Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 23:15

"Now therefore do ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you, as though ye would judge of his case more exactly: and we, before he comes near, are ready to slay him." — Acts 23:15 (ASV)

Failing in their earlier plot to kill Paul in the temple precincts, more than forty fanatical Jews (probably many of them Asian Jews who had instigated the earlier plot, cf. 21:27–29) resolved to do away with him by ambushing him in the narrow streets of Jerusalem. For this they needed a pretext to lure him out of the fortress. So they arranged with “the chief priest and elders” to ask for Paul’s return before the Sanhedrin for further questioning. They pledged to kill him as he was being brought from the Fortress of Antonia to the hall of the Sanhedrin (cf. comment on 4:5). To show their determination, they vowed not to eat or drink until they had accomplished their purpose. The conspirators’ plan, though violating both the letter and the spirit of Jewish law pertaining to the Sanhedrin, was in keeping with the character of the high priest Ananias (cf. comment on 23:2).