Chapter 25

When Festus arrives in Jerusalem, "the chief priests and principal men" try to persuade Festus - as a favor to them - to bring Paul to Jerusalem for trial.  They are planning an ambush to kill Paul en route.  So after two years, their hatred is still so active that they bring Paul to the attention of a new governor.  Two years!  Festus says no.  Says he is soon going to Caesarea, and for them to come with him and he will hear their case against Paul there.

2024 - For clarification, Paul was the prisoner of Felix in Caesarea,  then of Festus.  Festus, as the new governor replacing Felix, arrives in Jerusalem.  As this reads to me, the Jews in Jerusalem try to convince their new governor to fetch Paul from Caesarea to be tried in Jerusalem for crimes committed in Jerusalem two years prior, and jurisdiction for which is now in Festus' hands.

2024 - This verse:

6 After he stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. [Act 25:6 ESV].  So Festus goes to Caesarea and takes the accusers with him.  He takes his seat on the tribunal (the bema).  This Tribunal was a Roman legal assembly, a "court of Rome", and the regional governor, Festus in this case, presided over this Roman court, seated on a bema. 

A couple weeks later, Paul is brought before Festus, and accused of many things by the Jews.  None of the accusations can be proven.  Festus wants to get off on the right foot with his new charges, and suggests to Paul that he consent to a transfer to Jerusalem for trial before him there.  Paul says there is nothing there that isn't right here, and that Festus knows very well that Paul has done nothing.  So it seems Festus was willing to let the "ambush" take place on the way, bringing no provable guilt on himself, yet doing the Jews a very large favor.  Paul, sensing that the deck is stacked and no justice is to be had, appeals to Caesar.  This is Festus' out.  He agrees to send Paul to Caesar himself.

2024 - In vs 9, Festus tries to get Paul to agree to a change of venue, moving the whole procedure back to Jerusalem.  This is actually an attempt to transfer jurisdiction from a court of Rome to a court in Jerusalem, likely presided over by the High Priest.  The idea is to change from Federal to State, or even down to local, jurisdiction.

23 So on the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. [Act 25:23 ESV]

Some time after, Agrippa the King and Bernice show up in Caesarea and greet Felix.  (Some MSB notes on these two characters is relevant.  Agrippa's great-grandfather was Herod the great, king when Jesus was born, killer of children, builder of Herod's temple.  His great-uncle is Herod Antipas, the "Herod of the gospels".  His father, Herod, is the one who had killed the apostle James and imprisoned Peter.  So Agrippa knew much of the history of the region.  And then there is his "wife", Bernice.  She was not his wife, but his sister, and their incestuous relationship was known to all, and the subject of much gossip in Rome.  Their sister Drusilla, was Jewish, and married to Felix, the former governor, who had wooed her away from her first husband.  Bernice later became the mistress of Emperor Vaspasian, and then of his son, Titus - who conquered Jerusalem in 70 AD and tore down the temple.  She must have had something....So these are the people in charge of "justice" somewhere.  Agrippa's authority as King did not extend to Judea....but he had connections and was likely shown great respect by Festus.)

A FB post?  Justice in Paul's day?

2024 - Given that Agrippa is King, not just governor, he may well have been over the entire region.

Felix and Agrippa discuss Paul's case, and Agrippa asks if he can hear Paul speak.  It is arranged for the next day.  Agrippa and Bernice made a great show of appearing.  Felix says that though he is sending Paul to Caesar, he himself finds him guilty of nothing at all, and so does not know what message to send to Caesar concerning him.  So Agrippa is going to hear Paul, and then the two of them come up with a message.  These people are very political.  Felix has now included a more prominent person - a King not just a governor - and so halved the blame if Caesar is angered by the arrival of Paul with no charges against him.  What a move!

2022 - Twice in this chapter Luke uses the word "bema", and in both these cases it is translated "the tribunal".  The definite article is used in both places.  "the bema".  The translation seems to indicate that a specific seat or a throne was in view, rather than some committee who's purpose was to judge.  The authority to judge seems to belong to Festus alone.  I note further that this was not a judgment of better or worse, but a proceeding where capital punishment was to be considered if Paul was found guilty.  This is in fact what the Jews wanted - either that Paul be found guilty, or that he be sent to Jerusalem so they could kill him on the way.  This is NOT the way bema seaters define a bema judgment, but there is little doubt about its meaning in these verses.