John Gill Commentary Acts 25

Now when Festus was come into the province
Of Judea, which was a Roman province, over which he was made governor by Nero, the Roman emperor, in the room of Felix; he now being landed in some part of the province, namely, at Caesarea, and so might be said to have entered upon the government of it, as the phrase will bear to be rendered;

after three days he ascended from Caesarea to Jerusalem ;
he very likely came by sea from Italy to Judea, and landed at Caesarea; for though Joppa was the nearest port to Jerusalem, yet Caesarea was the safest, and most commodious port, being made so by Herod; (See Gill on Acts 18:22), and besides, it seems to have been very much the residence of the kings and governors of Judea, (Acts 12:19) (Acts 23:23Acts 23:33) here Festus stayed three days after his landing, to rest himself after the fatigue of the voyage, and then went up to Jerusalem, the metropolis of the province of Judea.

Then the high priest
Ananias, as in (Acts 23:2) (24:1) the Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin version, and all the Oriental versions, read, "the chief priests", the whole college of the priests:

and the chief of the Jews ;
their rulers and elders, the members of the Jewish sanhedrim;

informed him against Paul ;
they took the first opportunity of waiting upon him, when he was come to Jerusalem; hoping it might be a favourable one to them, since he was just entering upon his government, and might be willing to gratify the chief of the nation, and gain their affection and esteem, and since as yet he was not acquainted with their wicked dispositions and artifices; and brought a bill of information against Paul, and gave a large account of him, what a wicked man he was, and what evils he had committed; they laid many things to his charge, and very heavily accused him, and endeavoured to prepossess the governor, and prejudice him against him:

and besought him ;
that he would grant them the following request.

And desired favour against him
Paul; they asked what would be a favour to them, and a prejudice to him: or "of him", that is, of Festus; they asked a favour of him, and desired it as such, as what would be gratefully accepted and acknowledged by them; which sense is confirmed by the Syriac version; the Arabic version renders it "to", or "upon them"; that is, they asked him to grant a favour to them, or bestow one on them, which is as follows:

that he would send for him to Jerusalem ;
that his case might be heard before him, and he might be tried and judged by him, as they pretended:

laying wait in the way to kill him ;
this was their design, though they concealed it, and pretended no other view than that justice might take place: their scheme was, that if they could have prevailed upon Festus to have sent for Paul to Jerusalem, from Caesarea, they would have provided men, perhaps the same forty and upwards as before, in (Acts 23:12Acts 23:13) to have laid in wait for him in the way as he came, and to have killed him:

The whole of this shows the malice of these men, the badness of their cause, the indefatigableness and diligence to attain their end, the danger the apostle was in, and the care of Providence over him.

But Festus answered, that Paul should be kept at Caesarea ,
&c.] Or that he was kept there, and was in proper custody, under the care of a centurion, and should continue there; nor was there any reason why he should be removed, especially since he should return thither speedily, as he adds:

and that he himself would depart shortly thither ;
the answer was a very wise and prudent one, and the reasons given were just and strong; as that Paul had been sent to Caesarea, was left bound by his predecessor there; there he found him, and there he was under a proper guard, and there it was right for him to continue; and besides, he himself should make no stay in Jerusalem, but should depart for Caesarea in a few days, and therefore it was very improper to send for Paul thither.

Let them therefore, said he, which among you are able
Who are at leisure, can spare time, and to whom it will be convenient, without interrupting other business, to take such a journey; and who are able to bear the expenses of it, without hurting their families, and whose health and age will admit of it; and above all, who are masters of this affair, and are capable of forming charges, and of supporting them with proper proofs and evidences: let such

go down with me ;
from Jerusalem to Caesarea: and accuse this man: in proper form, according to the rules of law, of what he is guilty, and can be proved upon him:

if there is any wickedness in him ;
or committed by him, anything that is absurd and unreasonable, notoriously flagitious and criminal; that is, contrary to the rules of reason, the common sense of mankind, and the laws of God and men; and especially of the Roman empire, or that is blasphemous or seditious.