Atos 23:12

And when it was day, the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. And they were more than forty that made this conspiracy. And they came to the chief priests and the elders, and said, we have bound ourselves under a curse, to taste nothing until we have killed Paul. Now therefore do ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you, as though ye would judge of his case more exactly: and we, before he comes near, are ready to slay him.

The Lord had called the temple a den of thieves and robbers; and here is the most amazing proof of it.

More than forty ... How many more? Well, to the forty, one must add the chief priests and the elders of the people, the entire dominant factor which controlled the temple itself. How evil this once glorious institution had become! Once the moral nature of man is decapitated at the highest level, the consequent descent to lower and lower levels of shame, carnality and depravity is inevitable and accelerated. Having rejected the Christ only some thirty years before, the temple partisans at the time here recorded shamelessly exhibited the morality of a group of vicious outlaws.

Incidentally, it should be observed that the whole temple party had already conceded to themselves that any fair hearing of Paul's case before Lysias would result in his acquittal. This conspiracy, therefore, is their own announcement of Paul's innocence.

Bound ... under a curse ... Bruce gave the form of such an oath thus, "So may God do to us, and more also, if we eat or drink until we have killed Paul."[15] The spirit of Jezebel rested upon the temple fathers, for she made a similar vow: "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time" (1 Kings 19:2).

Conspiracy ... This word occurs "only here in the New Testament."[16] Amazingly, they "knew that many of the chief priests and elders would favor their murderous designs,"[17] indicating that the satanic behavior in the temple was known to many and recognized as typical of their operations. The plot to kill Paul was skillfully designed and would in all probability have succeeded if it had not been providentially frustrated. It was simple enough. The high priest would request of Lysias another hearing, promising, of course, that no riot would ensue next time, and pretending of course that they would fully resolve the matter at another hearing; and there was no reason to suppose Lysias might not have honored such a request. In the meanwhile, forty desperate men, armed with daggers, would waylay the escort as they started for the meeting place and murder Paul before he ever appeared before the Sanhedrin, which of course would have professed surprise and avoided all implications involving themselves. Beautiful! But God did not allow it.

[15] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 457.

[16] A. C. Hervey, op. cit., p. 213.

[17] Matthew Henry, Henry-Scott Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1960), p. 523.