SMACKED DOWN AND SMACK TALK
ACTS 23:1-5 NKJV
1 Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, "Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day." 2 And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?" 4 And those who stood by said, "Do you revile God's high priest?" 5 Then Paul said, "I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, 'You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'"
I have to admit that I appreciate this account of Paul. It shows that he is still very much human.
Paul was standing before a council of chief priests and Jewish religious leaders. The Roman commander had called for this meeting, still trying to determine what Paul had done.
Paul starts his defense with a declaration that he lived with a clear conscience before God.
Evidently, this ticked off the high priest Ananias who commanded the people standing by Paul to strike him on the mouth. So there may have been more than one person that hit Paul on the mouth.
Being punched in the mouth is not easy to take, even in sport fighting. Even more so when you are innocently stating your beliefs. And Paul responded with some New Testament smack talk. He called the high priest a whitewashed wall. And declared that God was going to strike him.
When the Jews standing by Paul challenged him for speaking evil of the high priest, Paul backed off. Stating it was wrong for him to speak evil of the ruler of the people. So, Paul made a correction in accordance with scripture. But it appears he corrected himself for calling Ananias a whitewashed wall. That's pretty tame by our standards, but Paul took it back.
I do think it's interesting to note that Paul declared that God was going to strike the high priest. Paul would not avenge himself but trusted that God would 'have his back.'
APPLICATION:
We all say things in the heat of the moment. But we can take a lesson from Paul and retract our words.
One of the areas we have to be diligent about is speaking evil of leaders. We may not like what they do or agree with how they handle things. But we can refrain from name-calling.
The Holy Spirit highlighted this passage to me years ago when I was name-calling the President of the United States. I did not agree with him, but I stopped the smack talk. The scriptures instruct us to pray for those in authority. Prayer will be a lot more effective than speaking evil.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank You for taking care of me. I will not take things into my own hands or mouth.