Acts 24:24

But after certain days, Felix came with Drusilla, his wife, who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ Jesus.

The character of Felix was noted under Acts 23:24; and some further attention is due to the woman who sat beside him as his wife.

DRUSILLA

Drusilla was a sensuously beautiful person, one of the ten descendants of Herod the Great whose names appear in the New Testament, and, like all the Herod's, possessed of a character marked by selfishness and profligacy. She was the youngest daughter of Herod Agrippa I; and at this time (57 or 58 A.D.), she was not yet twenty years old. Her brother Agrippa II gave her in marriage to the king of Emesa when she was only fourteen or fifteen years of age.

The young queen was only sixteen when Felix, with the help of Atomos, a Cypriot magician, persuaded her to leave her husband and marry him. She was Felix's third wife, and they had a son named Agrippa.[31] After the recall of Felix, Drusilla and her only son by him perished in the eruption of Vesuvius.[32] She was one of three royal wives taken by Felix.[33] According to the unanimous testimony of the ancients, she was a woman of spectacular beauty.

Luke's mention of the fact that "she was a Jewess" probably indicates Drusilla as the source, or one of the sources, of Felix's decision to retain Paul in custody.

[31] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 472.

[32] A. C. Hervey, op. cit., p. 233.

[33] Jack P. Lewis, Historical Backgrounds of Bible History (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1971), p. 164.