32 - Pharisee and Son of A Pharisee

Jerusalem soaked up the spirit of revolt like a sponge soaks up water. Tyrants both foreign and domestic drove the people into a state of desperation. One result was the appearance of assassins in the Temple courts who carried daggers under their cloaks. Later they would be called “Sicarii,” and they had no problem slipping up to a victim and assassinating him right in the middle of a crowd. Since the Temple priests considered it an unspeakable horror to find any kind of stain on the marble floors, especially blood, they were outraged whenever a dead victim was found after the crowds had dwindled.

There was plenty of blame to go around for the conditions that produced this form of revolution. Between the foreign tyrants, the Roman Procurators, and the Jewish tyrants, the Herodian dynasty, and the bought-and-sold High Priesthood, the masses were squeezed like olives between the stones of a mill. Taxes, levies, and decrees all combined to starve the body and humiliate the spirit of the Jews. Only the last, desperate, and impossible hope of revolution was left to the people.

Many “seers” and “Messiahs” circulated among the masses, provoking them to futile, disorganized outbursts of violence. And as these increased, so did the brutality of the repressive measures taken against them. In the attempt to break the Jewish spirit, the legionaries were ordered to strike right and left without distinction to age or sex.

But instead of reducing the people to terrified apathy, these retaliatory measures only whipped them into more frantic determination.

To make matters worse, while the masses were sinking to a level of indescribable poverty, individuals of the High Priesthood were accumulating enormous fortunes as tax farmers and speculators. And this was on top of their normal income from the tithes, which they increased beyond any measure contemplated by the Mosaic Law. The people were desperate for political independence, but whenever reasonable people tried to talk about the cruel realities of the situation, they were drowned out by the wild cries of the Zealots. Some of the latter were honest patriots who were incensed and unbalanced, and they were used as cover by assassins whose murderous instincts found expression in the call to rebellion against Rome and the Herodian dynasty, regardless of what the practical consequences might be.

In those days the High Priest was a certain Ananias, of the hated house of Annas. By intrigue, bribery and collusion with the Procurator Felix, a man who didn’t hesitate to use the Sicarii for his own purposes, Ananias remained in office longer than any of his predecessors. But the High Priesthood had fallen into an abyss of corruption long before him. The “Sons of Annas” had changed the office from the pride and glory of its people to its greatest shame, and Ananias made himself one of the richest men in the country. The priesthood had sunk so low that even the High Priests themselves no longer called on the “Holy One of Israel” by that title. Instead of the simple word “God” they used an indirect allusion, “Lord.”

Only the Pharisees understood the condition of the country and the profound danger that confronted it. But they had no power. The masses were under the influence of the Zealots, and beyond the rabbis’ control. Gamaliel was dead, and the only spiritual leader among the Pharisees who enjoyed some measure of respect from the common people was Rabbi John. He saw more clearly than anyone else the catastrophe that was drawing close, and he tried to shift the spiritual center of gravity from the Temple to the prophets, from priestly regulation to moral principles of grace and love. Not bound to physical things that could be destroyed by the enemy, these were principles and values the people could take with them into exile when the worst came. He taught groups of young scholars in the tradition of Hillel, which concentrated the meaning of the Jewish law in the one ancient phrase, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

In the midst of all of these things was a deep and passionate yearning for God. The humiliated soul of the people turned to the eternal Source, and it was like they had the mood of Job’s faithfulness in disaster. Prophets arose who said that the days of the Temple were numbered. In unearthly language they warned the people that the fiery sword that God held over the head of Jacob was about to descend.

So what was there left to do for the children of Israel but use their last energies to fasten ever more tightly to the God who had so often saved His people of old? A religious fervor took hold of Jerusalem and Judea, and a renewed piety and faithfulness to the traditions and ancient rituals. In those days they were ready to suffer death for even the minutest details of the religion. All the national passions and moral values, the heritage of the fathers passed down across countless generations, mixed in a fierce jealousy of faithfulness.

And this fervor was not confined to Palestine. It spread like a tide across the entire Diaspora, and the number of pilgrims from foreign lands grew to immense proportions. It was as though they feared that if they didn’t go to the Temple now, they would never have the opportunity again. And when they came, they brought the love and promise of the Jews from all over the world to swell the flood of longing, hope, and revolt in the Holy City. They also brought deep bitterness against any attempt to uproot the last of their hopes. And they directed this rage at the one who was preaching that the law and tradition of Moses had been abrogated.

No wonder the Jews of Asia were filled with hatred of him who openly preached this destructive doctrine in the synagogues.


Ananias the silversmith came to Jerusalem with some other Ephesians to redeem his first-born son for five silver shekels. Shortly after arriving they saw Trophimus in the Court of the Gentiles standing with a group of Gentile Christians gazing in awe at the gates of Corinthian bronze. Ananias recognized him as one of the Gentiles Paul had persuaded that even though they were uncircumcised, they were true sons of Israel.

A few moments later the Ephesians saw a group of Nazarites coming out of the ritual chamber. Wait a minute. Who is that one, the third in line, walking with his head bowed? Isn’t that Paul?

“Hey! That’s Paul over there, the one who provokes the Gentiles against the Jews, and tells Jews they don’t have to be faithful to the Law of Moses.”

“I don’t believe this. He’s taken Gentiles into the Temple. I just saw Trophimus. He says he and his like are the true sons of Israel!”

“I’m from Corinth, and the Gentiles there also claim to be the true sons of Israel. They tell us we’re sons of Ishmael.”

“That’s the work of Paul, all right.”
“And he dares to show himself in the court of God’s House!”
“With Nazarites, no less?”
“Men of Israel, help! This is the man who preaches against our people everywhere!”

There were many other Jews there from Macedonia, Galatia, and Achaia who had accounts of their own to settle with Paul because of the dissensions he’d introduced into their local synagogues. They heard Ananias shouting and gathered around him.

“He brought uncircumcised men into the Temple! He’s desecrated the Holy Place!”

Other men came running from other parts of the court because of the shouting, not knowing what was going on.

“Gentiles have desecrated the Temple!”
“Who? Where?”
“They brought bones of the dead into the court!”
“Who? Samaritans?”
“No! A Jew! One named Paul!”
“He disguised some Gentiles as Nazarites and took them into the chamber!”
“Death! Kill him!”

And in an instant Paul was lifted up and was being carried out of the court. The bronze gates behind him clashed closed. Heads, beards, glaring eyes, clenched fists poured along with the procession. Wild voices were raised.

“To the stoning field!”

Like a flicker of lightning passing through his mind, Paul thinks of Stephen being carried away in exactly the same manner, and with the same wild cries. He sees the angel sunk half way in the heap of stones. He’s being carried toward the same pit. Is this a sign from heaven? In the same instant he thinks of the saying of Hillel, “Because you drowned another, you too will be drowned.”

But what about his mission to Rome?

Meanwhile, on the balcony of the Antonia fortress, a Roman sentinel sees the riot. He raps his sword on his bronze shield. Outside the court, not far from the gates, a guard of Roman legionaries is stationed under the command of a centurion. The sound of the sword on the shield is relayed from sentinel to sentinel until it reaches the tribune Claudius Lysias, who is in charge of maintaining order on this day.

A command is passed to the centurion outside the court. Instantly the guard is in motion. It passes into the court and confronts the mob carrying Paul to the stoning field. Paul is seized, and the chains he’d seen in the vision are placed on his hands.

The legionaries lift Paul up onto the shields, out of reach of the howling mob, and carry him in the direction of the Antonia fortress.

But Paul’s mind is clear. These people who are ready to tear him limb from limb are still his people, and they need salvation. So on the steps of the Antonia fortress Paul speaks to the tribune – in Greek!

“May I have a word with you?”

The tribune stares at him, amazed. He had taken this wretched, wounded Jew to be a rebellious barbarian, one of the rabble, and here he is speaking to him in Greek!

The tribune asks, “Aren’t you that Egyptian who led a band of rebels in the wilderness recently?”

“No! I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of a famous city!”

In his bewilderment, the tribune gives Paul permission to speak to the Jews, and Paul, whose tongue has saved him in many a perilous situation, lifts his hands to the raging mob. Paul is one of those people who can arrest a crowd with a gesture and a look. The crowd quiets down, and Paul addresses them in Hebrew.

“My brothers!”

“Hebrew! He speaks our language! Shh!”
“Let’s hear what he has to say!”

“I’m a Jewish man,” cries Paul, “born in Tarsus. But I was brought up in this city, and I sat at the feet of Gamaliel.”

The words are like magic, for the name of Gamaliel is greatly respected.

“I am learned in the Torah, the law of our ancestors.”

In the utter silence Paul teaches the mob at length as though they are a class at the feet of a rabbi. He tells them of his life and how he had persecuted the Christians. He tells them of his vision on the road to Damascus. But as he reaches this part of the story, the crowd senses trouble and becomes restless.

Then they hear Paul say, “Messiah declared to me, ‘Go, for I will send you to the Gentiles,” and the tumult breaks out again.

“It’s a lie!” they scream. Messiah never told you to go to the Gentiles!”
“Death! Stop his mouth with sand!”

Some in the front row throw off their upper garments, just like the witnesses who’d stoned Stephen.

The tribune thinks, “If the people hate him so, he must be a robber.”

He orders his men to carry Paul into the fortress. Two heavy blocks are fastened to his chains. They are stained with blood, and human hair clings to the clots. They are the blocks to which criminals are bound for execution. Paul’s hands are thrust through the rings of the blocks. Two soldiers stand over him, their heavy whips soaked in vinegar. His clothes are torn off him. And for the first time Paul appeals to his rights as a Roman citizen.

“Do you dare scourge a Roman citizen without a trial?” he cries.

The tribune stares back stupefied, and asks, “A Roman citizen? I paid a great sum for my citizenship.”

“I was born a Roman citizen,” answers Paul.

“Untie him!” says the tribune.

And to Paul, “If this is so, you shall be examined by your own Sanhedrin, that they may discover what the people have against you.”

And he orders that Paul be turned over to the Sanhedrin for examination.

* * * * *

The Sanhedrin no longer sat in the great Chamber of Hewn Stones in the Temple. It was now in a room in one of the “shops” of the Sons of Annas on the Mount of Olives. Indeed, many of the old institutions had disappeared by this time.

The struggle between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, between the rabbis and the High Priesthood, had reached an indescribable degree of bitterness. There was a continuous dispute between the two groups over the minutest details of the Temple ceremonies. But the priests controlled the Temple service itself, and they did everything they could think of to flout and discredit the Pharisaic tradition. Since the Pharisees were entitled to representation on the Sanhedrin, the sessions were transferred to the shops of Annas to try to discourage them from attending.

When Paul appeared before the Sanhedrin, Ananias came to preside in person even though he normally had a lower official represent him.

As Paul looked around the chamber, he saw an assembly predominated by priests and Sadducees. But the Pharisees were still represented, and some of them he knew well. They’d been fellow students of his under Rabban Gamaliel. They sat clustered around their leader, the gray Rabbi John. A flood of memories rose in Paul’s heart and for a moment it seemed as if he was still one of them, a disciple of Gamaliel. Therefore when he was called on to open his defense, he didn’t use the prescribed formula, “My lord the High Priest,” but addressed himself instead to his “companions”, the Pharisees.

“Men and brothers!” he said, “With a pure heart I have walked before God.”

The heavy, sagging face of the High Priest flushed, and his eyes flamed. He glanced at the guards, and one of them came forward and struck Paul across the mouth.

Paul’s half-closed eye glared at the High Priest, and he said, “God will strike you, you painted wall! You sit in judgment over me according to the law, and you have your servants strike me contrary to the law.”

Indeed, this man could accurately be called “a painted wall.” He had no distinguished bearing or earnest appearance like those who’d gone before him. This was a blown-up man of flesh. Ananias was widely known as a heavy eater and drinker, a type far more common among the Romans than the Jews. There were many stories about his appetites, and he looked the part. His belly was bloated, his cheeks hung down, and his eyes were encased in flesh. His servants did their best to cover his repulsive body with clothes that would hide its shapelessness, such as costly silks and fine linens of Sidon. His Syrian hairdresser worked hard to impart some kind of seemliness to his beard and features. But it was in vain. The oil applied to his skin wouldn’t sink in, but glistened on the surface. So he sat there, “a painted wall.”

But Paul’s savage outburst shocked his one-time companions, and they cried out, “You insult the High Priest of God?”

Paul immediately regretted his outburst. He’d gone too far, even under provocation. Here he stood as a stern disciple and observer of the law, and he had allowed himself to be provoked into breaking the law. For no matter who occupied the throne of the Priesthood, he was still “the Elder of Israel,” the representative of the unbroken line of Aaron, called to speak for this people in the Holy of Holies.

Therefore he controlled himself, made obeisance, and gave the only excuse he could, “I did not know, brothers, that this was the High Priest. Indeed it is written, ‘You shall not curse an elder of the people.’”

The assembly quieted down. And having thus appeased the Pharisees, Paul turned to them a third time, “Men and brothers, I am a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee, and I am accused of preaching the hope of the resurrection.”

When the Sadducees heard the word “resurrection” they jumped as if Paul had repeated his insult to the High Priest.

“Now we hear it from his own mouth,” screamed one of them. “The man goes around preaching about resurrection, angels and spirits, and we let our people listen to him.”

But a Pharisee cried in response, “We find no evil in this man. If a spirit or an angel has talked to him, we won’t fight against God.”

Then the High Priest who had brought the supreme office in Israel to the lowest level of contempt said in a loud voice, “If these are your words, then you are all deniers of the faith and blasphemers in Israel. You believe in alien gods.”

Now old John rose to his feet, and the assembly fell into silence.

“My lord High Priest,” he began, calmly. “The doctrine of the resurrection is not alien. For it is written, ‘The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ And it is also written, ‘The dead shall not praise God.’ Thus it follows that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not dead. And therefore we see no evil in what this man has done. With the permission of the High Priest, let this man be set free, without any accusation, and let us not deliver a just man into the hands of the Gentiles.”

Once more tumult broke out in the assembly. The High Priest saw that he was about to be robbed of his prey. He turned to the Sadducee scribes in the room to get Scriptural quotes with which he could answer the arguments of Rabbi John with equal authority, but his hirelings had nothing to say. Voices on both sides grew louder, and the session became chaotic.

The tribune, standing at the head of a detachment of legionaries outside the room, heard the tumult. Being responsible with his own life for that of a Roman citizen, he issued orders for his men to break in. Immediately Paul was seized and led back to the Antonia fortress.

So the incident came to a close.

But the High Priest wouldn’t let it rest there. The Pharisees had stopped him for the moment, but there were other ways of achieving his purpose. He knew there were plenty of people whose hearts were aflame with hatred for Paul. And if necessary, well, he’d used the Sicarii before. He certainly wasn’t above using them again.


One night Paul had a vision while in the Antonia fortress. In the vision Christ declared to him, “Inasmuch as you have witnessed for me in Jerusalem, you shall also witness for me in Rome.”


A few days after his failure at the trial, the High Priest instigated a conspiracy against Paul. But in order to carry it out, it would be necessary to have Paul brought out from the fortress where he was held for safekeeping. Therefore the High Priest asked the authorities for a second trial, stating that he wasn’t satisfied with the first investigation. Once Paul was being led through the streets, it was his hope that a “people’s judgment” would be executed on him, as it had once been executed, with the help of Paul himself, against Stephen. If not, the Sicarii waited in the background.

The conspiracy, having been brought about unskillfully and in haste, was overheard by Paul’s nephew, his sister’s son, and he brought word of it to his uncle in the fortress. Paul sent him to tell it to the tribune, who was weary of the whole affair. Unwilling to bear the responsibility any longer, he decided to send Paul away. He ordered a detachment of two hundred foot soldiers, accompanied by horsemen and other auxiliary troops, to transfer Paul to the Procurator of Judea, Felix, who was in Caesarea, and to deliver his official report on the incident.