Paul's Trial Before Festus - Acts 25

25 Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, ² where the chief priests and the Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul. ³ They requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way. ⁴ Festus answered, “Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon. ⁵ Let some of your leaders come with me, and if the man has done anything wrong, they can press charges against him there.”

Two years later, Paul gets to defend himself in another trial with another regional leader.  The Jewish leaders again come to make charges.  Festus makes a very diplomatic visit with the Jewish leaders as a means for peaceful leadership change and in an effort to maintain peace.

⁶ After spending eight or ten days with them, Festus went down to Caesarea. The next day he convened the court and ordered that Paul be brought before him. ⁷ When Paul came in, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him. They brought many serious charges against him, but they could not prove them.

⁸ Then Paul made his defense: “I have done nothing wrong against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar.”

⁹ Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?” 

Even though none of the charges against Paul can be proven and the fact that Paul is a Roman citizen, Festus's desire to be liked having just spent over a week in Jerusalem with these Jewish leaders, persuades him to try to do this.  He is rewarded when the people in his region have order.  He is seeking to do them this favor of transferring Paul to Jerusalem.  

¹⁰ Paul answered: “I am now standing before Caesar’s court, where I ought to be tried. I have not done any wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well. ¹¹ If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”

¹² After Festus had conferred with his council, he declared: “You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!”

Paul says to heck with these Jews and their court.  I’m in a Roman court and it can be ruled here now.  But since no one will rule because it is not politically expedient, Paul takes it out of their hand.  He is using his Roman citizenship to do the will of God.  Paul was told with encouragement from God that he would go to Rome.  This appeal to Caesar is the ticket to Rome.  Also, the further away from the Jewish leaders he gets, the less their accusations have meaning.  They are unable to stir up riots and create mobs outside of Jerusalem and around Roman authority.  Like it is, they’ve had two years to get witnesses from Asia to witness to his sedition there and do not have any.  The Roman authority care about their laws and courts, not about Jewish law which is outside of the Roman law.  Without a mob, the Jewish leaders know they will not get Paul convicted.  This is the last time we hear from the Jewish leaders.