Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, "Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day." And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?" And those who stood by said, "Do you revile God's high priest?" Then Paul said, "I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.'" Acts 23:1-5

Paul started his appearance before the Jewish council with respect. That changed rather abruptly.

The high priest Ananias, ordered that Paul be slapped in the face. For what? Not for anything Paul had said in court. He hadn’t said much and he began most respectfully (v.1). Ananias, unlike our Great High Priest Jesus, was not an easy man. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, he was known for being both vicious and violent. Having Paul struck in the face was just the way Ananias did business.

He did not have Paul slapped for anything Paul said while in court that day. He was struck for what Ananias had already falsely determined to be true about Paul: that Paul had been perverting the Jewish religion and therefore deserved to be humiliated.

You may remember in John 18:22-23 when Jesus stood before Caiaphas, He too was struck in the face. Jesus calmly asked the person who struck Him why He had been treated as such. Paul reacted rather angrily (v.3).

Note that Paul charged the Jewish official with breaking Jewish procedural law by punishing a person before his case was settled and an official judgement was rendered. As the Jewish trials of Jesus were carried out unlawfully, so was Paul’s trial. As to the manner of Paul’s response, he rather disrespectfully pronounced a curse on Ananias. However, his words were prophetic. As history records, King Agrippa punitively removed Ananias from office in A.D. 59. Then in A.D. 66, Ananias was assassinated. But neither of those events were as bad as what awaited Ananias when he faced God for judgment.

What about Paul being rebuked for his disrespect for the high priest (v.4)? Next time.