DIVIDE AND CONQUER

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”

When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.)

There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. “We find nothing wrong with this man,” they said. “What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.

The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”

Acts 23 :6-11

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Divide and conquer.

It’s been a strategy used for victory for many, many years.

The idea behind it is for one powerful entity to divide another entity it wants to overcome into smaller pieces and then each of those separate pieces is conquered until the undivided entity completely takes over the other.

Jesus even had these words of wisdom about the matter of division and how it can lead to downfall, He said in the third chapter of Mark’s Gospel:

“If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” Mark 3:24-25 

Why mention this as we continue to study the 23rd chapter of the Book of Acts?

Because as we see in today’s passage, Paul utilizes the divide and conquer tactic to perfection as he continues a standoff with the Sanhedrin. For after he offers his apology for threatening the high priest, he immediately pivots to testify more about what he believed saying:

“My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.”

It was a shrewd move of the highest degree for a couple of reasons.

First, Paul knew the Sanhedrin was composed of Jewish leaders from different factions which held very different doctrinal beliefs.

The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the body and the existence and presence of angels and spirits. Conversely, the Sadducees rejected all of these things. It was a recipe made for division if just the right ingredients were added.

And so we find Paul, the master ideological chef, first identifying with one side over the other. For not only was he a Jew but he was a Pharisee, a Pharisee who was also a Christian who believed in the resurrection of the dead, the reason he states that he was on trial in the first place.

Well, this lit the fuse of the polity difference keg and a dispute exploded between the Pharisees and Sadducees, leading to instant division.

On one hand, the Pharisees now suddenly viewed Paul as innocent. He had not only identified with them but shared an ideal they both held. The Pharisees posed a concern that an angel or spirit actually did speak to Paul.

The Sadducees were obviously not on board with that at all and the dispute escalated to the point where the Roman commander feared Paul would be “torn to pieces” and so he “ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.”

And just like that, Paul was free. The Sanhedrin was more of a threat in and unto itself than to him because of the inner division in their ranks. Paul had survived his encounter with the Roman authorities and the Sanhedrin.

So what happened next?

Well, fresh off of one successful challenge, we finds Paul receive yet another one from the Lord.

For the following night, we read where the Lord “stood near Paul” and said to him:

“Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”

In other words, Paul’s work was not yet complete. And while there was division within the ranks of the Jewish religious leaders, no such schism existed between the Lord and his faithful apostle. They were lock-stepped with one another and this was obviously critical to Paul’s past and present success, just as it would be for the successes yet to come.

The Lord was with him and he was going to need it for although he had passed his test in Jerusalem, an even greater test awaited him as he soon would find himself testifying for the cause of Jesus in the pagan hotbed of Rome.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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