Today we see Paul standing before the Sadducees and the Pharisees before being put away so they can decide his fate.  About 40 of the Pharisees (if I am reading this right) came together as a group and made a vow not to eat or drink until Paul is killed.   Then Paul is taken to Rome to be processed through the Roman system and is delivered the Felix, the governor at the time.

Looking at this chapter, 2 things kind of jump out at me.  First is the vow adopted by these Pharisees.  Talk about being hypocritical, for which the head Priest is called out by Paul.  Where in scripture was murder a reasonable punishment for a man like Paul?  How was murder the correct punishment for Stephen, whom Paul oversaw being stoned to death?  The answer is, “Nowhere, it isn’t condoned.”  Here is an idea that is being reinforced here, though I don’t think it is intentionally being made my Luke; that once we set our minds on something, we often become fixed to it.  We become intoxicated by ‘winning’, by getting our way.  We get so focused on the outcome, so set on the strategy by which we’ll get there, that we completely shut ourselves off from reality.  These Pharisees knew better.  In fact, it is clear from Luke’s phrasing that not all of the Pharisees had this blood lust for Paul - many didn’t agree.  But we are all prone to this kind of foolishness, where we get fixed on an idea and we won’t let it go.  In our faith, we often see this come up as something like this,; “God, I waiting for you to do X, and if you don’t do X, then I know you aren’t with me on this.”  In reality though, It isn’t up to us how God is going to do what He is going to do.  We must stay devoted to Him and trust that He has a plan.  His track record is so good, it really shouldn’t be so hard to maintain that state of mind.

Then, second, my study guide tries really hard in today’s reading to understand the number of troops that were used to transport Paul to Rome; Luke says it was upwards of 470 personnel.  The authors point out that this is complete overkill, even given the circumstances.  But, perhaps I am just dumb enough that it doesn’t seem that hard to understand to me.  Looking at verse 11, here is what we read, the only words directly FROM GOD in this chapter:

11 The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”

What if God was going out of his way to make the point to Paul, “I am with you.  I have your back brother!”.  To me, that’s more of a plausible explanation than trying to navigate exactly how Luke got to 470, and figure out who was counted or double counted or any of that nonsense.  The simple explanation may be the best in this case.  God just wanted to make a point to Paul.

Sometimes God does that - He just wants to make a point to you, or to me.  I think that illustrates His compassion, in that He wanted to make sure Paul knew, even when staring into the face of death, that He was with him.  That’s good enough for me.