Paul Transferred to Caesarea - Acts 23

²³ Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, “Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. ²⁴ Provide horses for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix.”

This is a huge detachment for the protection of just one man in custody.  This is more of a show to the Jews that they will not get to Paul and he will be tried by their law.  This is Romans protecting a Roman citizen.  I can associate this with the American military coming to rescue a citizen from the jihadist with a lot of force and then escorting the citizen out with a lot of force.  The commander moves Paul out by cover of darkness and gives him a horse to ride on so they can move quickly.

²⁵ He wrote a letter as follows:

²⁶ Claudius Lysias,

To His Excellency, Governor Felix:

Greetings.

²⁷ This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. ²⁸ I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. ²⁹ I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment. ³⁰ When I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him.

³¹ So the soldiers, carrying out their orders, took Paul with them during the night and brought him as far as Antipatris. ³² The next day they let the cavalry go on with him, while they returned to the barracks. ³³ When the cavalry arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. ³⁴ The governor read the letter and asked what province he was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, ³⁵ he said, “I will hear your case when your accusers get here.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s palace.

Paul awaits trial in a much nicer place than a prison.  The commander has done well to remove Paul from the mob so that his case can be heard in a much less violent location.  The commander never understood what Paul was guilty of except that it was of a Jewish law.  In his eyes, Paul was not guilty of any Roman law.  However, his job is to maintain order, so moving Paul does exactly that.  It also allows him to move the responsibility up the chain of command.  It is now in the hands of Governor Felix.