The next morning some Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
Acts 23:12 NIV
A group of over 40 men had made a vow to kill Paul before they ate or drank again. The challenge would be to get Paul away from his Roman guards, but they had a plan for this. They planned to have the Jewish authorities ask the Romans to send Paul back to the Sanhedrin. And, while he was on the way, they would kill him.
The problem with this plan was that they forgot to keep it a secret. Paul’s nephew found out and told Paul. Paul then sent his nephew to tell the commander of the Roman detachment in Jerusalem. Almost immediately, the Roman commander sent Paul to the governor in Caesarea and put together a massive Roman detachment to guard him.
One thing I have always wondered about this story: what happened to the 40 guys who had vowed not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul? Did they starve to death? Or was their vow broken as easily as it was made? I suspect the latter. We might excuse them for breaking their vow do to the impossibility of carrying it out.
While I suspect few of us make a vow to kill someone. But we do often commit ourselves to some task, maybe to help someone. Or maybe to perform some service for the Lord. But what do we do when it becomes hard, or inconvenient, or we just get tired of doing it? Do we fail to follow through on our commitments to God, family, or friends? Or do we stick with it and remain faithful to our vows (commitments)?
