceal their hatred. They were skillfully designed to portray Paul as a criminal and to induce Felix to deliver him over to the Jewish court to be judged by Jewish law. Tertullus falsely added that Lysias the commandant had violently taken Paul away from the Jews just as they were about to judge him by their ecclesiastical law.
The charge that Paul tried to profane the temple was false. Paul denied profaning the sanctuary, the accusers' claims were not substantiated, and Jewish tribunals condemned him without proving his guilt. The demand to take Paul and judge him at Jerusalem did not end with Felix but was pressed again as soon as Festus arrived, first by the mob at Caesarea and then by a deputation of the honorable men of Jerusalem headed by the high priest. Long imprisonment had not softened their malignant hatred nor shaken their determination to take his life. Their plausible request for a trial at Jerusalem concealed a deep-laid plot not to leave Paul even to the decision of the council but to murder him on the way. Yet Festus penetrated their motive, refused to sacrifice justice to gain popularity, and declined to send for Paul, answering that he would give them a fair opportunity to bring their charges at Caesarea.
The false argument in the verse is like the arguments urged against Christ and in the case of Stephen. The weakest and most unreliable statements on the wrong side gain influence because many whose hearts are unsanctified desire those statements to be true. They are eager to fasten upon any supposed error or mistake in those who speak to them unpalatable truth.
Five days after Paul reached Caesarea his accusers came down from Jerusalem for a speedy hearing before the Roman governor Felix, with Tertullus the hired orator speaking for them. In that hearing the claim that he had gone about to profane the temple was one of the charges brought against him. It was joined with calling him a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world and a ringleader or leader of the sect of the Nazarenes. Profaning the temple was presented as an offense not only against Jewish law but against Roman law, because Roman law protected the Jews in their religious worship. Sedition made him guilty of treason against the emperor and the government, and leadership of the Nazarenes made him guilty of heresy against the law of Moses, so that if the crimes were proved they meant conviction for high treason against the government.
The verse records the claim that the accusers had seized him and would have judged him according to their own Jewish religious or ecclesiastical law, specifically by the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem. The charges were vehemently supported by the Jews present, who made no effort to conceal their hatred. They were skillfully designed to portray Paul as a criminal and to induce Felix to deliver him over to the Jewish court to be judged by Jewish law. Tertullus falsely added that Lysias the commandant had violently taken Paul away from the Jews just as they were about to judge him by their ecclesiastical law.
The charge that Paul tried to profane the temple was false. Paul denied profaning the sanctuary, the accusers' claims were not substantiated, and Jewish tribunals condemned him without proving his guilt. The demand to take Paul and judge him at Jerusalem did not end with Felix but was pressed again as soon as Festus arrived, first by the mob at Caesarea and then by a deputation of the honorable men of Jerusalem headed by the high priest. Long imprisonment had not softened their malignant hatred nor shaken their determination to take his life. Their plausible request for a trial at Jerusalem concealed a deep-laid plot not to leave Paul even to the decision of the council but to murder him on the way. Yet Festus penetrated their motive, refused to sacrifice justice to gain popularity, and declined to send for Paul, answering that he would give them a fair opportunity to bring their charges at Caesarea.
The false argument in the verse is like the arguments urged against Christ and in the case of Stephen. The weakest and most unreliable statements on the wrong side gain influence because many whose hearts are unsanctified desire those statements to be true. They are eager to fasten upon any supposed error or mistake in those who speak to them unpalatable truth.