Now that the Apostle was called upon to defend himself, he rightly wished all men to understand, that he was no criminal deserving of anger or punishment; but a man who had always tried to do what he believed to be his duty in the sight of God: most truly could he say that he had done this; for even when he persecuted the followers of Jesus, it was under the mistaken idea that it was his duty to do so. But the Jews were angry at his saying this, "and the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest? Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people."
The Apostle meant, that if he had known, or looked upon Ananias as the High Priest, he would not have rebuked him in such words; because a ruler of the people must be treated with respect, on account of his office: but Ananias deserved the rebuke, for the Law commanded all who ruled, or judged others, to do no unrighteousness or injustice themselves; and Ananias broke the Law, and was guilty of very great injustice in ordering St. Paul to be smitten in this way, before he had been proved to be guilty of any crime. We must mention here that, in fact, Ananias was not the High Priest at this time. He had been High Priest at the time of the famine, when Barnabas and Saul took help to the poor brethren at Jerusalem; but after that, there had been some disturbance between the Jews and Samaritans, and the Romans, thinking Ananias to blame, deprived him of his sacred office, and sent him as a prisoner to Rome: and though he was afterwards allowed to return to Jerusalem, he was not restored to the office of High Priest, to which another man, named Jonathan, had been appointed. This Jonathan had been killed by the "murderers" hired by Felix the Roman governor, and no other High Priest had as yet been appointed; therefore there was, in fact, no High Priest to be president, or head, of the Sanhedrim. Under these circumstances, Ananias set himself up as chief of the Council, and behaved in the unjust manner related. St. Paul had only been a very few days in Jerusalem, and did not perhaps know that Ananias had taken the office of High Priest upon himself; or if he did know it, what he said would be a just rebuke to him for having done so.
One other matter requires a few words, that is, the "whited wall," to which St. Paul compared Ananias. We shall remember that our Saviour said, "Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are within full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so ye also appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." In the same manner St. Paul applied the comparison of the "whited wall" of a sepulchre to Ananias, who pretended to judge and rebuke another, whilst his own heart was full of all evil passions and iniquity.
Let us remember, that each such passage of Scripture has a lesson for us: all who only think of what men will say, and try to appear good in the eyes of their fellow creatures, without trying to love and serve God with all their heart, and to do His will whatever men may think of them, are no more pleasing in the eyes of our Lord, than were the Pharisees, whom Jesus compared to "whited sepulchres."
Now we must return to the Council of the Sanhedrim, and hear what the Apostle said in his defence. St. Luke says, "But when Paul perceived that the one part (of his hearers) were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question"—meaning that he was persecuted and called to account, because he had taught that the dead would rise again. "And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees: and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both. And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees' part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God." These scribes spake well: but unhappily they did not speak in sincerity, but only out of contradiction and spite to the Sadducees, whom they hated. They were quite as much opposed to St. Paul's preaching to the Gentiles, as any other class of persons could be; and therefore it was hypocrisy to pretend to believe that an angel had bid him do so. St Paul, moreover, had said nothing of any angel speaking to him; but had plainly declared that Jesus Christ had spoken to him: and this of course the Pharisees could not allow, because they would not acknowledge Jesus Christ to be the Messiah. They were, in fact, fighting against God—the very thing which they pretended to be afraid of doing.
The Sadducees were very angry, and the whole Council became a scene of the greatest confusion and violence; so that Claudius Lysias feared for his prisoner's life; and being answerable for his safety, he sent his soldiers to bring him back into the castle, where he would be out of danger.
Chapter XXIV.—ST. PAUL SENT TO CÆSAREA.
We read in the Book of Acts, "And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, and to bring him into the castle."
In the midst of the troubles and dangers with which he was now surrounded, the faithful servant of God was not left without comfort and encouragement; for we read, that "the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul."