The next morning some Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. More than forty men were involved in this plot. They went to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him before you on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about his case. We are ready to kill him before he gets here.”
But when the son of Paul’s sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul.
Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.” So he took him to the commander.
The centurion said, “Paul, the prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.”
The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside and asked, “What is it you want to tell me?”
He said: “Some Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about him. Don’t give in to them, because more than forty of them are waiting in ambush for him. They have taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now, waiting for your consent to their request.”
The commander dismissed the young man with this warning: “Don’t tell anyone that you have reported this to me.”
Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, “Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen[a] to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. Provide horses for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix.”
He wrote a letter as follows:
Claudius Lysias,
To His Excellency, Governor Felix:
Greetings.
This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment. When I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him.
So the soldiers, carrying out their orders, took Paul with them during the night and brought him as far as Antipatris. The next day they let the cavalry go on with him, while they returned to the barracks. When the cavalry arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. The governor read the letter and asked what province he was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, “I will hear your case when your accusers get here.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s palace. (New International Version)
An “ambush” is a sudden and unexpected attack from a concealed position. In the Apostle Paul’s case, there were those looking to ambush in order to kill him.
Some Jerusalem Jews were determined to be rid of Paul. They demonstrated their commitment by taking a solemn oath to not eat or drink until they killed the Apostle – which has always made me wonder, when I read this story, if the plotters starved to death, or not, when the ambush was foiled.
In retrospect, I hope the would-be assassins saw how stupid it is – in more ways than one – to make an oath of killing someone.
Maybe even more nonsensical is that the oath-takers presented their plan to the Sadducees (the Jewish chief priests and elders) who endorsed the whole thing, signed-off on it, and actually participated in it.
I’ll just make the historical observation that the Sadducees no longer exist today; and they haven’t since the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. I grew up with an old rural folk saying that essentially said, “Dumb dogs die young.”
In the end, the nefarious plan of the Jerusalem Jews was foiled by Paul’s nephew. The young lad caught onto the conspiracy, reported it to Uncle Paul, and then to the Roman authorities.
The Roman commander lost no time in providing an impressive display of security in transporting Paul to Ceasarea. There, the Roman official Felix received him, along with a letter from the commander.
Once in Ceasarea, Felix promised Paul a fair hearing when his accusers arrived. In the meantime, Paul was kept under house arrest. The planned ambush was thus averted, and Paul was securely in Roman custody.
Unfortunately, there are people in this world who twist even their own religious ethics in order to justify violence – going so far as to ambush an innocent person to prevent an unwanted agenda (in this case, the Christian faith) from making inroads into society.
It will not do for any of us to believe that we are immune from trouble in the form of an ambush – whether the ambush is a literal physical one, or mental, emotional, or spiritual.
Gaslighting is a sinister form of mental ambush; a group bullying and threatening an individual is a horrible emotional ambush; and I personally have been the victim of, or diverted, many a spiritual ambush from disgruntled parishioners over the years who wanted my ministry finished.
Yet, many of our emotional ambushes are much more subtle. We might not realize, until later, that we’ve been had by one. Many times the ambush is couched in language of flattery, such as:
- “We’re depending on you.”
- “You’re the only one who can do this.”
- “You did such a good job last time.”
- “I’m counting on you.”
Or the statements can be more blunt:
- “Don’t mess this up. A lot is riding on you.”
- “If you don’t do it, everyone will be disappointed; everything will go to hell.”
- “You’ve done it before. You have to do it again.”
- “Don’t make me look bad, or else.”
Please remember the following whenever you find yourself in the crosshairs of an ambush:
- You are under no obligation to do whatever another person says.
- Take a deep breath and respond from the core of your being instead of from your fear and anxiety.
- There are 7 billion people on this earth. Everything doesn’t depend on you.
- You have the freedom to say, “No,” without having to explain why or justify it.
- Call a spade a spade. If you walk into an ambush, call it for what it is, and report it to the proper persons. It’s really okay to do that.
The more we can connect with what is of most value to us, the greater we can make decisions we’re able to live with, even in the moment.
What’s more, it’s possible to prepare ahead of time for a potential ambush, simply through consistent daily growth in wisdom and knowledge.
Be safe. Be strong. Be spiritual. We are all in this life together.
Rev. Tim Ehrhardt 