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Bible chapter guide
Acts 23
Before the council Paul sets the Pharisees and Sadducees against each other over the resurrection. That night the Lord tells him to take courage, for he must testify in Rome. Paul's nephew uncovers a plot to kill him, and he is sent under guard to Felix at Caesarea.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
What happens in this chapter
Before the council, the high priest Ananias has Paul struck on the mouth, and Paul calls him a whitewashed wall before learning who he is. Seeing Sadducees and Pharisees in the room, Paul says he is on trial for the hope of the resurrection, and the council splits so violently that the commander takes him back to the barracks. That night the Lord tells him he must testify in Rome as he has in Jerusalem. When more than forty men swear not to eat until they have killed him, his sister's son warns him, and the commander, Claudius Lysias, sends him by night with a large escort to Antipatris and on to the governor Felix at Caesarea.
What the lab shows, and where to look
The night ride is the opening of the route to Rome in Paul's Roads. From 'Jerusalem: arrest', step to Antipatris: the stop gives the escort numbers from 23:23, the leg card names the road down through the hills by Gophna, some 60 km on the ground, and the town's site is located with confidence. The next day's ride with the cavalry ends at 'Caesarea: two years in custody', the stop that carries the next three chapters. The road line between the stops is a sketch; the text names only the towns.
- Jerusalem: arrest (To Rome) · Paul's Roads
- Antipatris (To Rome) · Paul's Roads
- Caesarea: two years in custody (To Rome) · Paul's Roads
Questions people ask
Where was Antipatris?
At the springs of the Yarkon river, on the edge of the coastal plain, at the mound now called Tel Afek. Herod the Great rebuilt the town and named it after his father Antipater (Josephus, Antiquities 16.142–143). By the road through Gophna it was roughly 60 km from Jerusalem, and Caesarea lay about 45 km further on, a distance the cavalry covered the next day. Acts gives neither figure; both are modern estimates.
Why was the escort so large?
Because of the plot. More than forty men had sworn to kill Paul on the way to the council (23:12–15), and the commander answered with two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, leaving at the third hour of the night (23:23). Once they were clear of the hill country, the foot soldiers turned back and the horsemen went on (23:32).
Why did Paul say 'I am a Pharisee' before the council?
He saw that the council was part Sadducees and part Pharisees, and he named the point that divided them: the resurrection of the dead (23:6–8). It was true of him, and it drew the Pharisees to his side; some of their scribes declared they found nothing wrong in him (23:9).
See it in the Labs
- Paul's RoadsAntipatris (To Rome) · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsAntipatris · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsJerusalem: arrest (To Rome) · Paul's RoadsOpen
People in this chapter
Places
Also in this chapter
How sure can we be?
- Strongly supported
Antipatris is located with confidence.
The site is identified by ancient sources and remains on the ground; Pleiades 687996.