Bears. West Virginia Capitol.
Tuesday, 23 January 2024
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. Acts 24:1
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Chapter 24 enters into the hearing that Felix promised Paul in the preceding verse. The words begin with, “Now after five days.”
This five-day period is probably from the time of Paul’s departure from Jerusalem. At that same time, the council would have been informed, and they would have begun preparations for a case against him.
This is the likely scenario because it was twelve days since Paul’s arrival in Jerusalem, as will be seen in verse 24:11. Therefore, the timeline is better reckoned from the departure from Jerusalem and not from the last events of Chapter 23.
Regardless of this, the five-day period sees the coming of a delegation to testify against Paul. Of them, Luke records that “Ananias the high priest came down with the elders and a certain orator named Tertullus.”
As always, when a trip is made from Jerusalem, the term “came down” or “descended” is used. Because the Lord’s temple is in Jerusalem, it is considered as the highest place on earth from a legal and royal perspective. He being the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Likewise, when going to Jerusalem from anywhere else, it is an ascent regardless of direction or elevation. The word used to describe Tertullus is rhétór. This is its only use in Scripture. It signifies an orator, public speaker, or an advocate. Today, we use the words rhetoric, rhetorically, etc. These are etymologically derived from this ancient Greek word.
As for Tertullus, he would have the eloquence of a toastmaster. Ellicott describes the rhétór –
“Men of this class were to be found in most of the provincial towns of the Roman empire, ready to hold a brief for plaintiff or defendant, and bringing to bear the power of their glib eloquence, as well as their knowledge of Roman laws, on the mind of the judge.”
Of this delegation that has arrived, it next says, “These gave evidence to the governor against Paul.”
The word translated as “gave evidence” is emphanizó. It signifies to appear, declare, make visible, etc. In this case, it is being used in a technical sense. In essence, it is a formal indictment being made against Paul. One might more accurately say that they litigated against Paul. They are set to disclose the charges against him that have been decided upon.
Of this verse, the Geneva Bible comments, “Hypocrites, when they can not do what they want to do by force and deceit, at length they go about to accomplish it by a show of law.”
Life application: Think of what has happened to Paul. These miscreants had initiated a sort of coup against him in the temple, stirring up the masses against him and stealing away his rights in the process. The only thing that saved him from disaster was that he was found to be Roman by the barracks commander.
From there, they plotted against him to kill him. That plot was discovered, and Paul was safely conducted out of Jerusalem. Now, because they have been ineffective in laying hands on him any other way, they are set to bring false charges against him to keep him from spreading his message of freedom in Christ any further.
The parallel between what has happened thus far and what has happened to President Donald Trump is quite similar. There are certain ways that people will react when they cannot get their way. They will follow the same patterns again and again in history to meet whatever the present circumstances are that they find displeasing.
But this isn’t just with leaders. Eventually, the persecution continues even to those who are inspired by the leader. In the case of Paul, it started with Jesus. It continued to His apostles. From there, it continued to the people who accepted the apostles’ message. Paul was supernaturally pulled from that by a personal appearance of Jesus. But then the persecution against him began.
In our world today, the communists on the left have fought against conservative ideology. They have then targeted the leader of the conservative movement that was most likely to harm their globalist agenda. With that goal seemingly realized, they began targeting his supporters.
Only with a massive amount of public support has this wave of communism been fought against. Will it be turned around? Only time will tell. If not, the political persecution will very quickly become a persecution of the religious lives of the people they are targeting. This is because faith in God is diametrically opposed to communist ideology. It must be terminated for the communists to prevail.
Be ready to stand on your priorities, whatever they are. If they include Jesus, be ready to face what so many have faced before you. Faith in Christ will eventually be something considered intolerable and worthy of death. Even now, that is on the minds of these miscreants.
Lord God, we know that the end times will be difficult for those who hold fast to faith in You. We don’t know the timing of the rapture, and so we don’t know at what point we may have to face persecution because of what we believe. Should it come to pass, may we be faithful to stand and proclaim the Name of Jesus as our ultimate hope and passion. To Your glory, we pray. Amen.