Acts 24:11

Seeing that thou canst take knowledge that it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship at Jerusalem.

Thou canst take knowledge ... By such a remark, Paul said in effect that "You are far too intelligent to be taken in by the unsubstantiated charges and wild allegations of the plaintiffs." The only allegation made against Paul that would have been of any interest whatever to the governor was the insinuation that he was an "insurrectionist." It was to that point which Paul immediately replied, proving by a single statement that it was a false charge, saying:

It is not more than twelve days since I went up ... (1) No insurrection was ever perpetrated in twelve days. (2) Paul was there to worship, and even paid the charges for certain men who had vows. He was in the temple when Lysias rescued him from the mob who were casting him out of the temple; and if Paul was causing an insurrection, the center of it would have had to be in the temple. Furthermore, Felix well knew, as did Pilate, that if Paul had been trying to stir up an insurrection, the temple Jews would have supported it. The charge, therefore, was a flimsy unsupported lie.

Scholars have busied themselves endlessly, counting up the twelve days Paul mentioned; and Ramsay's calculation of them is one of the most readable. It is as follows:

1. Reception by James and the elders; first day of purification.

2-4. Second, third, and fourth days of purification.

5. Fifth day of purification; riot; Paul's speech on the steps of Antonio.

6. Meeting of the council (Paul's dream that night).

7. Plot to slay Paul is arranged.

8. He starts to Caesarea before midnight, reaches Antipatris before dawn: Ananias learns of Paul's departure: first of the five days (Acts 24:1).

9. Paul is handed over to Procurator Felix in Caesarea: second day.

10-11. Paul in Caesarea: third and fourth days.

12. Fifth day (Acts 24:1): arrival of Ananias and Tertullus in Caesarea: Paul denounced and the investigation begun. (This is also the twelfth day of Acts 24:11.)[14]