Acts 23:23

And he called unto him two of the centurions, and said, Make ready, two hundred soldiers to go as far as Caesarea, and horsemen three score and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night: and he bade them provide beasts, that they might set Paul thereon, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor.

The whole force was 470 men; and their departure at the third hour of the night (9:00 P.M.) was thus well ahead of any request the chief priests might send to him the next day; and the size of the escort was large enough to kill any thought of the forty conspirators of following it, overtaking it, and murdering Paul anyway. This abruptly aborted their plot.

Provide beasts ... This has been variously understood as the need of several mounts for Paul, which would be changed from time to time on such a forced march; or as including mounts for the soldiers guarding Paul, and to whom he was still presumably chained; or as including sufficient mounts for Luke and other companions of Paul. The text affords no way of knowing exactly what all might have been included.

Felix the governor ... This was the procurator of Judaea, one of the successors of Pontius Pilate, although the office itself, for a time, had disappeared under the rule of Herod Antipas I, who was king over the whole area once ruled by Herod the Great; and, of course, during his reign no procurators were needed. However, Herod was summarily slain by an angel of God (Acts 12:23) in 44 A.D.; and after that, the old system of procurators was revived.

FELIX

Felix Marcus Antonius, a brother of Pallas, the notorious favorite of Claudius, through influence at Rome, was named procurator of Judaea about 52 A.D., an office he held until recalled by Nero in 59 A.D. He was succeeded by Festus. Thus, this is another date in secular history that touches and illuminates Acts. The events being described by Luke in this chapter occurred two years before the recall of Felix, that is, in 57 A.D.[20] (This favors a 55 A.D. date for Romans.)

Felix, trading on his influence in Rome, was an unscrupulous scoundrel. Paul was innocent, and should have been released at once; but Felix hoped to get a fat bribe, and kept Paul in prison. He put down certain brigands and robbers, "but he himself was worse than any of them."[21] Hervey tells how he "murdered Jonathan the high priest, using the ASSASSINS,"[22] one of the "high priests" who held office during the term of Ananias, whose high priesthood was interrupted.

The epitaph which history has written by his name is this: "With savagery and lust, he exercised the powers of a king with the disposition of a slave."

[20] The New Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, Publishers, 1962), p. 421.

[21]; ISBE, Vol. II, pp. 1105.

[22] A. C. Hervey, op. cit., p. 211.