Acts chapter 23

vs 23

That is a crapload of soldiers. 470 trained soldiers vs 40 starving guys - you know the outcome.

vs 24

Horses plural? I am guessing that they are to swap over when they get tired? Or for other people with him who haven't been mentioned, which I find less compelling, because you would think people being arrested with Paul would get a mention.

vs 25

I wonder if this is a true transcript of the letter, or a summary statement of what the letter may have contained. Either is possible really.

vs 26

So the commander's name was Claudius Lysias. Personal touch there.

vs 27

Well now, that isn't exactly what happened, is it? He came and rescued him because there was a riot going on, and was going to flog him, but then learned that he was a Roman citizen. But hey, he's being close enough that a little aggrandisement is only to be expected.

vs 28

Well, that was true.

vs 29

I take it he means "according to Roman law". I'm sure the sanhedrin could bump up some charges to make Paul worth killing for the purposes of Jewish law.

vs 30

The welfare of a possibly innocent man is being truly looked after in this case. Send him out of the city, with an escort of a huge number of men. Put him in the care of the governor of the area. It's a good plan. Claudius, even if he does want to paint himself in a good light, does actually care about justice being done.

vs 31

Which I'm sure means something if you look at a map.

vs 32

Even 70 cavalry on their own is a good strong guard. Plus, since he was snuck out (with 470 troops??) overnight, and is on horseback, I guess the assumption can be safely made that the people wanting to kill Paul may not even know he's out of town yet.

vs 33

So now Paul is in the charge of Governor Felix in Caesarea.

vs 34-35

Felix may have been wanting to fob off the case if it turned out that Paul was from Jerusalem anyway, or some other province. But he's from a Roman province, so he probably feels less pressure to transfer him away.

Being kept under guard in the palace (although it's "Herod's Palace" Felix actually lives there - it's just the palace Herod built for himself. He's dead now.) could be a good thing (like, living under house arrest in a palace) or a bad thing (kept in some sort of dungeon). I'm not sure which Felix is talking about here. I would have assumed that it was the good one - surely if you wanted to treat someone ill, you'd lock them in some dingy barracks prison or something.