The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend

Chapter 23

v.5 - Paul quotes Exodus 22:28 here, which says Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people. Holy cow! I'd like to dismiss this by saying that it's an Old Testament rule and we are no longer under the law. The problem is that we can't just throw out the OT, or all the OT parts we don't agree with anymore. Sure, some OT commands are cultural and were given to a specific people at a specific time. However, God, at His core, doesn't change. There's usually a precept behind the prohibition. If this command was obeyed, talk radio and half of the internet would not exist. In America, criticizing our political leaders is not just our right...it has seemingly become our responsibility.

vv.6-10 - Total Genius. That Paul - he's a wily one. He's in trouble before the Sanhedrin - a group made up of a few sects including the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He knowingly brings up something about himself that is a major divisive issue between these two and then watches them go at it. Hilarious. This would be like being in some neutral court in the 1860's in America and bringing up something about being a slave owner (even if it wasn't central to the case). This would've probably gotten the listeners into a tizzy fighting over slavery and you could've walked out of the courtroom with nobody even noticing. It is interesting to note that these guys (both sides) tip their hands that they are more concerned with maintaining their traditions than anything else (i.e. following God, recognizing that Messiah had come...you know, small things like that).

v.11 - Jesus appears to Paul when he's in a crisis. This must've been encouraging and scary for Paul. The encouragement comes from knowing God is going to get him out of this pickle. The scary part is that he's going to go to Rome (the capital of the known world) and testify for Christ. Remember, the Romans don't play around. If Paul goes to Rome and says there is no Lord but Jesus, that's going to go over like a lead balloon. Once again, Paul might be scared to do this if he didn't already consider himself dead to what he wanted. It's also nice when Jesus Himself shows up to talk to you. It is also interesting to see how 1:8 is being fulfilled. The church was spreading to the "uttermost parts of the earth" by going to Rome. If you can influence Rome, you can influence the entire empire.

v.16 - Paul's nephew overhears of the plot to kill Paul by the Sanhedrin (or at least 40 of them). How was Paul's nephew close enough to hear this? No idea. However, again, we see the hand of Providence. If Jesus just told Paul he would go to Rome, there's no way His plan is going to be foiled by 40 knuckleheads in Jerusalem. God does what He wants and His will can never be thwarted. This should be encouraging to us when we watch the news or read the newspaper/internet. With our earthly/physical eyes, it looks like things are doing downhill and God is having trouble with His creation - as if things could go either way. Not true. Things have been going south since Genesis 3, but there's no question He will right everything in the future.

v.23 - Big time. You must be pretty big time when the Roman commander orders 470 soldiers to escort you up to another town! It's also pretty nice that when you get to that town, the ruler orders that you be kept, not in prison, but in Herod's palace.