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Sketches from the Life of Paul
Festus, Agrippa, and Bernice were the criminals who should in
justice have worn the fetters placed upon the apostle. All were guilty
of grievous crimes. These offenders had that day heard the offer of
salvation through the name of Christ. One, at least, had been almost
persuaded to accept of grace and pardon. But to be almost persuaded,
means to put aside the proffered mercy, to be convinced of the right
way, but to refuse to accept the cross of a crucified Redeemer.
King Agrippa’s curiosity was satisfied, and rising from his seat, he
signified that the interview was at an end. As the assembly dispersed,
the case of Paul was freely discussed, and all agreed that, while he
might be an enthusiast or a fanatic, he could not in any sense be
regarded as a legal criminal; he had done nothing worthy of death or
imprisonment.
Though Agrippa was a Jew, he did not share the bigoted zeal and
blind prejudice of the Pharisees. He had no desire to see freedom of
thought suppressed by violence. “This man,” he said, “might have
been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar.” But now that
the case had been referred to that higher tribunal, it was beyond the
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jurisdiction of Festus or Agrippa. Yet, two years afterward, the result
of that day’s proceedings saved the life so precious to the cause of
God. Festus, finding that his own judgment of the case, on grounds
of Roman justice, was sustained from a Jewish stand-point by the
protector of the temple, sent a letter to the emperor, stating that no
legal charge could be found against the prisoner. And Nero, cruel and
unscrupulous as he was, dared not put to death a man whom Lysias,
Felix, Festus, and Agrippa pronounced guiltless, and whom even the
Sanhedrim could not condemn.
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