Acts 24:1-9 – Now after five days Ananias the high priest came down with the elders and a certain orator named Tertullus. These gave evidence to the governor against Paul.
2 And when he was called upon, Tertullus began his accusation, saying: “Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace, and prosperity is being brought to this nation by your foresight, 3 we accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness. 4 Nevertheless, not to be tedious to you any further, I beg you to hear, by your courtesy, a few words from us. 5 For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. 6 He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law. 7 But the commander Lysias came by and with great violence took him out of our hands, 8 commanding his accusers to come to you. By examining him yourself you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him.” 9 And the Jews also assented, maintaining that these things were so. Note: Instead of the usual NIV translation, the NKJV is used. It is because the NIV does not include V7 because there is some dispute among scholars whether or not this is was later added by a well-meaning scribe.
“Now after five days Ananias the high priest came down with the elders and a certain orator named Tertullus. These gave evidence to the governor against Paul.” After being rescued from the murderous plot by the Jewish leaders, these men showed up five days later, presenting themselves as holy, humble righteous protectors of the truths of God. They were in their most sanctimonious best as they presented lies against Paul, hoping that he would be sentenced to death.
Ananias, a corrupt high priest, was around eighty years old. The trip to Caesarea was an arduous one and was one that normally the elderly priest would not take. It is thought, because of a deep anathema toward Paul, he made the trip in hopes of witnessing Paul being condemned to death.
Along with the high priest and religious elders they brought a famous orator named Tertullus. Tertullus was not a lawyer, but a “sayer,” or trained speaker. He was not an expert in the law but rather a person trained and skilled to move an audience to desired conclusions and answers.
“And when he was called upon, Tertullus began his accusation, saying: “Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace, and prosperity is being brought to this nation by your foresight, 3 we accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness.” Tertullus, being the skilled speaker that he was, spoke to persuade the presiding judge, Felix. He knew that Felix was a vain and corrupt man. He attributed to Felix accomplishments and attributes that he was not worthy of. However, Tertullus knew that Felix would eat up the flattery and so Tertullus began to spread it thick. From reading the account of what Tertullus said, one would think that Felix was a beloved leader, but that was not true. He was another corrupt and brutal leader who would eventually hope for Paul to bribe him for his freedom. Felix was not interested in justice, only in how he could benefit, specifically, how he could line his pockets.
“Nevertheless, not to be tedious to you any further, I beg you to hear, by your courtesy, a few words from us.” Tertullus was essentially saying that a wise person such as Felix, one who has made many wise and just decisions, need not be burdened with endless evidence to see the truth and what decision should be made. Rather than doing that, Tertullus stated that he would not bore Felix with endless arguments, but only give to him a few words. Actually, the argument and proof against Paul was hearsay, weak and scant so truly a long winded presentation by Tertullus would be “seen through” by Felix.
“For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. 6 He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law. 7 But the commander Lysias came by and with great violence took him out of our hands, 8 commanding his accusers to come to you. By examining him yourself you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him.”” Tertullus accuses Paul of being a plaque, a pestilence that spreads that which is harmful to the healthy citizen and most importantly harmful to the Roman government.
Paul, being accused of being a pestilent fellow, is stated to be a creator of dissention among “all” the Jews “throughout” the world. Since they were accusing Paul of preaching a doctrine that was causing Jews all over the world to believe in the doctrine that he preached, that is the Gospel, we can be sure that Paul saw that what they accused him of he would consider high praise. They were saying that he was effectively sharing the Word and arguing the veracity of it. However, Paul’s motive was not to divide the Jews, but that they would all be united in the faith of their Messiah Jesus.
Calling Paul a ringleader, was tantamount to associating him as a leader of a criminal organization. It was meant to be an aspersion. However it was also an unwitting acknowledgement that Paul was a man being used by God to effectively spread the Gospel. Though meant as a slur, what a great honor
The term Nazarenes is obviously meant to speak of Jesus, whom Paul followed and advocated. It is the only place in the New Testament that the term is used for Christians. This term was likely also meant as a slur as we can see by Nathaniel’s remark (John 1:46) that shows an obvious discounting of the city that some would have called a town of “hicks.”
“He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law.” The accusation the Paul had tried to “profane” the temple was another lie. It was initiated by his original accusers, Jews from Asia. This accusation was the result of a lie that successfully riled up the people by saying that Paul had brought Gentiles into the Temple with him.
Claudius Lysias, in his letter, presented himself in an untrue way, making himself appear just and heroic. Now the Jews mispresented the facts as they said they had wanted to bring Paul to stand before their courts. In actually, Claudius Lysias had to have his men rescue Paul from being murderously torn apart by the Jews. Ah, how holy and innocent people can make themselves out to be.
“But the commander Lysias came by and with great violence took him out of our hands,” Here the Jews are blaming Lysias for blocking the justice that they wanted to bring. They accuse him as a person preventing justice when in reality, he saved the Jews from being murderers, though they would have preferred that he had let them murder Paul.
“commanding his accusers to come to you. By examining him yourself you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him.” So Tertullus is saying that they were there before Felix when it would have been unnecessary if Lysias had allowed them to bring about justice in Jerusalem.
The lies and hypocrisy are really almost unbearable. But we have cheated and read ahead. God’s plans were not being thwarted, but moved along. God was using the evil of these religious leaders to bring Paul to Rome to be his witness. Let’s not be confused by what the world’s opinions are, but see what is happening with spiritual eyes both in these events, and also in our lives today (2 Corinthians 4:18 and 5:7). God’s will is playing out and the end of it is us being with God for eternity in His peace and comfort. The world will cry out that the sky is falling, but we will instead say “No the heavens are not falling, but rather the will of God is bringing us closer to Heaven.” Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Your God.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”