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[In this excerpt from the Acts of the Apostles the Roman governor Festus, resident in Caesarea, discusses with King Agrippa the thorny case of one of the prisoners that he inherited from Felix, the previous Roman governor. The prisoner was Saul, known today as St Paul, missionary to the gentiles, and the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem wanted to kill him. From their point of view Saul was a traitor to Judaism because he had defected to a new movement started by the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth after His crucifixion, a movement Saul had formerly persecuted. But the Romans, though they still sanctioned crucifixion as a form of capital punishment for slaves and others (by this time Roman citizens were exempt from crucifixion) nevertheless showed themselves more enlightened than the present owners of our mainstream media. Unlike them, the Romans didn’t condemn individuals without allowing the accused to answer their accusers face to face.]

A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus. Since they were spending many days there, Festus discussed Paul’s case with the king. He said: “There is a man here whom Felix left as a prisoner. When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him and asked that he be condemned. I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over anyone before they have faced their accusers and have had an opportunity to defend themselves against the charges. When they came here with me, I did not delay the case, but convened the court the next day and ordered the man to be brought in. When his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected. Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive. I was at a loss how to investigate such matters; so I asked if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these charges. But when Paul made his appeal to be held over for the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him held until I could send him to Caesar.” Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear this man myself.” He replied, “Tomorrow you will hear him.”

To hear a reading (NASB translation) of the excerpt above, start at the 2:19:40 hr/min/sec mark.

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