Acts 23:1-10<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin\u00a0and said, \u201cMy brothers,\u00a0I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience\u00a0to this day.\u201d\u00a02\u00a0At this the high priest Ananias\u00a0ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.\u00a03\u00a0Then Paul said to him, \u201cGod will strike you, you whitewashed wall!\u00a0You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!\u201d\u00a0 4\u00a0Those who were standing near Paul said, \u201cHow dare you insult God\u2019s high priest!\u201d\u00a0 5\u00a0Paul replied, \u201cBrothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: \u2018Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 6\u00a0Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees\u00a0and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, \u201cMy brothers,\u00a0I am a Pharisee,\u00a0descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.\u201d\u00a07\u00a0When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.\u00a08\u00a0(The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection,\u00a0and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.)\u00a0 9\u00a0There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees\u00a0stood up and argued vigorously. \u201cWe find nothing wrong with this man,\u201d\u00a0they said. \u201cWhat if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?\u201d\u00a010\u00a0The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cThen Paul said to him, \u201cGod will strike you, you whitewashed wall!\u00a0You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!\u201d\u00a0\u00a04\u00a0Those who were standing near Paul said, \u201cHow dare you insult God\u2019s high priest!\u201d\u00a0\u00a05\u00a0Paul replied, \u201cBrothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: \u2018Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.\u2019\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0Paul was angry as he had been struck out of line.\u00a0\u00a0Have you ever been surprised by an unexpected slap or punch?\u00a0\u00a0Once when I was in school I was being falsely accused.\u00a0\u00a0The principal had promised to not strike me and then, when I was looking away, slapped me on my face.\u00a0\u00a0I was immediately furious at the unprovoked and unwarranted slap.\u00a0\u00a0I just managed to control myself not to strike back.\u00a0\u00a0Paul was unjustly struck.\u00a0\u00a0It was not the practice of the Jews to punish someone without due process (Deuteronomy 25:1-2<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0Besides, wasn\u2019t Paul there to defend his innocence just as the Sanhedrin was there to accuse him?\u00a0\u00a0So obviously Paul said what a man who believed himself innocent would say, that his conscience was clear of wrongdoing.\u00a0\u00a0It was not for the sake of courtly order or because of wrong doing by Paul that he was struck, but because of the poor character of Ananias who directed the attack from anger and pride.<\/p>\n
Paul, not knowing that the one who called for him to be struck was the high priest, spoke out against the one who gave the wrongful order.\u00a0\u00a0Paul called him a whitewashed tomb.\u00a0\u00a0This was a reference to the practice of white washing a tomb to make aware to any person traveling by that they were passing by a tomb.\u00a0\u00a0If it were not whitewashed and someone touched it, not knowing it was a tomb (a carved out cave), then that person was considered unclean.\u00a0\u00a0In that circumstance there was a seven day cleansing ritual (Numbers 19:11-22<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0So the expression a \u201cwhitewashed tomb\u201d was to state that the person who looked clean and white on the outside was unclean on the inside.\u00a0\u00a0It was calling them a vile hypocrite.<\/p>\n
As noted, Paul, until he was told, did not know it was the high priest who had given the instruction.\u00a0\u00a0It has been offered that he did not know because perhaps the high priest was not dressed in his priestly garb (due to the impromptu meeting), and in addition to that Paul had not been in Jerusalem for some time and may not have known who the current high priest was.<\/p>\n
Though Paul had been wronged by the high priest he immediately apologized for disrespecting him. He pled ignorance of the knowing it was the high priest.\u00a0\u00a0He quoted the verse that would be the one he had broken \u201cDo not speak evil about the ruler of your people.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Family, Paul wrote in\u00a01 Corinthians 13:1-7<\/b>\u00a0that authority should be honored because the authority is there only because the Lord has allowed it.\u00a0\u00a0Respect the authority even if it is inhabited by evil because we don\u2019t know the reason or plans of God.\u00a0\u00a0Therefore we respect the authority even it is represented by an evil person (though not the person).\u00a0\u00a0God has His purposes which we quite probably do not at all know.\u00a0\u00a0Respecting authority is respecting and trusting God.\u00a0\u00a0An authority, such as Ananias, may not personally be one of honor or personally a respectable person, but we trust that God has a reason.\u00a0\u00a0If we have a complaint of injustice, we call out to God.\u00a0\u00a0He will recompense (Deuteronomy 32:35, Romans 12:17-19<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0Going further, pray for those who persecute us and abuse us and that shows the heart of God within us.\u00a0\u00a0After all Jesus died for the very ones who tortured and killed Him.\u00a0\u00a0If His love lives in us, how much more so should we, the bearers of His love, also pray for those who harm us?\u00a0\u00a0(Matthew 5:43-48<\/b>)<\/p>\n
Family, those who belong to God act from the love of God, and live out a godly character, not because we want to be long to Him, but because we do.\u00a0\u00a0Therefore, as Jesus taught us, we who are ordained by God as the light of the world let it be shown by how we live.\u00a0\u00a0Let the Light that shines from us, that is Jesus (John 8:12<\/b>), shine out to the world.\u00a0\u00a0Acts of retribution do not display the Spirit of Jesus who instead of retribution to those who killed Him, blessed them with opportunity to God\u2019s grace and love.\u00a0\u00a0Let us let our light shine (Matthew 5:14-16<\/b>) and we do so not to win praise for ourselves, but to bring people to Jesus, that they may also receive His grace and love.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God who has given us the great honor of representing Him!\u00a0\u00a0There is no greater honor!\u00a0\u00a0Let us do so in a respectful manner that is worthy of the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0Thank you Jesus!\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!\u00a0\u00a0Thank you Lord God!<\/p>\n
P<\/b><\/span>salm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God<\/i>.<\/p>\n Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Acts 23:1-10\u00a0–\u00a0Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin\u00a0and said, \u201cMy brothers,\u00a0I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience\u00a0to this day.\u201d\u00a02\u00a0At this the high priest Ananias\u00a0ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.\u00a03\u00a0Then Paul said to him, \u201cGod will strike you, you whitewashed wall!\u00a0You sit there to judge me according to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,129,1872,100,101,94,1874,17,10],"class_list":["post-2069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-corinthians","tag-deuteronomy","tag-john","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm","tag-romans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2069"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2070,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069\/revisions\/2070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}