Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 23-25.

The first thing I want to write about is when Paul apologizes for insulting the high priest by quoting Exodus 22:28, which says “Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.”  Although Paul quotes it as saying “Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.”  Which is something we need to remember when we believe that the rulers of our nation are in some way inadequate or bad.  It is definitely a reminder which I need.  The next thing which I wanted to write about was the 40 men who vowed to not eat or drink anything until they had killed Paul.  They never did kill Paul, so did they starve themselves to death?  Or, did they break their oath?  That is just a minor curiosity which struck me a few years ago, but that I never felt like writing about until now.  More significant is the fact that they conspired with the chief priests, which would have included the man about whom Paul said he should not have spoken evil, in their attempt to execute this plot.  Then later, after a new governor was appointed over Judea, the chief priests again attempted to arrange a chance to get Paul to where they could ambush and kill him.  Again, another group about whom Paul’s belief that he should not speak evil about the ruler of his people would apply.  So, if Paul apologized for speaking evil of the ruler of his people who was conspiring with people to kill him, I don’t think we have any room to justify speaking evil of our rulers today.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.