His Nephew was the Angel

1.  Wingless Angels

Divine deliverance does not always come from above; sometimes it comes from below, which makes it no less divine.  Angels are not always winged, so we miss them many times (Hebrews 13:2; Acts 1:10; 24:4).

So much has been said and heard about St Paul, the world-famous preacher, sometimes in the image of Melchisedec, “Without father, without mother” (Hebrews7:3), without a wife, without biological children.  But Paul was a man, and he had a sister.  That is one part of the story.

The Jews had plotted to kill Paul, with over forty men binding themselves with a terrible curse to eat or drink nothing until they shall have killed him.  The plot was overheard by a nephew of Paul, the son of Paul’s sister, who went in and told Paul where he was being held in protective custody in the Roman military barracks near the Temple (Acts 23:16-22).  This simple story throws up many issues.

Paul was a man, who came from a family he knew and a family that knew him.  He was not so ‘spiritual’ as to have had no time for family and friends. They wouldn’t have been there for him at this critical time when he needed men, not angels.  Very anointed as Paul was, it was that child, not an angel, who warned him of the danger that awaited him the following morning.  It was that ‘revelation’ from a child, not the usual voice from heaven, that saved Paul from certain death. That nephew was his angel of deliverance from the present danger.

2.  My Odd Questions

Let’s consider some odd questions together: How did that child know that Saul was his uncle?  How did he know where Paul, the global preacher, was to be met at that time?  Why did he take the pains to go into that castle to expose the plot, at the risk of his own life?  What did his mother tell him about her brother Paul?  What if Paul had been one of those super-spiritual heroes of God who have no time to waste with mundane family matters and family members?  What if there had been an irresolvable rift between brother and sister, which the mother had transmitted to her son?  What if the ‘man of God’ had been too up to be reached or bothered by lesser folks below?

Paul was born in Tarsus, in the province of Cicily (Acts 21:39; 22:3), so we could suppose that the family still lived there, some 600 miles (965 km) from Jerusalem, almost a month’s journey by foot.  Did this “child” travel from so far away just to be close to his uncle in his crisis?  Or he already lived in Jerusalem, studying under a rabbi, like Paul had done under Gamaliel in the same city?

Suppose Paul had dismissed that child’s efforts as ‘faithless fearmongering’?  Suppose Paul had said he was being protected by angels of God, and therefore did not need to be bothered about what men, especially ‘children,’ had to say about his security?

 3. The Cherub

That this was indeed a child is suggested by a few details.  Firstly, he was taken by the hand, by the Roman officer to whom the case was referred.  It is not usual to take adults and lead them by hand, protectively or affectionately.  Secondly, the child was advised not to tell anyone else about what he had leaked to Paul and to the army commander.  Such precautions should be common sense to an adult, but that child had to be properly instructed.  Thirdly, the boy may have been present where the plot was being discussed, and the plotters hadn’t cared, because he was just a child after all, not a threat.  They could not suspect that that was the ‘child’ who was going to spoil their plot.  Mind what you do or say before ‘children.’  These days, even walls hear.

From The Preacher’s diary,

January 26, 2026.