Matthew Poole and continuators on Acts 23:21

21 But do not thou yield unto them: For there lie in wait for him of them mo then fourty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him: and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee.

This the young man desires out of his care for his Uncle's (Paul's) preservation, as also touched with the horrour of the Fact if it should have been executed; and howsoever by this means he delivers his own Soul, having done his utmost to hinder it.

The Match is laid, the ha[illegible: 1 letter]d is as it were lifted up, nothing is wanting to Paul's destruction, but the chief Captain's consent, which the Iews assuredly expected, it being but a small courtesy to grant them, to examine a Prisoner, especially such an one as upon their complaint was committed in a Case cognoscible by them: But, Deus e machina, Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought: speak the word, and it shall not stand, for God is with us, Isa. 8.10.