Unsung Heroes: Paul’s Nephew

Introduction: It’s interesting that we know very little about Paul except that he was a Jew, born in Tarsus, receiving an education in Jerusalem, and some of his days as Saul the persecutor of the new Church. We’re never told the names of his parents, siblings—or if he had any other siblings besides this one sister—or any other relatives besides this nephew. What is important is that this young man saved his uncle’s life!

Text: Acts 23:16-22, KJV: 16 And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul. 17 Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him, and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain: for he hath a certain thing to tell him. 18 So he took him, and brought him to the chief captain, and said, Paul the prisoner called me unto him, and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto thee. 19 Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and went with him aside privately, and asked him, What is that thou hast to tell me? 20 And he said, The Jews have agreed to desire thee that thou wouldest bring down Paul to morrow into the council, as though they would inquire somewhat of him more perfectly. 21 But do not thou yield unto them: for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him: and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee. 22 So the chief captain then let the young man depart, and charged him, See thou tell no man that thou hast shewed these things to me.

Thoughts:

Acts 21 and 22 form the background for this story. Paul had returned to Jerusalem after his third missionary journey but he didn’t get the reception that he may have hoped for. He had tried to give a defense of who he had been, who he was now, and why he was back in Jerusalem but even that wasn’t enough for the mob of unbelieving Jews! These people wanted to take matters into their own hands, literally, and kill Paul on the spot.

Fortunately, Roman soldiers rescued Paul and, forcibly, took him into the barracks (“castle”, v.16). There he was kept under close custody.

But, apparently, Paul was able to receive some visitors, including his own nephew. As mentioned, we do not know anything about him besides he was the son of Paul’s sister—and, that he had news that would save his uncle’s life!

Just how this lad (we don’t know his age) got info or found out about a plot to kill Paul is another secret, but find out, this lad did, and he had a decision to make. Would he keep still and risk seeing his uncle put to death? Or, would he risk everything, maybe his own life, in order to try and save Paul’s life?

We know that he did find out about the plot (recorded in Acts 23:14-15) and decided to get word to Paul. I’ve mentioned that we don’t know his age, but we can maybe guess somewhere about 12 to 15. He was old enough to be trusted by his parent/s, but not old enough to be drafted into the Roman army; he was old enough to understand exactly what the Gang of 40 was planning to do, but young enough not to raise any suspicion. He was also old enough to visit Paul in the barracks but young enough, again, to pose no risk or suspicion that he would try to bring something for Paul to use illegally. Hey, the first several jailbreaks had already happened (Acts 5, 12, and 16) and maybe the Romans had heard about the earthquake in Philippi.

The nephew told Paul what he knew and Paul, in turn, knew he had to pass this information on to the commander (“chief captain”, KJV; he was also called a “chiliarch”, one in command of 1000 troops and/or a “tribune” in various commentaries). Paul called one of the centurions (supervising 100 troops) and asked this man to bring the visiting nephew to the commander because, as Paul stated, “he has something to tell him”.

Luke records how the centurion did exactly as requested, escorting Paul’s nephew to the commander. Then, the commander shows a bit of compassion, taking Paul’s nephew by the hand (another hint that this lad wasn’t very old) and there spoke privately, one on one. The nephew gave as much info as he knew about the plot to kill Paul and maybe begged the commander to not let it happen. Once that meeting was over, the commander let Paul’s nephew go back home, but with a warning and word of advice: “Don’t tell anyone what you told me.”

The next several verses gather some of the details of how this commander determined to protect Paul, mostly by getting him out of Jerusalem. The commander assembled a force of almost 500 men to ensure Paul got to Caesarea, many miles away. That city, by the way, was a much safer location for Paul than Jerusalem ever was.

But none of this could have happened without a young lad who, to use a once common phrase, “saw something and said something.” He made sure to get word to Paul, and Paul made sure this info got to the right people. Certainly, Paul died, later on, but at Rome, not Jerusalem; and not at the hand of a mob like the Gang of 40!

Paul’s nephew, you are truly an unsung hero!

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)