asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem—while they lay in ambush along the road to kill him. Acts 25:3

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The Greek more rightly reads, “Asking a favor against him, that he might summon him to Jerusalem, making an ambush to kill him along the way” (CG).

The previous verse told of the charges the chief priest and leaders made against Paul. Based on those, it now says, “Asking a favor against him.”

When Felix was noted as being replaced, the narrative said he left Paul in prison as a favor to the Jews. Now, with a new governor to replace Felix, they are asking for advanced favor from the inexperienced Festus against Paul as well. The fact that they had previously planned to kill him was certainly erased from the memory of those serving under Felix after two years. And so, a plan is now made by the Jews under the government of Festus. It was so “that he might summon him to Jerusalem.”

Paul was incarcerated in Caesarea. How inconvenient it would be for all of the leadership to be gathered in Caesarea when just one man could be brought to Jerusalem! It made all the sense in the world to not inconvenience Festus with such a trivial matter there in Caesarea. One can almost hear their cunning words. But all the while, they were planning on “making an ambush to kill him along the way.”

Instead of a giant contingent of soldiers, spearmen, and cavalry, Paul would probably be conducted by a few soldiers. The contingent would be easy prey. In no time, the Jews could be done with Paul once and for good!

Everything about the account shows that the memory of Paul was as fresh as it could be on the minds of the Jews. The failure of the past was to them a stinging rebuke concerning their supposed duties to God.

Until they made things right, they would feel they remained out of His favor over the matter. It is ironic that the opposite is true. They had left the favor of the Lord when they rejected Christ. It was Paul who could lead them back to the truth of their actions and into a right relationship with Him once again. But they were blinded to this truth and were, once again, plotting to do away with their loathed foe.

Life application: There are times that we become so passionate about a matter that it will blind us to any possibility of seeing other possible options concerning what we perceive as the truth. This is how Paul was before the Lord personally called him as an apostle.

Now, the people he was once aligned with had become his sworn enemies. People who are trained, for example, in the doctrine of the Jehovah’s Witnesses are told that they possess the truth and everyone else is a heretic. They cannot see beyond their own state, and they are normally completely unwilling to hear any other option.

This is true with most of us in one way or another. It is a state known as cognitive dissonance. We shut out anything that interferes with our presuppositions, and we then refuse to believe things that may be evident on the surface.

We should be willing to test and verify everything, even if it goes against our presuppositions. The Jews who wanted Paul dead presupposed that Jesus was a heretic, and they were unwilling to even entertain the thought that Paul could be right about Him. What is it that we think we are so sure about that we are unwilling to see other options?

Let us honestly evaluate what we believe and let us be willing to check and verify it by setting aside any false presuppositions. It is a healthy way to approach all matters because we may be completely blinded to a matter that we are promoting without the right knowledge to even speak on it, much less claim that it is the absolute truth.

Lord God, may we be willing to challenge everything we believe and teach to others, honestly opening our eyes and checking if we could be wrong. If we are, and if we don’t do this, we will be instructing others in that which is false. May we not be such people. Instead, help us to think clearly and rightly about all things that we in turn teach. Amen.