Acts - Week 13 / Tuesday

Reading for today: Acts 25:13-27

King Agrippa and his sister, Bernice, come to Caesarea to pay their respects to the new governor. While spending much time with them, Festus gets on the topic of Paul. He relates the entire story to Agrippa and Bernice.

Festus is not well versed in Judaism. He refers to Jewish beliefs in vs.19 as "their own superstition." (King James Version) It is translated as "religion" in the New International Version. He does not mention that he sought to gain favor with the jews by returning Paul to Jerusalem, but instead states that he was at wits end as to how to deal with the issue. Agrippa takes an interest in the case and wants to meet with Paul.

The next day Agrippa and Bernice arrive in all their pomp and glory to hear Paul's case. The city officials and other prominent men of Caesarea also wer in attendance. Festus opens the meeting (which really became the 5th trial that Paul endured in a two year time span) with a synopsis of the case. Festus declares that he had found that Paul has done nothing worthy of death. However, because Paul had appealed to Caesar, Festus had decided to send him.

The problem for Festus was that he had nothing reliable or trustworthy to write to Caesar concerning charges against Paul. In other words, Festus was looking for help in how to present the case in the form of a letter to Nero.

Festus was hoping that from this investigation Agrippa would give him proper instruction on how to word a letter that must accompany a prisioner brought before Caesar.

Tomorrow: Paul goes back to his "Ol faithful."