Albert Barnes Commentary Acts 23:12

"And when it was day, the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul." — Acts 23:12 (ASV)

Certain of the Jews. Some of the Jews. They were more than forty in number (Acts 23:13).

Banded together. They made an agreement or compact. They conspired to kill him.

And bound themselves under a curse. The Greek is, "they anathematized themselves;" that is, they bound themselves by a solemn oath. They invoked a curse on themselves, or devoted themselves to destruction, if they did not do it.

Lightfoot remarks, however, that they could be absolved from this vow by the rabbis if they were unable to execute it. Under various pretenses they could easily be freed from such oaths, as it was common to take them. If there was any difficulty in fulfilling them, they could readily apply to their religious teachers and be absolved.

That they would neither eat nor drink. This meant they intended to carry out their plan as soon as possible, as this was a common form of an oath or curse among the Jews. Sometimes they only vowed abstinence from particular things, such as meat or wine. But in this case, to make the oath more certain and binding, they vowed abstinence from all kinds of food and drink until they had killed him.

Who these men were—whether they were Sadducees or not—is not mentioned by the sacred writer. It is evident, however, that the minds of the Jews were greatly inflamed against Paul. Seeing him in the custody of the Roman tribune, and with no prospect that the tribune would punish him, they resolved to take the matter into their own hands.

Michaelis conjectures that they were of the number of the Sicarii, or cut-throats, with which Judea then abounded (see Barnes' note on Acts 21:38).

It hardly needs to be said that this was a most wicked oath. It was a deliberate purpose to commit murder, and it shows the desperate state of morals among the Jews at that time, and the infuriated malice of the people against the apostle.