SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/19/2018 8:52 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Conflict”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 23:2-5
Message of the verses: “2 The high
priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth.
3 Then Paul said to him, "God is going to strike you, you whitewashed
wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law
order me to be struck?" 4 But the bystanders said, "Do you revile
God’s high priest?" 5 And Paul said, "I was not aware, brethren, that
he was high priest; for it is written, ’YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF
YOUR PEOPLE.’"”
The
high priest was troubled by Paul stating that he had a clear conscience so he
commanded those who were beside him to strike him on the mouth. John MacArthur writes “Ananias the son of
Nedebaeus is not to be confused with the former high priest Annas (Luke
3:2). Ananias reigned for eleven or
twelve years, beginning in A. D. 47, and was one of the most cruel, evil,
corrupt high priests ever to hold office.
According to Josephus, he stole from the common priests the tithes that
should have gone to them, beating any who resisted (Antiquities 20. 9. 2). He
did not hesitate to use violence to further his goals; in fact, a few years
earlier the Romans had suspected him of complicity in atrocities committed
against the Samaritans. They sent him to
Rome to appear before Emperor Claudius, but he was acquitted (Antiquities 20. 6. 2-3). He was hated by the Jewish nationalists
because of his staunchly pro-Roman stand.
When the Jewish revolt against Rome broke out in A. D. 66, Ananias was
promptly killed by the Jewish rebels (Wars
2. 17.9).”
Now
that we have some background on this high priest we want to look at what he
ordered those standing beside Paul to do to him. They were told to strike him “Tupo” “1) to strike, beat, smite 1a)
with a staff, a whip, the fist, the hand.”
So as we can see it was more than just a slap on his face.
We
can see by what Paul said that he was upset by what happened to him and so he
states “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall!” Jesus said something similar in Matthew 23:27
“"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like
whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are
full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”
Perhaps Paul was thinking of that but more likely he was thinking about
what Ezekiel said in Ezekiel 13:10-16 “10 "It is definitely because they
have misled My people by saying, ’Peace!’ when there is no peace. And when
anyone builds a wall, behold,
they plaster it over with whitewash; 11 so tell those who plaster it
over with whitewash, that it will fall. A flooding rain will come, and you, O
hailstones, will fall; and a violent wind will break out. 12 “Behold, when the
wall has fallen, will you not be asked, ’Where is the plaster with which you plastered
it?’" 13 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, "I will make a
violent wind break out in My wrath. There will also be in My anger a flooding
rain and hailstones to consume it in wrath.”
I
have read this passage over many times in my journey through the Bible and have
always thought that this high priest had done something wrong to Paul, and what
I have found out is that since Paul had not even been charged yet there should
not have been anything like this done to him, but that didn’t seem to bother
that awful mean high priest. Paul knew
that he should not have been struck “Do you sit to try me according to the Law,
and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?"” We know that Paul knew the Law probably
better than anyone in that room, and this was what probably upset him the most,
not the blow.
We
will finish this SD with a quote from John MacArthur that hopefully gives us an
answer to a question some have raised.
“Some have wondered how to harmonize Paul’s strong language with his
declaration to the Corinthians that ‘when we are reviled, we bless’ (1 Cor.
4:12). They point out, in contrast, the
example of Jesus, who ‘while being reviled, did not revile in return; while
suffering, uttered no threats’ (1 Pet. 2:23).
When Jesus was struck in violation of the law, He merely asked, ‘If I
have spoken wrongly, bear witness of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you
strike Me?’ (John 18:23).
“The
answer is, of course, that Paul was not Jesus.
Jesus was the sinless Son of God.
Paul, while no doubt the godliest man who ever lived, was still a
sinner. He vividly described his battle
with indwelling sin in Romans 7:14ff; this was on time when the flesh
prevailed.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Jacob” (Genesis 27:19).
Today’s Bible question: “The name of what place means ‘Hitherto hath
the Lord helped us’?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/19/2018 9:26 PM
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