|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2019 6:16:15 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2019 6:16:54 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2019 6:17:18 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2019 6:18:17 GMT -5
Xx
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2019 6:18:36 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2019 6:19:49 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2019 6:20:25 GMT -5
Antipatris: 50 km (30 mi) down the mountains from Jerusalem... a military force was readied to secretly escort Paul "out of Jerusalem"*[ * ]"So these soldiers took Paul according to their orders and brought him by night to Antipatris" - Acts 23:31Acts 23:32-35
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2019 6:22:49 GMT -5
Speed (discussion) legionary marching speed (anything from 12 to 21 miles a day seems average), and there's Vegetius's estimate of 18-24 Roman miles in five hours (which is 18-21.5 of our miles). www.romanarmytalk.com/thread-21026.html |
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2019 6:23:01 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2019 6:23:11 GMT -5
QUESTION: Does the imposing military escort Paul recieved indicate he was a member of the Herodian royal family?
The account in the book of Acts speaks of the Apostle Paul under military custody being conducted from Jerusalem to Caesarea for an audience with the Govenor of the province, Antonius Felix. Some have suggested that the imposing military escort amounting to 470 men adds credence to the unsubstaniated claim that Paul was in fact a blood relative of Herod and a member of the then ruling royal family. Apart from the problems in the logistics of suggesting that a member of the Royal family be subject to arrest, near beating and transported to a subordinate in the hierarchy for judgement, we can ask if the military escort was in fact innordinate given the circumstances.
PEACE KEEPING FORCES
The events that lead up to Paul's transportation started with a riot in the temple of Jerusalem; indeed Luke reports in Acts 21 verse 29 that "the whole city was in an uproar". The resulting disorder prompted the Military Commander, Claudius Lysias, to send in his troops to maintain the peace. While Paul is initially the subject of mistaken identity the Commander's fears of a potential uprising are revealed by his referring to a previous case of an instigator and 4000 dagger men (Acts 21:38); so evidently the military were aware that similar situations had the potential to escalate to significant proportions and may well have taken appropriate measures in term of military presence.
CONTROVERSIAL
Paul had also subsequently sat before the Sanhedrin which resulted in such an uproar the Commander was once again forced to intervene. The Sanhedrin was the Jewish High Court, and normally left to their own devices by the Romans except on matters of national security, so we have a situation of Roman citizen, of sufficiant controverse to destabalize the Jewish High Court and cause a riot. Lysias was neither a politician nor a theologian, his only concern was keeping the peace and ensuring his charge, whose rights he (Lysias) had already mistakenly violated, was not killed on his watch, risking both an escalation of violence related to the fate of the detainee. It should also be noted there may well have been a measure of self interest in this regard, for from the content of his letter to Felix about the case, Lysias suggests by the glaring omission of his mistreatment of Paul, he might like to avoid any potential reprisals from inquiry that would reveal his own misjudgements in the affair should Paul be killed and that cause an uprising of any discription.
THE NUMBERS
A plot is revealed to ambush the convoy, while this is reported to involve at least 40 men, Lysias couldn't possibly have known for sure exactly how many opponents each of the 40 might have subsequently have engaged; this being the case it is not unreasonable to assume he opted on the side of caution and decided on a significant display of military force. Jerusalem's Antoina Garrisson could reportedly hold thousands of troops and while for such a small province this would surely not have been the staple, only 70 actually escorted Paul all the way (From Antipatris the 70 cavalrymen took Paul the remaining distance of some 40 km (25 mi) the rest returning the next day.
The book The Life and Epistles of St. Paul (Conybeare and Howson) sums up the above nicely stating :
CONCLUSION IN the absence of any proof whatsoever Paul was a member of The Herodian royal family, and the unliklihood if he were he would have been subject to the treatment he was as reported by Luke, the number of troops engaged to escort Paul to his destination were by no means extraordinary given the circumstances
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2019 6:24:09 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 1, 2019 6:25:20 GMT -5
Xx
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 2, 2019 1:25:03 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jan 2, 2019 1:25:36 GMT -5
|
|
