This was a plan very likely to succeed: Claudius Lysias would have thought it very natural that the Sanhedrim should wish to examine St. Paul quietly, which could not be done in the tumult and excitement of the day before. He would, therefore, have sent his prisoner down with a small guard of soldiers, sufficient to prevent his escaping: these, the Zealots who would be lying in wait, could easily overpower by their greater number, and thus they would have no difficulty in murdering the Apostle. It is sad to think that priests and rulers, whose duty it was to teach the people what was right, and to see that every man was treated justly, should have agreed thus to entrap and slay a man who had been guilty of no crime: but so it was, for they consented to do their part in the proposed scheme. The enemies of St. Paul must now have thought his destruction certain: but they forgot that if the Lord was on the Apostle's side, all their plots would come to nothing. And so it proved: for the Lord, Who had work for His faithful servant to do, caused this plot to become in some way known to a young man, the son of St. Paul's sister. We know nothing of this young man; whether he was still a Jew, or had, as is more probable, become a Christian: all we are told is, "And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul." We have now another example as to the duty of using all human means, whilst humbly depending upon the blessing of God, without which all our efforts are unavailing. St. Paul had the promise of God, that he should live to preach the Gospel in Rome; therefore he was well assured that the Zealots could not harm him. He also knew that the Almighty could work a miracle for his deliverance; but he knew that to depend upon such a display of Divine power, would be tempting God, not trusting in Him. St. Paul felt, that the Lord, Who most generally brings about events through human actions, had now given him the means of saving his own life; and that it was his duty to make use of them, in order to defeat the wicked plot contrived by the Zealots and the Council.