Acts 23:12

23:12-24 False religious principles, adopted by carnal men, urge on to such wickedness, as human nature would hardly be supposed capable of. Yet the Lord readily disappoints the best concerted schemes of iniquity. Paul knew that the Divine providence acts by reasonable and prudent means; and that, if he neglected to use the means in his power, he could not expect God's providence to work on his behalf. He who will not help himself according to his means and power, has neither reason nor revelation to assure him that he shall receive help from God. Believing in the Lord, we and ours shall be kept from every evil work, and kept to his kingdom. Heavenly Father, give us by thy Holy Spirit, for Christ's sake, this precious faith.

Banded together (ποιήσαντες συστροφὴν) Lit., having made a conspiracy. See on concourse, Acts 19:40. Bound themselves under a curse (ἀνεθεμάτισαν ἑαυτοὺς). Lit., anathematized or cursed themselves; invoked God's curse on themselves if they should violate their vow. On the kindred noun ἀνάθεμα, a curse, see note on offerings, Luke 21:5. In case of failure, they could procure absolution from their oath by the Rabbis.

Acts 23:12-13 . And when it was day, certain of the Jews — Being exceedingly provoked that Paul had been thus rescued from the council; bound themselves under a curse — Such execrable vows were not uncommon among the Jews. And if they were prevented from accomplishing what they had vowed, it was an easy matter, as Dr. Lightfoot has shown from the Talmud, to obtain absolution from their rabbis; saying — Vowing; That they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul — Imprecating the heaviest curses upon themselves, their souls, bodies, and families, if they did not kill him, and so speedily, that they would not eat or drink till they had done it. What a complication of wickedness is here! To design to kill an innocent man, a good and useful man, a man that had done them no harm, but was willing and desirous to do them all the good he could, was going in the way of Cain most manifestly, and showed them to be of their father the devil, who was a murderer from the beginning. Yet, as if this had been a small matter, 1st, They bound themselves to it in a most awful manner. To incline to do evil is bad, and to intend and purpose to do it is worse; but to engage to do it, especially in such a manner as these Jews here did, is worst of all.

It is entering into covenant with the devil; it is swearing allegiance to the prince of darkness; it is bidding defiance to a holy and just God. 2d, They bound one another to it, even more than forty of them, and thus did all they could, not only to secure the damnation of their own souls, but of the souls of all them whom they drew into the association. 3d, They showed a great contempt of the providence of God, and a presumption upon it, in that they bound themselves to do a thing, and that so dreadfully wicked, within so short a space of time as they could continue fasting; without any proviso or reserve for the disposal of an overruling providence; without saying, or thinking, “If the Lord will.” But, indeed, with what face could they insert a proviso for the permission of God’s providence, when they knew what they were about to do was directly contrary to the prohibitions of his word? 4th, They showed a great contempt of their own souls and bodies; of their souls, in imprecating a curse upon them if they did not proceed in this desperate enterprise; thus throwing themselves upon a most woful dilemma! for God certainly meets them with his curse if they proceed in their design, and they desire he would if they do not! and of their own bodies too, (for wilful sinners are the destroyers of both,) in tying themselves up from the necessary supports of life till they had accomplished a thing, which they could never lawfully, and perhaps not possibly, accomplish.

If they did not kill Paul before they did eat or drink any more, they wished that they might become a cherem, or anathema; as Jericho and the inhabitants thereof were, being devoted to utter ruin and destruction. Or, if they did not execute this their wicked design, they would yield themselves to be anathematized, or excommunicated, as those that had broken their pact or agreement.

{10} And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves {f} under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. (10) Those who are carried away with a foolish zeal think that they may lie and murder, and do whatever mischief they wish. (f) Cursing and prohibiting themselves, they promised.

Verse 12. - The Jews for certain of the Jews , A.V. and T.R. Banded together ( ποιήσαντες συστροφὴν ). This word συστροφή is found in the New Testament only here and Acts 19:40 , where it is rendered "concourse." The sense of "a conspiracy," which it has here, is common in the LXX. (see Amos 7:10 ; 2 Kings 15:15 , etc.). The verb συστρέφειν in the LXX. has the sense of "to conspire" ( 2 Samuel 15:31 ; 2 Kings 10:9 ; 2 Kings 15:30 , συνέστρεψε σύστρεμμα ) . Bound themselves under a curse ( ἀνεθεμάτισαν ἑαυτοὺς ). The word ἀνάθεμα ( Romans 9:3; 1 Corinthians 12:3 ; 1 Corinthians 16:22 ; Galatians 1:8, 9 ) corresponds to the Hebrew צּצּצּ , the devotion of anything to destruction; and hence "the thing itself so devoted." And the verb ἀναθεματίζεν corresponds to the Hebrew צּצּצּ , to devote to destruction, without the possibility of redemption. Here they made themselves an ἀνάθεμα if they did not kill Paul before partaking of any food. It seems, however, that there was a way of escape if they failed to keep the vow. Lightfoot, on this passage, quotes from the Talmud: "He that hath made a vow not to eat anything, woe to him if he eat, and woe to him if he do not eat. If he eat he sinneth against his vow; if he do not eat he sinneth against his life. What must such a man do in this case? Let him go to the wise men, and they will loose his vow" ('Hebrews and Talmud. Exercit. upon the Acts'). Acts 23:12

12 . And when it was day ] While Paul was receiving comfort from the Lord, the Jews were plotting to secure his destruction and they let no time be wasted. Their plans are ready by the next day, and as soon as it arrived they set about their execution. certain of the Jews banded together ] The best MSS. omit certain of . The addition looks like a marginal comment of some one who felt that the plot would only be contrived by the Sadducees. The men who banded themselves thus together were probably belonging to the Zealots of whose fanaticism Josephus gives several instances. bound themselves under a curse ] Lit. placed themselves under an anathema. The noun is used in very solemn language twice over by St Paul ( Galatians 1:8-9 ), “Let him be accursed.” It was an invocation of God’s vengeance upon themselves, if they failed to do the work which they undertook. they would neither eat nor drink ] So that there was no time to be lost; their work must be promptly executed.

(12) Certain of the Jews banded together . . . —The casuistry of the more fanatic Jews led them to the conclusion that a blasphemer or apostate was an outlaw, and that, in the absence of any judicial condemnation, private persons might take on themselves the execution of the divine sentence. So, they may have argued, Mattathias, the founder of the Maccabean dynasty, had slain the apostate Jew who offered sacrifice at the altar at Modin ( 1 Maccabees 2:24 ); so ten Zealots of Jerusalem had conspired to assassinate Herod the Great because he had built an amphi-theatre and held gladiatorial games in the Holy City (Jos. Ant. xii. 6, § 2; xv. 8, § 3). It is melancholy but instructive to remember how often the casuistry of Christian theologians has run in the same groove. In this respect the Jesuit teaching, absolving subjects from their allegiance to heretic rulers, and the practical issue of that teaching in the history of the Gunpowder Plot, and of the murders perpetrated by Clement and Ravaillac, present only too painful a parallel. Those who now thus acted were probably of the number of the Zealots, or Sicarii. Under a curse.—Literally, they placed themselves under an anathema. This was the Jewish kherem, and the person or thing on which it fell was regarded as devoted to the wrath of God. (Comp.