Well, so much for getting started on the right foot . . . Paul immediately acknowledged his comment as a transgression of the law, and apologized. As much as I would give Paul a “high-five,” for snapping back the way he did, I have to admit that Paul was probably wrong to say what he said to the High Priest. I say that because if for no other reason, his position of authority. As much as it might stick in my craw, I need to speak of Barrack Obama as, President Obama, and as anyone in the military will tell you, he is the Commander-in-chief and must be saluted. If any commands are given to you, as long as they are not immoral or illegal, you are required to obey them. However, regarding this issue with Paul, as someone pointed out to me one time, we need to consider other texts. We should remember that Jesus spoke very strongly against the Jewish authorities in Matthew 23, but Jesus also submitted to the authorities. We can also consider how Stephen spoke to the Sanhedrin in Acts 7. He was by no means genteel and personable. (Dale Carnegie he was not).
However, in our text, Paul knew in his heart that he did not respond appropriately, considering that Ananias was the high priest. Paul’s foot is now in his mouth. To cite an often-used phrase, “This does not bode well.”
Paul has definitely gotten off to a very bad start. He has managed to insult and offend the presiding official over his own trial, resulting in a rebuke from some of those standing nearby (who could have just been observers, but still it doesn’t help matters). In light of this, how could Paul possibly get a fair trial before this group? Well, just to show how savvy Paul is, he realized that the Council had a mixture of Sadducees and Pharisees, Paul cried out, identifying himself as a Pharisee:
“Then when Paul noticed that part of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, he shouted out in the council, ‘Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead!’” —Acts 23:6
Ooh yeah! I say that is smooth . . .
It is so easy to manipulate a situation like that. I do it often when I am with my Mgr at work and I know I am going to be called to task for my lack of sales or if what we call our “Average Handling Time” (or we call our AHT). I better explain that. I provide Technical Support in a call center for a prominent Internet and Cable company. Our aim to keep our calls to eight minutes each (which is a challenge to do). So I bring the discussion off the topic, hoping we can ignore the “numbers.” (Oops, I shouldn’t have admitted that. My bad). But kids do it all the time with their parents.
I remember David’s actions when he realized that living among the Philistines might not have been such a great idea:
“So on that day David arose and fled from Saul. He went to King Achish of Gath [the hometown of Goliath, if you remember]. The servants of Achish said to him, ‘Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one that they sing about when they dance, saying, ‘Saul struck down his thousands, But David his tens of thousands’?
“David thought about what they said and was very afraid of King Achish of Gath. He altered his behavior in their presence. Since he was in their power, he pretended to be insane, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting his saliva run down his beard. Achish said to his servants, ‘Look at this madman! Why did you bring him to me? Do I have a shortage of fools, that you have brought me this man to display his insanity in front of me? Should this man enter my house?’” —I Samuel 21:10-15
It seems clear that Paul has grasped the fact that there was no chance of a fair trial, so he sidetracked the discussion to produce the results that Luke describes. That poor Roman Commander keeps suppressing riots and trying to find out what Paul has done that has caused such strong reaction from other Jews. I am sure he expected that this trial would finally produce some charge against Paul and some indication of guilt or innocence. I can only imagine the amazement of the commander and his frustration at having to put down another riot, this time in the highest court of Israel.
But let’s not get ahead of the story.
If interested, you can download the entire study of The Story of Acts
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The Book of Acts: Chapter 23 (pt 5 of 13)
Well, so much for getting started on the right foot . . . Paul immediately acknowledged his comment as a transgression of the law, and apologized. As much as I would give Paul a “high-five,” for snapping back the way he did, I have to admit that Paul was probably wrong to say what he said to the High Priest. I say that because if for no other reason, his position of authority. As much as it might stick in my craw, I need to speak of Barrack Obama as, President Obama, and as anyone in the military will tell you, he is the Commander-in-chief and must be saluted. If any commands are given to you, as long as they are not immoral or illegal, you are required to obey them. However, regarding this issue with Paul, as someone pointed out to me one time, we need to consider other texts. We should remember that Jesus spoke very strongly against the Jewish authorities in Matthew 23, but Jesus also submitted to the authorities. We can also consider how Stephen spoke to the Sanhedrin in Acts 7. He was by no means genteel and personable. (Dale Carnegie he was not).
However, in our text, Paul knew in his heart that he did not respond appropriately, considering that Ananias was the high priest. Paul’s foot is now in his mouth. To cite an often-used phrase, “This does not bode well.”
Paul has definitely gotten off to a very bad start. He has managed to insult and offend the presiding official over his own trial, resulting in a rebuke from some of those standing nearby (who could have just been observers, but still it doesn’t help matters). In light of this, how could Paul possibly get a fair trial before this group? Well, just to show how savvy Paul is, he realized that the Council had a mixture of Sadducees and Pharisees, Paul cried out, identifying himself as a Pharisee:
Ooh yeah! I say that is smooth . . .
It is so easy to manipulate a situation like that. I do it often when I am with my Mgr at work and I know I am going to be called to task for my lack of sales or if what we call our “Average Handling Time” (or we call our AHT). I better explain that. I provide Technical Support in a call center for a prominent Internet and Cable company. Our aim to keep our calls to eight minutes each (which is a challenge to do). So I bring the discussion off the topic, hoping we can ignore the “numbers.” (Oops, I shouldn’t have admitted that. My bad). But kids do it all the time with their parents.
I remember David’s actions when he realized that living among the Philistines might not have been such a great idea:
It seems clear that Paul has grasped the fact that there was no chance of a fair trial, so he sidetracked the discussion to produce the results that Luke describes. That poor Roman Commander keeps suppressing riots and trying to find out what Paul has done that has caused such strong reaction from other Jews. I am sure he expected that this trial would finally produce some charge against Paul and some indication of guilt or innocence. I can only imagine the amazement of the commander and his frustration at having to put down another riot, this time in the highest court of Israel.
But let’s not get ahead of the story.
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The Book of Acts: Chapter 23 (pt 4 of 13)
The Book of Acts: Chapter 23 (pt 6 of 13)