Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 25:3
And desired favor against him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying wait in the way to kill him.
3. and desired favour against him ] i.e. they begged that their case might have some special consideration. They were many and rich; the accused man was alone and an obscure person, and it was much easier to bring one man from Csarea, than for their whole body to undertake a journey from Jerusalem thither. No doubt too they hoped that with a new governor their influence and good position would not be without weight.
laying wait in the way to kill him ] They still adhered to their plan of assassination, than which no crime was more common at this time in Juda. Perhaps too those men who had bound themselves by a vow, though they had been forced to break it, yet felt dissatisfied that Paul was still alive.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And desired favour against him – Desired the favor of Festus, that they might accomplish their wicked purpose on Paul.
Would send for him to Jerusalem – Probably under a pretence that he might be tried by the Sanhedrin; or perhaps they wished Festus to hear the cause there, and to decide it while he was at Jerusalem. Their real motive is immediately stated.
Laying wait in the way to kill him – That is, they would lie in wait, or they would employ a band of Sicarii, or assassins, to take his life on the journey. See the notes on Act 21:38; Act 23:12. It is altogether probable that if this request had been granted, Paul would have been killed. But God had promised him that he should bear witness to the truth at Rome Act 23:11, and his providence was remarkable in thus influencing the mind of the Roman governor, and defeating the plans of the Jewish council.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Desired favour; though it seems to have been but justice, that they might be allowed to try Paul for such crimes as were within their cognizance; yet that they might the more easily obtain their desire, they beg it as a favour.
Laying wait in the way to kill him; which did worse become magistrates and priests than any men, to act thus against the law of nature, and to be sure also against the law of the land, to hire ruffians to assassinate Paul.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. desired favourin Ac25:15, “judgment.”
against himIt wouldseem that they had the insolence to ask him to have the prisonerexecuted even without a trial (Ac25:16).
laying wait . . . to killhimHow deep must have been their hostility, when two yearsafter the defeat of their former attempt, they thirst as keenly asever for his blood! Their plea for having the case tried atJerusalem, where the alleged offense took place, was plausibleenough; but from Ac 25:10 itwould seem that Festus had been made acquainted with their causelessmalice, and that in some way which Paul was privy to.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And desired favour against him,…. Paul; they asked what would be a favour to them, and a prejudice to him: or “of him”, that is, of Festus; they asked a favour of him, and desired it as such, as what would be gratefully accepted and acknowledged by them; which sense is confirmed by the Syriac version; the Arabic version renders it “to”, or “upon them”; that is, they asked him to grant a favour to them, or bestow one on them, which is as follows:
that he would send for him to Jerusalem; that his case might be heard before him, and he might be tried and judged by him, as they pretended:
laying wait in the way to kill him; this was their design, though they concealed it, and pretended no other view than that justice might take place: their scheme was, that if they could have prevailed upon Festus to have sent for Paul to Jerusalem, from Caesarea, they would have provided men, perhaps the same forty and upwards as before, in Ac 23:12 to have laid in wait for him in the way as he came, and to have killed him: the whole of this shows the malice of these men, the badness of their cause, the indefatigableness and diligence to attain their end, the danger the apostle was in, and the care of Providence over him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Asking favour against him ( ‘ ). A favour to themselves (middle voice), not to Paul, but “against” (‘, down, against) him.
That he would send for ( ). First aorist middle subjunctive of (see Acts 24:24; Acts 24:26) with final particle like . Aorist tense for single case.
Laying wait ( ). See on 23:16 for the word . Old idiom (Thucydides) for laying a plot or ambush as here. Only these two uses of in N.T. Two years before the Sanhedrin had agreed to the plot of the forty conspirators. Now they propose one on their own initiative.
On the way ( ). Down along, up and down along the way. Plenty of opportunity would occur between Caesarea and Jerusalem for ambush and surprise attacks.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Laying wait [ ] . Lit., making or arranging an ambush.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And desired favor against him,” (aitoumenoi charin kat’ autou) “Appealing (for) a favor against him,” against Paul. Likely some of those 40 conspirators, who had more than two years earlier vowed “neither to eat or drink” until Paul was murdered, were back among the Jewish officials, trying again to help them secure an “ambush,” against Paul, to liquidate him, Act 23:12-15.
2) “That he would send for him to Jerusalem,” (hopos metapempsetai auton eis lerousalem) “That he (Festus) would summon him (Paul) to Jerusalem,” from Caesarea, with a plan or plot of premeditated murder aforethought in their hearts and minds, Jer 17:9; Mat 15:18-19; Mar 7:21. For Felix to have granted their request would have been a judgement of guilt, without a trial, absolutely against the morals and ethics of both Jewish and Roman law, See? Act 25:15-16; Joh 8:17; 2Co 13:1.
3) “Laying wait in the way to kill him.” (endran poiountes anelein auton kata ten hodon) “Pursuing a plot, setting an ambush, to kill him, by the way,” to murder him while he was being moved from Caesarea back up to Jerusalem, very similar to their plot more than two years earlier, Act 23:12-15; Act 23:20-21.
SEDATION MALIGNITY
Two years had passed, yet the hatred of the Sadducaic members of the Sanhedrin remained as bitter and their purpose of assassination as determined as ever. Their malevolent feeling had originated in the vast Christian work Paul had wrought. It had been fostered and intensified by the effective use he had made of his prison liberty at Caesarea, in still further spreading the Christian truth almost before their very eyes. In all his labor, perhaps most of all in this Caesarean ministry, he had been undermining their prestige and destroying their power as leaders of the Jewish people.
– Butler.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Act 25:3. And desired favour, That is, desired this favour. Instead of laying wait, &c. Dr. Doddridge reads and paraphrases the passage thus: “Laying an ambush of desperate wretches for him, who they knew would readily undertake to intercept his journey, and to kill him by the way.” These assassins were probably some of the sicarii, mentioned ch. Act 21:38. The high priests about this time were, according to the account that Josephus gives of them, such monsters of rapine, tyranny, and cruelty, that it is not to be wondered at that such adesign should be favoured by him who now bore the office.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
3 And desired favour against him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying wait in the way to kill him.
Ver. 3. Desired favour ] Or a good turn, : such was their impudence.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
3. ] = , Act 25:15 .
, not for : they were making, contriving , the ambush already. The country was at this time, as may be seen abundantly in Jos. Antt. xx., full of sicarii; who were hired by the various parties to take off their adversaries.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 25:3 . ., cf. Act 25:15 . “Postulantes gratiam non justitiam,” Corn Lapide. , not , they were making and contriving the ambush already (Alford): priests and elders were willing as before to avail themselves of the assassin. , cf. Luk 10:4 , and three times in Act 8:36 ; Act 26:13 , nowhere else in N. T. Syr. H. mg. adds a distinct reference to the forty conspirators previously mentioned, Act 23:12 , but Blass omits in [390] text doubtless, as he says, there were many others ready for the deed at the service of the Sanhedrim.
[390] R(omana), in Blass, a first rough copy of St. Luke.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
And desired = Asking. Greek. aiteo. App-134.
favour. Greek. charis. App-184.
send for. Greek. metapempo. See Act 10:5 and App-174.
laying wait. Literally making a plot (Greek. enedra, as in Act 23:16).
in = along. Greek. kata.
kill. Greek. anaireo. See Act 2:23.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
3.] = , Act 25:15.
, not for : they were making, contriving, the ambush already. The country was at this time, as may be seen abundantly in Jos. Antt. xx., full of sicarii; who were hired by the various parties to take off their adversaries.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 25:3. , to Jerusalem) where Festus already was.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
desired: Act 9:2, 1Sa 23:19-21, Jer 38:4, Mar 6:23-25, Luk 23:8-24
laying: Act 23:12-15, Act 26:9-11, Psa 37:32, Psa 37:33, Psa 64:2-6, Psa 140:1-5, Jer 18:18, Joh 16:3, Rom 3:8
Reciprocal: Ezr 8:31 – the hand Psa 35:20 – but Psa 119:95 – wicked Pro 1:11 – let us lay Pro 12:6 – words Pro 24:15 – Lay Jer 26:24 – that Hos 6:8 – polluted with blood Mat 14:9 – sorry Act 6:11 – they Act 9:24 – their Act 12:11 – all Act 20:3 – the Jews Act 23:15 – that he Act 23:21 – for Act 25:9 – willing Act 25:24 – about Act 26:17 – Delivering Act 26:21 – the Jews 2Co 11:26 – in perils by mine 2Ti 3:11 – but
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3
Act 25:3. Desired favor means they asked Festus to grant them the favor of having Paul brought from Caesarea to Jerusalem. The inspired writer is the one who is telling the purpose of the Jews to lie in wait and kill Paul in the journey.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 25:3. And desired favour against him, that he would send for him unto Jerusalem. In Act 25:15-16, Festus relates the particulars of this request of the Jews to King Agrippa. From the detailed account, it seems that two formal requests were made to him by the priests and influential men at Jerusalem – the first was that he should pronounce a condemnatory judgment against the prisoner Paul, who some two years before had been accused of sedition and other charges before Felix; and then, when this request was refused, on the ground that such a condemnation would be contrary to Roman procedure, they asked that the prisoner Paul might be formally tried before their national tribunal, as the crimes alleged against him had mainly to do with their sacred customs and laws.
Laying wait in the way to kill him. This was the real point of their request. Failing to persuade the Roman governor to condemn Paul, they determined, if they could induce him to send the prisoner up from Csarea to Jerusalem, to lay an ambuscade and to assassinate the hated Nazarene teacher. Such a shocking design could only have been deliberately planned by men of position and political weight in such a lawless age as that which immediately preceded the fatal Jewish rebellion against Rome, which terminated with the fall of the city, and the break-up of the nation. No doubt, when the request was urged, the band of Sicarii (assassins) was already hired, and the very place where the murder was to be carried out fixed upon. Josephus, their own historian, tells us how at this time the chief priests and the leading men in the nation were men who, for the most part, were infamous for their wickedness.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 1
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 3
Laying wait; designing to employ men to lie in wait.