Evening star., 1921-11-19
~ rev, HUGH T. STEVENSON.

Two years interviewed between last
weeks lesson and the one for today's
consideration. During that period Fe-
lix, who ought to have given Paul
his freedom. had detained him as a
prisoner in the praetorium prison. in
his desire to extort money from the
apostle, or. as a sop to Jewish hatred,
hoping to remove their opposition to
him as ruler. When his misrule
caused his recall, Felix, having held
Paul without cause, instead of fol-
lowing the usual practice Of liberat-
ing all uncondemned prisoners SO as
to give the new executive a clean
docket, left the apostle in prison so
that he might prevent the Jews filing
more charges against his administra-
tion with the home office in Rome
During that two years Paul probably
was not idle. Some believe that 1t was
during this Imprisonment at Caesarea
that Luke, under Paurs guidance.
penned his gospel. Probably many
letters which have not come down to
US were sent from that prison to en-
courage the struggling churches ana
disciples.
Porcius Festus commenced his
evident desire to satisfy the Jewish
leaders Almost Immediately upon
his arrival in Palestine he proceeded
to Jerusalem to get In personal
touch with the religious conditions
and people. whose antagonism had
a new high priest, Ishmael Ben Phabi.
had succeeded Ananias the bitterness
against Paul had not lessened. The
presence of the new procurator gave
the anu-Christian Jews an oppor-
tunity that they quickly took advan-
death They expected that Festus
in his desire to have a popular and
successful administration. would will
ingly comply with their request.
They asked as favor. not as a
matter of justice, that the apostle
be sent to Jerusalem to be tried. be-
cause the nature of his offense call
ed for his being tried before the
Sanhedrin They planned to as
sassinate Paul. if the governor granted
their request, while he was being
conducted to Jerusalem. The mur-
derous intent was the program of the
court before which they asked that
he be tried.
Festus may have detected their
treachery. His firmness in resisting
their unjust demands may have
noble Festus." When they appeared
before him at Cesarea to prosecute
Paul, the governor revealed that he
was a politician, by suggesting to the
apostle that he consent to go up to
Possibly the ecclesiastical authori-
ties had found a way to bribe Festus
so that he saw the reasonableness OF
their request. Paul saw the crook
edness and danger in the suggestion,
so he used his rights as Roman cit
izen to appeal to Caesar. 1t was due
to his strong convictions: indomitable
courage, born Of fellowship with the
Master. faithfulness in His service
and faith in God that prompted him
to appeal to Rome. He selected an
expensive kind of trial, which has
caused many to think that Paul had
inherited wealth, which he used in
an effort to obtain from Caesar a
favorable decision for the Christian
faith. Paul insisted that Christianity
was essentially a part Of the Jewish
religion. which had been recognized
by the government. If his contention
was correct and he could sustain his
secure for Christianity the protection
of the civil power in their worship.
He had no chance at Jerusalem, hence
his appeal to Caesar. He faced death
If defeated at Rome, but he knew
that he also faced death en- route to
his rights as Roman citizen.
This sudden appeal placed Festus
in an embarrassing position. He
recognized that Paul had been kept
in prison without cause. Now when
he was called upon to prepare the
appeal that would justify his Of
fetal actions he had no legal founda-
tions or charges that could stand the
courts of the Roman empire. It was
at this moment, when Festus needed
the aid of an expert upon Jewish
matters. that King Agrippa visited
him to extend his congratulations.
He was of Jewish blood and faith.
He had been educated in Rome and
was thoroughly versed in the prac-
tices and procedure of the various
departments of the empires court
life. Festus appealed for advice to
Herod Agrippa III concerning the
prisoner whom he had to send to
Nero without any charges against
him. The king was the son Of