23:33 The governor (procurator) of Judea at this time was Antonius Felix (52-59 A.D.).890Pontius Pilate occupied this office from 26-36 A.D. Felix had a reputation for being a harsh ruler who had risen from a lowly background. The Roman historian Tacitus described him as follows.
". . . Antonius Felix, practiced every kind of cruelty and lust, wielding the power of [a] king with all the instincts of a slave."891
He was apparently a freed man, someone who had been a bondsman but had received his freedom from an authoritative Roman who in this case was Emperor Claudius' mother, Antonia. He was the first slave ever to become the governor of a Roman province.892Felix rose to power as a result of his influential brother, his self-serving political maneuvering, and his three calculating marriages. He normally dealt very severely with Jews, especially the dagger-men, the terrorists who sought to overthrow Roman rule by assassinating key Romans and pro-Roman Jews (cf. 21:38).
23:34-35 Felix inquired concerning Paul's home province for the following reason. If Paul had come from an area in the empire that had its own ruler in addition to a Roman governor, that local authority had a right to witness the proceedings (cf. Luke 23:6-12). Cilicia was not such a place, however, so Felix could deal with Paul himself. He needed to hear the testimony of Paul's accusers, of course. Consequently Felix kept Paul in the governor's palace, the Praetorium, which Herod the Great had built, until those Jews arrived and he could conduct a hearing. The governor's palace had cells for prisoners. Paul would have been fairly comfortable there since he was a Roman citizen who had not even been charged formally with a crime.
