Acts 25:14

Acts 25:14. Festus declared Paul's cause unto the king, saying, There is a certain man left in bonds by Felix. It has been suggested that the reason of this communication on the part of Festus, was a desire to interest his visitor by bringing under the king's notice one who was bitterly and persistently attacked by the leading men of his nation the Jews; but after all, it is simpler to suppose that the Roman governor was anxious to learn more of the strange man and those pretensions of his, which evidently excited among his more influential countrymen an intense hatred, in order that he might send to Rome with the prisoner who had appealed to the emperor's tribunal, a clear and definite story of the cause. At present there is no doubt that Festus was not a little mystified as to the whole matter, and he felt that from Agrippa he would be likely to get to the bottom of the reasons of the hatred of the high priest and Sanhedrim, and the seeming obstinacy of Paul.

Agrippa, besides, was not merely a Jew, as Festus considered, by birth and education, but was also the appointed guardian of the temple, which was the scene of one of the three crimes charged against the prisoner.