Acts 23:23-35
Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night… So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. (vv. 23, 31) The third hour of the night is 9 pm and Antipatris is about 30 miles northwest of Jerusalem, on the border between Judea and Samaria, approximately halfway to Caesarea. So the soldiers went off on a 30-mile nighttime hike, some ten hours marching at three miles per hour – then back to Jerusalem the next day. I can imagine the muttering within the ranks, remembering how much we enjoyed long marches with full pack in Basic Training!!
My Study Bible has a note that “spearmen” could also be translated “additional mounts and pack animals”. How close are those two translations??!! I like the second translation better. The traveling guard already contained 200 soldiers and 70 horsemen, with Paul also on a horse. Surely the 200 Roman soldiers could withstand incursions by small or even medium-size bands of attackers. And even against a large force the 70 horsemen could get Paul out of danger very quickly. By way of comparison, our Pony Express riders had stations every 10 to 15 to 20 miles, the distance a horse could reasonably run before tiring. So Paul and the 70 horsemen could be free and clear in short order.
Slava Bohu!
Wow! I have been thinking about how Paul got to Caesarea then on to Rome – by the Roman army in full protection! When God intervenes, anything can happen. Paul was praying for a way to get to Spain by way of Rome. Ha! God had a much bigger thing in mind. We pray for health and safety from a pandemic, but I don’t think we think about what happens when God intervenes, I know I don’t. He is likely to do more than we ask, and in a very different way than we have in mind. So far it looks like He is shaking up things, new ways of “church”, new looks at our past, new economic issues. He seems to be uncovering a lot that we have ignored, on His way to handling the pandemic. Scary but exciting to see what He is doing!
The Shirkeys have small group prayer at their house every Wednesday at 6:30 pm, while we wait and listen to the Lord. Come join us!