23:15 Now therefore ye with the {g} council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to morrow, as though ye would enquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him.
(g) You and the senate ask that the same thing should be done, so that the tribune will not think that it was demanded of him because of an individual's private interests.
23:12-15 Certain of the Jews banded together. Perhaps these Jews were of the bitter enemies from Asia who had laid hands on him in the temple. They may have belonged to a wild fanatical association of Jewish assassins, who, a few years later, played a prominent part, called Sicarii. The Talmud says that those who took such a vow were released from it, if it was impossible to carry it out. Their purpose was to induce the chief priests, who were Sadducees, to have Paul appear before the Sanhedrin the next day, and then they would murder him.
23:15 Now therefore ye - Which they never scrupled at all, as not doubting but they were doing God service.
23:12-24 False religious principles, adopted by carnal men, urge on to such wickedness, as human nature would hardly be supposed capable of. Yet the Lord readily disappoints the best concerted schemes of iniquity. Paul knew that the Divine providence acts by reasonable and prudent means; and that, if he neglected to use the means in his power, he could not expect God's providence to work on his behalf. He who will not help himself according to his means and power, has neither reason nor revelation to assure him that he shall receive help from God. Believing in the Lord, we and ours shall be kept from every evil work, and kept to his kingdom. Heavenly Father, give us by thy Holy Spirit, for Christ's sake, this precious faith.
