It could not have been very pleasant for a newly-arrived governor to have his first

public trial end in this way, but against such an appeal there was no argument.

Accordingly, Festus holds a brief consultation with his Assessors and, finding that Paul's

appeal is valid, replies: "Hast thou appealed unto Cæsar? Unto Cæsar shalt thou go."

The wording here seems to convey the unspoken thought--"And you little realize what

this appeal will mean."

While the case was taken, by the Apostle's appeal, out of the hands of Festus, he was

still under obligation to remit to the supreme tribunal the apostoli, or report upon its

previous progress. He was, moreover, in some perplexity, for the testimony of the Jews

had been irregular, a mere accumulation of many and grievous complaints, which they

could not prove. As he says in verse 27: "It seemeth to me unreasonable to send a

prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him" (Acts 25: 27). In these

circumstances, the advent of King Agrippa seemed providential. On the death of his

uncle, Agrippa had been made king of Chalcis. Claudius had also given him the tetrarchy

of Batanæa, and to this Nero had added part of Galilee and Peræa.  Bernice was

Agrippa's sister, and had been the wife of his uncle, the king of Chalcis. Her relationship

with her brother was the subject of suspicion (Juv. 6: 156), and she subsequently became

the wife of Polemon, King of Cilicia, and the mistress of Titus. Drusilla, as we have

already noted, was her younger sister.

The Herodians owed much to Roman patronage, and King Agrippa lost no time in

paying a visit to the new Roman Governor. Seizing the opportunity that this visit

presented, Festus remarks to his guest:

Festus then recapitulates the facts of the case, and Agrippa intervenes with the words:

"I would also hear the man myself." We must remember that Paul was now outside the

jurisdiction of Festus, and that Agrippa also had no authority in the matter. It was simply

an excellent opportunity for getting the opinion of one who was intimately acquainted

with the points at issue, so that Festus might be able to frame some reasonable account of

the charges laid against the prisoner.

The reader may appreciate, at this point, a reminder of the general disposition of the

subject-matter in this section of the book.

This, of course, is only the barest skeleton. The full structure is set out on page 2 of

current volume.