Acts 23:24

Provide them beasts. Note that the word “them” is supplied by the translators. These beasts were not for the whole company, but for Paul and perhaps the officers. His status as a Roman citizen and as a protected prisoner gave him privileges that would not have been accorded either an ordinary Jew or a common prisoner. Doubtless such transportation was a luxury Paul had not often enjoyed on his journeys.

Bring him safe. The safety of a prisoner who claimed Roman citizenship, the lives of the centurions and the soldiers, and the ability of Roman arms to keep order were all at stake in this transfer of Paul from Jerusalem to Caesarea.

Felix. See Vol. V, pp. 70, 234. Felix’ term of office extended from about A.D. 52 to about A.D. 60. Tacitus (Annals xii. 54; Loeb ed., vol. 3, p. 393) says of Felix that he “considered that with such influences behind him all malefactions would be venial” because his brother was a favorite of the emperor Claudius. Suetonius (Lives of the Caesars v. 28) describes Felix as the husband of three wives, whom he married in succession. One of these was Drusilla, daughter of Herod Agrippa I, and thus a descendant of both Herod the Great and the Maccabees (see The Herods; Acts 24:24). Despite incipient revolt by the Jews against Rome, Felix was able to preserve a measure of order in Judea (cf. ch. 24:1) notwithstanding his maladministration (Tacitus Annals xii. 54).

Governor. Gr. hēgemōn, “procurator” (see on Matt. 27:2).