And after some days King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to greet Festus.
Acts 25:13

As a Roman citizen, Paul requested that his case be heard in Rome by Caesar, Festus knew that he had to honor Paul's appeal. But Festus knew that he couldn’t send a prisoner to Rome without some substantial charges, Festus also knew that the charges against Paul were flimsy at best, and completely groundless fabrications as worst. To bother the Roman legal system, not to mention Caesar himself, over nothing would reflect badly on Festus since the charges were of a Jewish religious matter (about which Rome did not care), and had nothing to do with Roman law.

Coincidently (if you believe in such things), King Agrippa II and his “queen” Bernice happened to be in Caesarea. Though not fully Jewish, Agrippa was partly of Jewish descent, so he understood the religion better than did Festus. In addition, Agrippa’s family was well acquainted with Roman government protocols. Festus thought that maybe Agrippa could hear Paul’s case and advise Festus how to proceed.

Before proceeding with Agrippa’s role in Paul’s legal affairs, a few words about Agrippa II and Bernice might be of interest and a bit helpful. We’ll give time to that in the next post.