Acts 23

17. Then Paul called one of the centurions--Though divinely assured of safety, he never allows this to interfere with the duty he owed to his own life and the work he had yet to do.

19. took him by the hand--This shows that he must have been quite in his boyhood, and throws a pleasing light on the kind-hearted impartiality of this officer.

21. and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee--Thus, as is so often the case with God's people, not till the last moment, when the plot was all prepared, did deliverance come.

23, 24. two hundred soldiers--a formidable guard for such an occasion; but Roman officials felt their honor concerned in the preservation of the public peace, and the danger of an attempted rescue would seem to require it. The force at Jerusalem was large enough to spare this convoy.
the third hour of the night--nine o'clock.

24. beasts . . . set Paul on--as relays, and to carry baggage.
unto Felix, the governor--the procurator.

26-30. Claudius--the Roman name he would take on purchasing his citizenship.
Lysias--his Greek family name.
the most excellent governor--an honorary title of office.

27. came I with an army--rather, "with the military."

29. perceived to be accused of questions of their law, &c.--Amidst all his difficulty in getting at the charges laid against Paul, enough, no doubt, come out to satisfy him that the whole was a question of religion, and that there was no case for a civil tribunal.

30. gave commandment to his accusers . . . to say before thee--This was not done when he wrote, but would be before the letter reached its destination.

31, 32. brought him . . . to Antipatris--nearly forty miles from Jerusalem, on the way to Cæsarea; so named by Herod in honor of his father, Antipater.

32. On the morrow they--the infantry.
left the horsemen--themselves no longer needed as a guard. The remaining distance was about twenty-five or twenty-six miles.

34, 35. asked of what province he was--the letter describing him as a Roman citizen.

35. I will hear thee--The word means, "give thee a full hearing."
to be kept in Herod's judgment hall--"prætorium," the palace built at Cæsarea by Herod, and now occupied by the Roman procurators; in one of the buildings attached to which Paul was ordered to be kept.