The Plotting Jews — Over-the-Top Idiocy

From Idiotic Things People Did in the Bible

What They Did

They plotted to commit murder.

Why It Was Idiotic

They were so arrogant they thought that nothing would stop them.

Here’s the Scoop

In Acts 21–23, Paul was arrested in Jerusalem after Jews from Asia stirred up a mob against him, accusing him of defiling the temple. The Roman commander intervened to prevent Paul from being killed and took him into custody. When Paul revealed he was a Roman citizen, he was spared from being scourged. The commander then brought Paul before the Sanhedrin to discover the reason for the accusations.

Paul began by declaring he had lived in good conscience, which angered the high priest Ananias, who ordered that Paul be struck. Paul called out the injustice and, realizing the council was divided between Pharisees and Sadducees, declared he was on trial because of his hope in the resurrection of the dead. This caused a fierce argument between the two groups. Fearing Paul would be torn apart, the commander removed him to the barracks for safety.

“Thanks to God’s Word, we know that man is not the master of his own destiny. He doesn’t call the shots. God alone does. If we make plans and are able to fulfill them, it only happens because of God’s permissive will.”

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That night, the Lord appeared to Paul, encouraging him: “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome” (Acts 23:11).

The next morning, more than forty Jews formed a conspiracy, vowing under a curse neither to eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. They approached the chief priests and elders to help set a trap by asking the commander to bring Paul before the council again, pretending they needed further inquiry.

However, Paul’s nephew heard of the ambush, went to the barracks, and warned Paul. Paul called a centurion, who took the young man to the commander. After hearing the plot, the commander dismissed the boy with instructions to tell no one he had revealed these things.

***

I’m Jewish, Jesus was Jewish, and the disciples were Jewish. I love Jewish people, and many of them are out-of-the-ballpark brilliant. Over 200 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to Jews, out of about 1,000 individual laureates since the prize was first awarded in 1901. This means roughly 20% of all Nobel laureates have been Jewish, even though Jews make up less than 0.2% of the world’s population. All that to say, the particular Jews in this portion of Scripture were extraordinarily brainless. And it wasn’t just one or two of them. There were forty in the Jewish Idiotic Club. Starting from Genesis 3, we can find bountiful examples throughout history to prove this: sin makes even brilliant people act like idiots.

These people were offended by the gospel Paul preached. Rather than going home and carrying on with life, they were consumed with intent to murder him—to the point that they vowed under a curse neither to eat nor drink until they had killed him. A human being can typically survive without water for about three to five days before dehydration causes organ failure and death. In other words, someone was about to die—either the apostle Paul or the gang of forty.

We’re not told exactly what manner of death they planned. Perhaps they would physically pull him to pieces (as almost happened to him earlier in the story of Acts), or they would stone him to death. Whatever the case, it looked like his number was up.

What they didn’t realize was that God had already purposed Paul to go to Rome (see Acts 23:11), so there was no way they were going to be able to thwart God’s plan and take his life. Either these proud, arrogant, and fanatical Jews died of dehydration or they were humiliated because they had to break their oath.

They should have taken note of this warning:

When you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth. (Deuteronomy 23:21–22)

The vow they made revealed more than their murderous hearts. It showed how proud they were: We are going to do this, and nothing is going to stop us. That’s normal for godless human nature. People boast of tomorrow, not knowing what it will bring. But thanks to God’s Word, we know that man is not the master of his own destiny. He doesn’t call the shots. God alone does. If we make plans and are able to fulfill them, it only happens because of God’s permissive will. In His great mercy and patience He allows us to make idiotic decisions. What Adam and Eve did was in His permissive will. The same is the case with Solomon, David, and so many others who made unwise decisions. But again, we have the Scriptures to help us avoid the pitfalls into which others have fallen. Listen to what the Bible tells us our attitude should be when making any plans:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13–16, LSB)

This kind of boasting about what we are going to do tomorrow is proud, arrogant, and evil. This is because we are leaving God out of the equation. It is to turn our back on Him and to count His will and wisdom as irrelevant.

From Idiotic Things People Did in the Bible