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== Bridgeway Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_18599" /> ==
<p> Porcius [[Festus]] was the successor of [[Felix]] as the [[Roman]] governor of Judea, to the duties of which office he was appointed by the [[Emperor]] Nero in the first year of his reign. One of his first official acts was hearing the case of the [[Apostle]] Paul, who had been left in prison by his predecessor. He was at least not a thoroughly corrupt judge; for when the [[Jewish]] hierarchy begged him to send for Paul to Jerusalem, and thus afford an opportunity for his being assassinated on the road, he gave a refusal, promising to investigate the facts at Caesarea, where Paul was in custody, alleging to them, 'it is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have license to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him' . On reaching [[Caesarea]] he sent for Paul, heard what he had to say, and, finding that the matters which 'his accusers had against him' were 'questions of their own superstition, and of one [[Jesus]] which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive,' he asked the Apostle whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem, and there be tried, since Festus did not feel himself skilled in such an affair. Paul, doubtless because he was unwilling to put himself into the hands of his implacable enemies, requested 'to be reserved unto the hearing of Augustus,' and was in consequence kept in custody till Festus had an opportunity to send him to Caesar. Agrippa, however, with his wife Bernice, having come to salute Festus on his new appointment, expressed a desire to see and 'hear the man.' Accordingly Paul was brought before Festus, Agrippa, and Bernice, made a famous speech, and was declared innocent. But having appealed to Caesar, he was sent to Rome. </p> <p> Festus on coming into [[Judea]] found the country infested with robbers, who plundered the villages and set them on fire; the [[Sicarii]] also were numerous. Many of both classes were captured, and put to death by Festus. He also sent forces, both of horse and foot, to fall upon those that had been seduced by a certain impostor, who promised them deliverance and freedom from the miseries they were under if they would but follow him as far as the wilderness. These troops destroyed both the impostor and his dupes. </p> <p> King [[Agrippa]] had built himself a splendid dining-room, which was so placed, that, as he reclined at his meals, he commanded a view of what was done in the Temple. The priests, being displeased, erected a wall so as to exclude the monarch's eye. On which Festus took part with Agrippa against the priests, and ordered the wall to be pulled down. The priests appealed to Nero, who suffered the wall to remain, being influenced by his wife Poppæa, 'who was a religious woman.' Festus died shortly afterwards. The manner in which [[Josephus]] speaks is favorable to his character as a governor. </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p>
<p> During his short governorship of [[Judea]] (AD 60-62), [[Festus]] had to judge the difficult case of Paul. The [[Jews]] knew that Festus was inexperienced in [[Jewish]] affairs and tried to take advantage of this to win their case against Paul. But Festus was aware of their cunning (Acts 25:1-5). [[He]] therefore arranged a proper trial and as a result was convinced of Paul’s innocence. However, wanting to win the goodwill of the Jews, he refused to release Paul. [[Tired]] of this constant injustice, [[Paul]] appealed to the [[Emperor]] (Acts 25:6-12). </p> <p> Festus now faced a difficulty. He had to send a person to the Emperor, without knowing the offence of which the person was supposedly guilty. He did not understand what made the Jews hate Paul. When [[Herod]] Agrippa, an expert on Jewish affairs, arrived at the governor’s palace, Festus explained his problem. He was pleased to give his visitor the opportunity to hear Paul’s case (Acts 25:23-27). [[Agrippa]] confirmed that Paul was innocent, but since Paul had appealed to the Emperor, Festus had no alternative but to send him to [[Rome]] (Acts 26:32). </p>
       
== Holman Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_40204" /> ==
Acts 24:27[[Paul]][[Herod]]
       
== Hitchcock's Bible Names <ref name="term_45635" /> ==
 
       
== Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament <ref name="term_55885" /> ==
<p> [[No]] information is forthcoming concerning [[Porcius]] Festus, who succeeded [[Felix]] in the procuratorship of [[Judaea]] , other than that supplied by Acts 24:27; Acts 26:32 and by Josephus, <i> [[Ant]] </i> . xx. viii. 9f., ix. 1, and <i> Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) </i> II xiv. 1. According to Josephus, [[Festus]] set himself with vigour and success to restore order to his province, which he found distracted with sedition and overrun by bands of robbers. ‘He caught the greatest part of the robbers, and destroyed a great many of them.’ More particularly it is added that he ‘sent forces, both horsemen and footmen, to fall upon those that had been seduced by a certain impostor, who promised them deliverance and freedom from the miseries they were under, if they would but follow him as far as the wilderness. Accordingly, those forces that were sent destroyed both him that had deluded them and those that were his followers also.’ The only other incident in the administration of Festus which [[Josephus]] relates shows him, in association with [[King]] [[Agrippa]] II., withstanding ‘the chief men of Jerusalem’ ( <i> Ant </i> . xx. viii. 11), and permitting an appeal to Caesar-an interesting combination in view of the narrative in Acts. The circumstances, as stated by Josephus, were those: Agrippa had made an addition to his palace at Jerusalem, which enabled him to observe from his dining-hall what was done in the Temple. [[Thereupon]] ‘the chief men of Jerusalem’ erected a wall to obstruct the view from the palace. Festus supported Agrippa in demanding the removal of this wall, but yielded to the request of the [[Jews]] that the whole matter might be referred to Nero, who upheld the appeal and reversed the judgment of his procurator. </p> <p> Josephus evidently regards Festus as a wise and righteous official, affording an agreeable contrast to Albinus, his successor, of whom he says that ‘there was not any sort of wickedness that could be named but he had a hand in it’ ( <i> Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) </i> II. xiv. 1). </p> <p> [[Turning]] to the [[Book]] of Acts, we find that there, while justice is done to the promptness with which Festus addressed himself to his duties and to the lip-homage he was ready to pay to ‘the custom of the Romans,’ he appears in a less favourable light, and the outstanding fact meets us of the estimate which St. [[Paul]] formed of him. St. Paul preferred to take his chance with [[Nero]] to leaving his cause to be disposed of by this fussy, plausible official. ‘I appeal unto Caesar,’ is the lasting condemnation of Festus. [[He]] was persuaded that the [[Apostle]] was innocent of the ‘many and grievous, charges’ brought against him, yet he was quite prepared to sacrifice him, if thereby he ‘could gain favour with the Jews’; hence the preposterous proposal of a re-trial at Jerusalem. The noble use which St. Paul made shortly after of the opportunity given him by Festus to speak for himself before Agrippa and [[Berenice]] should not blind us to the callousness of the man who planned that scene with all its pomp and circumstance, and deliberately exploited a prisoner in bonds for the entertainment of his [[Herodian]] guests. Festus died after holding his office for a brief term-‘scarcely two years’ (Schürer, <i> [[History]] of the [[Jewish]] [[People]] (Eng. tr. of GJV).] </i> I. ii. [1890] 185). [[See]] articleDates for discussion of the chronology of the procuratorship of Festus. </p> <p> Literature.-S. Buss, <i> [[Roman]] [[Law]] and History in the NT </i> , 1901, p. 390; C. H. Turner, ‘Eusebius’ [[Chronology]] of Felix and Festus’ in <i> [[Journal]] of [[Theological]] [[Studies]] </i> iii. [1901-02] 120; G. H. Morrison, <i> The [[Footsteps]] of the [[Flock]] </i> , 1904. p. 362; M. Jones. <i> St. Paul the [[Orator]] </i> , 1910, p. 212; A. Maclaren, <i> [[Expositions]] </i> : ‘Acts, ch. xiii.-end,’ 1907, p. 322. </p> <p> G. P. Gould. </p>
       
== People's Dictionary of the Bible <ref name="term_70081" /> ==
<p> [[Festus]] (fés'tus). Acts 24:27. [[Porcius]] Festus was appointed by [[Nero]] to succeed [[Felix]] as procurator of Judea, about 60 or 61 a.d. [[Before]] him [[Paul]] had to defend himself, but removed his cause from the provincial tribunal by appeal to Caesar. Acts 24:27; Acts 25:1-27; Acts 26:1-32. Festus administered his government less than two years, and died in [[Judea.]] </p>
       
== Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary <ref name="term_80688" /> ==
<p> Portius [[Festus]] succeeded [[Felix]] in the government of Judea, A.D. 60. Felix his predecessor, to oblige the Jews, when he resigned his government, left St. [[Paul]] in bonds at Caesarea, in Palestine, Acts 24:27 . Festus, at his first coming to Jerusalem, was entreated by the principal [[Jews]] to condemn St. Paul, or to order him up to Jerusalem, they having conspired to assassinate him in the way. Festus answered, that it was not customary with the [[Romans]] to condemn any man without hearing him; but said that he would hear their accusations against St. Paul at Caesarea. From these accusations St. Paul appealed to Caesar, and by this means secured himself from the prosecution of the Jews, and the wicked intentions of Festus, whom they had corrupted. </p>
       
== Whyte's Dictionary of Bible Characters <ref name="term_197264" /> ==
<p> A SINGLE word will sometimes immortalise a man. [[Am]] I my brother's keeper? was all that [[Cain]] said. And, What will you give me? was all that [[Judas]] said. [[One]] of his own words will sometimes, all unintentionally, sum up a man's whole past life. A man will sometimes discover to us his deepest heart, and will seal down on himself his own everlasting destiny, just with one of his own spoken words. [[By]] thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. And as [[Paul]] thus spake for himself, [[Festus]] said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad. [[With]] that one word Festus ever after it is known to us quite as well as if Tacitus himself had written a whole chapter about Festus. This is enough: Festus was that [[Roman]] procurator who said with a loud voice that Paul was beside himself. That one word, with its loud intonation, sets Festus sufficiently before us. </p> <p> Their ever-thoughtful ever-watchful [[Lord]] had taken care to prepare [[His]] apostles for this insult also. The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his Lord. [[If]] they have called the [[Master]] of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them that are of His household. And the loud and unbecoming outbreak of Festus would have staggered Paul much more than it did, had he not recollected at that moment that this very same thing had been said about his Master also. And that not by heathens like [[Pilate]] and Festus, but by those whom the [[Gospels]] call His friends. "And when His friends heard of it they went out to lay hold on Him, for they said, [[He]] is beside Himself." And many of the Jews, as soon as they had heard His sermon on the [[Good]] Shepherd, of all His sermons, had nothing else to say about the [[Preacher]] but this, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye Him? </p> <p> First, then, as to our Master's own madness. It is plain, and beyond dispute, that either He was mad, or they were who so insulted Him. [[For]] He loved nothing that they loved. He hated nothing that they hated. He feared nothing that they feared. Birth, wealth, station, and such like things, without which other men cannot hold up their heads; of all that He emptied Himself, and made Himself of no reputation. And, to complete the contrast and the antipathy, the things that all other men despise and spurn and pity He pronounces to be alone blessed. [[Meekness]] under insults and injuries, patience amid persecutions, poverty of spirit, humbleness of mind, readiness to serve rather than to sit in honour and eat,-these are the only things that have praise and reward of Paul's Master. The things, in short, we would almost as soon die as have them for our portion. And the things we would almost as soon not live at all as not possess, or expect one day to possess, [[Jesus]] [[Christ]] cared nothing at all for such things. [[Absolutely]] nothing. It was no wonder that her neighbours and kinsfolk condoled with His mother who had borne such a son. It was no wonder that they worked incessantly upon His brethren till they also said, Yes; He must be beside himself; let us go and lay hold on him. </p> <p> Now, Paul came as near to his Master's madness as any man has ever come, or ever will come, in this world. For, what made Festus break out in that so indecent way was because Paul both spake and acted on the absolute and eternal truth of the things we speak about with bated breath, and only faintly and inoffensively affect to believe. Paul had been telling his royal auditors what he never wearied telling; his undeserved, unexpected, and unparalleled conversion. His manner of life before his conversion also, when he put this very same word into Festus's mouth. I was exceedingly "mad," he said, against the saints. And at midday, O king, he said, addressing himself with an orator's instinct to Agrippa, a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, and a voice speaking to me in the [[Hebrew]] tongue-and so on, till Festus broke out upon him, as we read. Now, if you had come through the half of Paul's experience, we also would have charged you also with being beside yourself. To have bad such bloody hands; to have been carried through such a conversion; to have had, time after time, such visions and revelations of the Lord; and, especially, to have had such experiences and such attainments in the divine life-certainly, to us you would have been beside yourself. To have seen you actually and in everything counting all things, your very best things, your very virtues and very graces, to be but dung, that you might win Christ; to have seen you continually crucified with Christ; what else could we have made of you? [[How]] else could we have defended ourselves against you, but by calling you mad? </p> <p> But Paul had more than one experience that made him appear mad to other men. And another of those experiences was his unparalleled experience and insight into sin. Paul's sinfulness of his own heart, when he was for a moment left alone with it, always drove him again near to distraction. [[As]] the sight of the ghost drove [[Hamlet]] mad, so did the sight of sin and death drive Paul. And not Paul only, but no less than our Lord Himself. It ever our Lord was almost beside; Himself, it was once at the sight, and at the approach, and at the contact, of sin. We water down the terrible words and say that He was sore amazed and very heavy. But it was far more than that. A terror at sin, a horror and a loathing at sin, took possession of our Lord's soul when He was about to be made sin, till it carried Him away beyond all experience and all imagination of mortal men. And the servant, in his measure, was as his Master in this also. For, as often as Paul's eyes were again opened to see the sinfulness of his own sin, there was only one other thing in heaven or earth that kept his brain from reeling in her distracted globe. And the sight of that other thing only made his brain reel the more. And so it has often been with far smaller men than Paul. When we ourselves see sin; even such a superficial sight of sin as [[God]] in His mercy sometimes gives us; both body and soul reel and stagger till He has to hold us up with His hand. And were it not that there is a fountain filled with something else than rose-water, there would be more people in the pond than the mother of Christian's children. What a mad-house because of the sinfulness of sin the church of God's saints would be were it not for His own blood! And this goes on with Paul till he has a doctrine of himself and of sin, such that he cannot preach it too often for great sinners like himself. [[No]] wonder, with his heart of such an exquisite texture and sensibility, and continually made such an awful battle-ground, no wonder Paul was sometimes nothing short of mad. And why should it be so difficult to believe that there may be men even in these dregs of time; one man here, and another there, who are still patterns to God, and to themselves, and to saints and angels, of the same thing? [[Beside]] themselves, that is, with the dominion and the pollution of sin. Was there not a proverb in the ancient schools that bears with some pungency upon this subject? It is in Latin, and I cannot borrow it at the moment. But I am certain there is a saying somewhere about a great experiment and a great exhibition being made on an insignificant and a worthless subject. </p> <p> I am old enough to remember the time when the universal [[London]] press, led by [[Punch]] and the [[Saturday]] Review, week after week, mocked, trampled on, cried madman at, and tried to silence, young Spurgeon, very much as Festus tried to trample on and silence Paul. But Punch lived to lay a fine tribute on Spurgeon's grave. It was true of Paul, and it was true of Spurgeon, and it will be true, in its measure, of every like-minded minister, as well as of all truly [[Christian]] men, what old [[Matthew]] [[Mead]] says in his [[Almost]] Christian. "If," says old Matthew, "the preaching of Christ is to the world foolishness, then it is no wonder that the disciples of Christ are to the world fools. For, according to the Gospel, a man must die in order to live; he must be empty, who would be full; he must be lost, who would be found; he must have nothing, who would have all things; he must be blind, who would see; he must be condemned, who would be redeemed. He is no true Christian." adds Mead, "who is not the world's fool." And, yet, no! I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. </p>
       
== Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature <ref name="term_15652" /> ==
<p> [[Porcius]] [[Festus]] was the successor of [[Felix]] as the [[Roman]] governor of Judea, to the duties of which office he was appointed by the [[Emperor]] [[Nero]] in the first year of his reign. [[One]] of his first official acts was hearing the case of the [[Apostle]] Paul, who had been left in prison by his predecessor. [[He]] was at least not a thoroughly corrupt judge; for when the [[Jewish]] hierarchy begged him to send for [[Paul]] to Jerusalem, and thus afford an opportunity for his being assassinated on the road, he gave a refusal, promising to investigate the facts at Caesarea, where Paul was in custody, alleging to them, 'it is not the manner of the [[Romans]] to deliver any man to die before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have license to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him' . [[On]] reaching [[Caesarea]] he sent for Paul, heard what he had to say, and, finding that the matters which 'his accusers had against him' were 'questions of their own superstition, and of one [[Jesus]] which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive,' he asked the Apostle whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem, and there be tried, since Festus did not feel himself skilled in such an affair. Paul, doubtless because he was unwilling to put himself into the hands of his implacable enemies, requested 'to be reserved unto the hearing of Augustus,' and was in consequence kept in custody till Festus had an opportunity to send him to Caesar. Agrippa, however, with his wife Bernice, having come to salute Festus on his new appointment, expressed a desire to see and 'hear the man.' [[Accordingly]] Paul was brought before Festus, Agrippa, and Bernice, made a famous speech, and was declared innocent. But having appealed to Caesar, he was sent to Rome. </p> <p> Festus on coming into [[Judea]] found the country infested with robbers, who plundered the villages and set them on fire; the [[Sicarii]] also were numerous. [[Many]] of both classes were captured, and put to death by Festus. He also sent forces, both of horse and foot, to fall upon those that had been seduced by a certain impostor, who promised them deliverance and freedom from the miseries they were under if they would but follow him as far as the wilderness. These troops destroyed both the impostor and his dupes. </p> <p> [[King]] [[Agrippa]] had built himself a splendid dining-room, which was so placed, that, as he reclined at his meals, he commanded a view of what was done in the Temple. The priests, being displeased, erected a wall so as to exclude the monarch's eye. On which Festus took part with Agrippa against the priests, and ordered the wall to be pulled down. The priests appealed to Nero, who suffered the wall to remain, being influenced by his wife Poppæa, 'who was a religious woman.' Festus died shortly afterwards. The manner in which [[Josephus]] speaks is favorable to his character as a governor. </p>
       
== Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature <ref name="term_40055" /> ==
<p> (festal), PORCIUS (Graecized Πόρκιος Φῆστος ), the successor of [[Felix]] as procurator of [[Judaea]] (Acts 24:27; Joseph. Ant. 20:8, 9; War, ii. 14, 1), sent by Nero, probably in the autumn of A. D. 55. (See [[Felix]]). A few weeks after [[Festus]] reached his province he heard the cause of the apostle Paul, who had been left -a prisoner by Felix, in the presence of [[Herod]] [[Agrippa]] II. and [[Bernice]] his sister. Not finding any thing in the apostle worthy of death or of bonds, and being confirmed in this view by his guests, he would have set him free had it not been that [[Paul]] had himself previously (Acts 25:11-12) appealed to Caesar. [[In]] consequence, Festus sent him to Rome. (See [[Paul]]). Judaea was in the same disturbed state during the procuratorship of Festus, which had prevailed through, that of his predecessor., Sicarli, robbers, and magicians were put down with a strong hand (Ant. 20:8, 10). Festus bad a difference with the [[Jews]] at [[Jerusalem]] about a high wall which t-hey had built to prevent Agrippa seeing from his palace into the court of the Temple. [[As]] this also hid the view of the [[Temple]] from the [[Roman]] guard appointed to watch it during the festivals, the procurator took strongly the side of Agrippa, but permitted the Jews to send to [[Rome]] for the decision of the emperor. He, being influenced by Poppaea, who was a proselyte (Joseph. Ant. 20:$, 11), decided in favor of the Jews. Festus probably died in the summer of A. D. 62, and was succeeded by [[Albinus]] (Joseph. War, 20:9, 1). The chronological questions concerning his entrance on the province and his death are too intricate and difficult to be entered on here, but will be found fully discussed by Anger, [[De]] temporum in Act. Apost. ratione, p. 99 sq.; and 'Wieseler, Chronologie der Apostelgeschichte, p. 8999. (See [[Chronology]]). [[Josephus]] implies (War, ii, 14, 1) that Festus was a just as well as an active magistrate. </p>
       
== The Nuttall Encyclopedia <ref name="term_73237" /> ==
<p> The name of a poem by [[Philip [[James]] Bailey]] ( <i> q. v </i> .), first published in 1839, but extended to three times its length since, a poem that on its first production produced no small sensation. </p>
       
==References ==
==References ==
<references>
<references>
<ref name="term_18599"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/bridgeway-bible-dictionary/festus Festus from Bridgeway Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_40204"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/holman-bible-dictionary/festus Festus from Holman Bible Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_45635"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hitchcock-s-bible-names/festus Festus from Hitchcock's Bible Names]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_55885"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hastings-dictionary-of-the-new-testament/festus Festus from Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_70081"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/people-s-dictionary-of-the-bible/festus Festus from People's Dictionary of the Bible]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_80688"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/watson-s-biblical-theological-dictionary/festus Festus from Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_197264"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/whyte-s-dictionary-of-bible-characters/festus Festus from Whyte's Dictionary of Bible Characters]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_15652"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/kitto-s-popular-cyclopedia-of-biblial-literature/festus Festus from Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature]</ref>
<ref name="term_15652"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/kitto-s-popular-cyclopedia-of-biblial-literature/festus Festus from Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_40055"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/cyclopedia-of-biblical-theological-and-ecclesiastical-literature/festus Festus from Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_73237"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/the-nuttall-encyclopedia/festus Festus from The Nuttall Encyclopedia]</ref>
       
</references>
</references>

Revision as of 21:09, 11 October 2021

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary [1]

During his short governorship of Judea (AD 60-62), Festus had to judge the difficult case of Paul. The Jews knew that Festus was inexperienced in Jewish affairs and tried to take advantage of this to win their case against Paul. But Festus was aware of their cunning (Acts 25:1-5). He therefore arranged a proper trial and as a result was convinced of Paul’s innocence. However, wanting to win the goodwill of the Jews, he refused to release Paul. Tired of this constant injustice, Paul appealed to the Emperor (Acts 25:6-12).

Festus now faced a difficulty. He had to send a person to the Emperor, without knowing the offence of which the person was supposedly guilty. He did not understand what made the Jews hate Paul. When Herod Agrippa, an expert on Jewish affairs, arrived at the governor’s palace, Festus explained his problem. He was pleased to give his visitor the opportunity to hear Paul’s case (Acts 25:23-27). Agrippa confirmed that Paul was innocent, but since Paul had appealed to the Emperor, Festus had no alternative but to send him to Rome (Acts 26:32).

Holman Bible Dictionary [2]

Acts 24:27PaulHerod

Hitchcock's Bible Names [3]

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament [4]

No information is forthcoming concerning Porcius Festus, who succeeded Felix in the procuratorship of Judaea , other than that supplied by Acts 24:27; Acts 26:32 and by Josephus, Ant . xx. viii. 9f., ix. 1, and Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) II xiv. 1. According to Josephus, Festus set himself with vigour and success to restore order to his province, which he found distracted with sedition and overrun by bands of robbers. ‘He caught the greatest part of the robbers, and destroyed a great many of them.’ More particularly it is added that he ‘sent forces, both horsemen and footmen, to fall upon those that had been seduced by a certain impostor, who promised them deliverance and freedom from the miseries they were under, if they would but follow him as far as the wilderness. Accordingly, those forces that were sent destroyed both him that had deluded them and those that were his followers also.’ The only other incident in the administration of Festus which Josephus relates shows him, in association with King Agrippa II., withstanding ‘the chief men of Jerusalem’ ( Ant . xx. viii. 11), and permitting an appeal to Caesar-an interesting combination in view of the narrative in Acts. The circumstances, as stated by Josephus, were those: Agrippa had made an addition to his palace at Jerusalem, which enabled him to observe from his dining-hall what was done in the Temple. Thereupon ‘the chief men of Jerusalem’ erected a wall to obstruct the view from the palace. Festus supported Agrippa in demanding the removal of this wall, but yielded to the request of the Jews that the whole matter might be referred to Nero, who upheld the appeal and reversed the judgment of his procurator.

Josephus evidently regards Festus as a wise and righteous official, affording an agreeable contrast to Albinus, his successor, of whom he says that ‘there was not any sort of wickedness that could be named but he had a hand in it’ ( Bellum Judaicum (Josephus) II. xiv. 1).

Turning to the Book of Acts, we find that there, while justice is done to the promptness with which Festus addressed himself to his duties and to the lip-homage he was ready to pay to ‘the custom of the Romans,’ he appears in a less favourable light, and the outstanding fact meets us of the estimate which St. Paul formed of him. St. Paul preferred to take his chance with Nero to leaving his cause to be disposed of by this fussy, plausible official. ‘I appeal unto Caesar,’ is the lasting condemnation of Festus. He was persuaded that the Apostle was innocent of the ‘many and grievous, charges’ brought against him, yet he was quite prepared to sacrifice him, if thereby he ‘could gain favour with the Jews’; hence the preposterous proposal of a re-trial at Jerusalem. The noble use which St. Paul made shortly after of the opportunity given him by Festus to speak for himself before Agrippa and Berenice should not blind us to the callousness of the man who planned that scene with all its pomp and circumstance, and deliberately exploited a prisoner in bonds for the entertainment of his Herodian guests. Festus died after holding his office for a brief term-‘scarcely two years’ (Schürer, History of the Jewish People (Eng. tr. of GJV).] I. ii. [1890] 185). See articleDates for discussion of the chronology of the procuratorship of Festus.

Literature.-S. Buss, Roman Law and History in the NT , 1901, p. 390; C. H. Turner, ‘Eusebius’ Chronology of Felix and Festus’ in Journal of Theological Studies iii. [1901-02] 120; G. H. Morrison, The Footsteps of the Flock , 1904. p. 362; M. Jones. St. Paul the Orator , 1910, p. 212; A. Maclaren, Expositions  : ‘Acts, ch. xiii.-end,’ 1907, p. 322.

G. P. Gould.

People's Dictionary of the Bible [5]

Festus (fés'tus). Acts 24:27. Porcius Festus was appointed by Nero to succeed Felix as procurator of Judea, about 60 or 61 a.d. Before him Paul had to defend himself, but removed his cause from the provincial tribunal by appeal to Caesar. Acts 24:27; Acts 25:1-27; Acts 26:1-32. Festus administered his government less than two years, and died in Judea.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary [6]

Portius Festus succeeded Felix in the government of Judea, A.D. 60. Felix his predecessor, to oblige the Jews, when he resigned his government, left St. Paul in bonds at Caesarea, in Palestine, Acts 24:27 . Festus, at his first coming to Jerusalem, was entreated by the principal Jews to condemn St. Paul, or to order him up to Jerusalem, they having conspired to assassinate him in the way. Festus answered, that it was not customary with the Romans to condemn any man without hearing him; but said that he would hear their accusations against St. Paul at Caesarea. From these accusations St. Paul appealed to Caesar, and by this means secured himself from the prosecution of the Jews, and the wicked intentions of Festus, whom they had corrupted.

Whyte's Dictionary of Bible Characters [7]

A SINGLE word will sometimes immortalise a man. Am I my brother's keeper? was all that Cain said. And, What will you give me? was all that Judas said. One of his own words will sometimes, all unintentionally, sum up a man's whole past life. A man will sometimes discover to us his deepest heart, and will seal down on himself his own everlasting destiny, just with one of his own spoken words. By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. And as Paul thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad. With that one word Festus ever after it is known to us quite as well as if Tacitus himself had written a whole chapter about Festus. This is enough: Festus was that Roman procurator who said with a loud voice that Paul was beside himself. That one word, with its loud intonation, sets Festus sufficiently before us.

Their ever-thoughtful ever-watchful Lord had taken care to prepare His apostles for this insult also. The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them that are of His household. And the loud and unbecoming outbreak of Festus would have staggered Paul much more than it did, had he not recollected at that moment that this very same thing had been said about his Master also. And that not by heathens like Pilate and Festus, but by those whom the Gospels call His friends. "And when His friends heard of it they went out to lay hold on Him, for they said, He is beside Himself." And many of the Jews, as soon as they had heard His sermon on the Good Shepherd, of all His sermons, had nothing else to say about the Preacher but this, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye Him?

First, then, as to our Master's own madness. It is plain, and beyond dispute, that either He was mad, or they were who so insulted Him. For He loved nothing that they loved. He hated nothing that they hated. He feared nothing that they feared. Birth, wealth, station, and such like things, without which other men cannot hold up their heads; of all that He emptied Himself, and made Himself of no reputation. And, to complete the contrast and the antipathy, the things that all other men despise and spurn and pity He pronounces to be alone blessed. Meekness under insults and injuries, patience amid persecutions, poverty of spirit, humbleness of mind, readiness to serve rather than to sit in honour and eat,-these are the only things that have praise and reward of Paul's Master. The things, in short, we would almost as soon die as have them for our portion. And the things we would almost as soon not live at all as not possess, or expect one day to possess, Jesus Christ cared nothing at all for such things. Absolutely nothing. It was no wonder that her neighbours and kinsfolk condoled with His mother who had borne such a son. It was no wonder that they worked incessantly upon His brethren till they also said, Yes; He must be beside himself; let us go and lay hold on him.

Now, Paul came as near to his Master's madness as any man has ever come, or ever will come, in this world. For, what made Festus break out in that so indecent way was because Paul both spake and acted on the absolute and eternal truth of the things we speak about with bated breath, and only faintly and inoffensively affect to believe. Paul had been telling his royal auditors what he never wearied telling; his undeserved, unexpected, and unparalleled conversion. His manner of life before his conversion also, when he put this very same word into Festus's mouth. I was exceedingly "mad," he said, against the saints. And at midday, O king, he said, addressing himself with an orator's instinct to Agrippa, a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, and a voice speaking to me in the Hebrew tongue-and so on, till Festus broke out upon him, as we read. Now, if you had come through the half of Paul's experience, we also would have charged you also with being beside yourself. To have bad such bloody hands; to have been carried through such a conversion; to have had, time after time, such visions and revelations of the Lord; and, especially, to have had such experiences and such attainments in the divine life-certainly, to us you would have been beside yourself. To have seen you actually and in everything counting all things, your very best things, your very virtues and very graces, to be but dung, that you might win Christ; to have seen you continually crucified with Christ; what else could we have made of you? How else could we have defended ourselves against you, but by calling you mad?

But Paul had more than one experience that made him appear mad to other men. And another of those experiences was his unparalleled experience and insight into sin. Paul's sinfulness of his own heart, when he was for a moment left alone with it, always drove him again near to distraction. As the sight of the ghost drove Hamlet mad, so did the sight of sin and death drive Paul. And not Paul only, but no less than our Lord Himself. It ever our Lord was almost beside; Himself, it was once at the sight, and at the approach, and at the contact, of sin. We water down the terrible words and say that He was sore amazed and very heavy. But it was far more than that. A terror at sin, a horror and a loathing at sin, took possession of our Lord's soul when He was about to be made sin, till it carried Him away beyond all experience and all imagination of mortal men. And the servant, in his measure, was as his Master in this also. For, as often as Paul's eyes were again opened to see the sinfulness of his own sin, there was only one other thing in heaven or earth that kept his brain from reeling in her distracted globe. And the sight of that other thing only made his brain reel the more. And so it has often been with far smaller men than Paul. When we ourselves see sin; even such a superficial sight of sin as God in His mercy sometimes gives us; both body and soul reel and stagger till He has to hold us up with His hand. And were it not that there is a fountain filled with something else than rose-water, there would be more people in the pond than the mother of Christian's children. What a mad-house because of the sinfulness of sin the church of God's saints would be were it not for His own blood! And this goes on with Paul till he has a doctrine of himself and of sin, such that he cannot preach it too often for great sinners like himself. No wonder, with his heart of such an exquisite texture and sensibility, and continually made such an awful battle-ground, no wonder Paul was sometimes nothing short of mad. And why should it be so difficult to believe that there may be men even in these dregs of time; one man here, and another there, who are still patterns to God, and to themselves, and to saints and angels, of the same thing? Beside themselves, that is, with the dominion and the pollution of sin. Was there not a proverb in the ancient schools that bears with some pungency upon this subject? It is in Latin, and I cannot borrow it at the moment. But I am certain there is a saying somewhere about a great experiment and a great exhibition being made on an insignificant and a worthless subject.

I am old enough to remember the time when the universal London press, led by Punch and the Saturday Review, week after week, mocked, trampled on, cried madman at, and tried to silence, young Spurgeon, very much as Festus tried to trample on and silence Paul. But Punch lived to lay a fine tribute on Spurgeon's grave. It was true of Paul, and it was true of Spurgeon, and it will be true, in its measure, of every like-minded minister, as well as of all truly Christian men, what old Matthew Mead says in his Almost Christian. "If," says old Matthew, "the preaching of Christ is to the world foolishness, then it is no wonder that the disciples of Christ are to the world fools. For, according to the Gospel, a man must die in order to live; he must be empty, who would be full; he must be lost, who would be found; he must have nothing, who would have all things; he must be blind, who would see; he must be condemned, who would be redeemed. He is no true Christian." adds Mead, "who is not the world's fool." And, yet, no! I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature [8]

Porcius Festus was the successor of Felix as the Roman governor of Judea, to the duties of which office he was appointed by the Emperor Nero in the first year of his reign. One of his first official acts was hearing the case of the Apostle Paul, who had been left in prison by his predecessor. He was at least not a thoroughly corrupt judge; for when the Jewish hierarchy begged him to send for Paul to Jerusalem, and thus afford an opportunity for his being assassinated on the road, he gave a refusal, promising to investigate the facts at Caesarea, where Paul was in custody, alleging to them, 'it is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have license to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him' . On reaching Caesarea he sent for Paul, heard what he had to say, and, finding that the matters which 'his accusers had against him' were 'questions of their own superstition, and of one Jesus which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive,' he asked the Apostle whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem, and there be tried, since Festus did not feel himself skilled in such an affair. Paul, doubtless because he was unwilling to put himself into the hands of his implacable enemies, requested 'to be reserved unto the hearing of Augustus,' and was in consequence kept in custody till Festus had an opportunity to send him to Caesar. Agrippa, however, with his wife Bernice, having come to salute Festus on his new appointment, expressed a desire to see and 'hear the man.' Accordingly Paul was brought before Festus, Agrippa, and Bernice, made a famous speech, and was declared innocent. But having appealed to Caesar, he was sent to Rome.

Festus on coming into Judea found the country infested with robbers, who plundered the villages and set them on fire; the Sicarii also were numerous. Many of both classes were captured, and put to death by Festus. He also sent forces, both of horse and foot, to fall upon those that had been seduced by a certain impostor, who promised them deliverance and freedom from the miseries they were under if they would but follow him as far as the wilderness. These troops destroyed both the impostor and his dupes.

King Agrippa had built himself a splendid dining-room, which was so placed, that, as he reclined at his meals, he commanded a view of what was done in the Temple. The priests, being displeased, erected a wall so as to exclude the monarch's eye. On which Festus took part with Agrippa against the priests, and ordered the wall to be pulled down. The priests appealed to Nero, who suffered the wall to remain, being influenced by his wife Poppæa, 'who was a religious woman.' Festus died shortly afterwards. The manner in which Josephus speaks is favorable to his character as a governor.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [9]

(festal), PORCIUS (Graecized Πόρκιος Φῆστος ), the successor of Felix as procurator of Judaea (Acts 24:27; Joseph. Ant. 20:8, 9; War, ii. 14, 1), sent by Nero, probably in the autumn of A. D. 55. (See Felix). A few weeks after Festus reached his province he heard the cause of the apostle Paul, who had been left -a prisoner by Felix, in the presence of Herod Agrippa II. and Bernice his sister. Not finding any thing in the apostle worthy of death or of bonds, and being confirmed in this view by his guests, he would have set him free had it not been that Paul had himself previously (Acts 25:11-12) appealed to Caesar. In consequence, Festus sent him to Rome. (See Paul). Judaea was in the same disturbed state during the procuratorship of Festus, which had prevailed through, that of his predecessor., Sicarli, robbers, and magicians were put down with a strong hand (Ant. 20:8, 10). Festus bad a difference with the Jews at Jerusalem about a high wall which t-hey had built to prevent Agrippa seeing from his palace into the court of the Temple. As this also hid the view of the Temple from the Roman guard appointed to watch it during the festivals, the procurator took strongly the side of Agrippa, but permitted the Jews to send to Rome for the decision of the emperor. He, being influenced by Poppaea, who was a proselyte (Joseph. Ant. 20:$, 11), decided in favor of the Jews. Festus probably died in the summer of A. D. 62, and was succeeded by Albinus (Joseph. War, 20:9, 1). The chronological questions concerning his entrance on the province and his death are too intricate and difficult to be entered on here, but will be found fully discussed by Anger, De temporum in Act. Apost. ratione, p. 99 sq.; and 'Wieseler, Chronologie der Apostelgeschichte, p. 8999. (See Chronology). Josephus implies (War, ii, 14, 1) that Festus was a just as well as an active magistrate.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia [10]

The name of a poem by [[Philip James Bailey]] ( q. v .), first published in 1839, but extended to three times its length since, a poem that on its first production produced no small sensation.

References