¹²When it was day, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. ¹³There were more than forty who formed this plot. ¹⁴They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵Now therefore, you and the Council notify the commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case by a more thorough investigation; and we for our part are ready to slay him before he comes near the place.”

The apostle Paul had faced many accusations and threats to his life since he began to “solemnly witness to the cause of Christ” (Acts 23:11), and now in Jerusalem, because of his continued faithfulness to that cause, the Jewish mob concocted a secret plan to assassinate him. Their first plan had failed because of intervention by the Roman military. So they sought the sanction of the ruling elite, who apparently granted permission to carry out their plot.

Some might object to casting such aspersions on the Jewish people, insisting that the plot did not represent the rank and file, so it isn’t fair to condemn the entire Jewish people for this crime or the crime of the crucifixion of Christ. Indeed, many through the ages have persecuted Jews because of the notion that they are anti-Christian, tracing the allegation back to the Jews’ role in the crucifixion of Jesus and the early persecution of Christians. In responding to this notion, we must be faithful to the text. It was not just a minor few who wanted Paul dead. The original mob was large; the conspiratorial group numbered forty, and the majority of the leaders authorized the plot. Luke leads us to believe that these represented the Jewish populace as a whole.

While the above is true, there is a sense in which the Jews represented all of humankind in rejecting God’s plan. All of us are sinners and fall short of living for the glory of God (Rom. 6:23). James writes, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10). Therefore, we cannot condemn the Jewish people without also condemning ourselves. We are all guilty of sinning against God and the cause of Christ. Honesty leads us to confess that we can see ourselves in this Jewish plot.

The plot itself is fairly straightforward: they took an oath that they would stop at nothing until Paul was dead. Oaths in the ancient world came in many forms to emphasize a person’s resolve. This oath form asserted that they would not even eat or drink until the dastardly deed was finished. Some have quipped they must have had a very, very long fast, for they ultimately failed in their goal. Yet in the end, they were unable to accomplish what they set out to do.

Lord, You know every plan against me and deliver me from all evil.