The Courage of Paul's Nephew

I’m impressed by the story of Paul’s nephew recounted in Acts 23.  After Paul was arrested by the Romans in Jerusalem because of the uproar of the Jews over him, over forty of the Jews “banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.”  With this goal they “came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to morrow, as though ye would inquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him.” This was a secret combination just like the Book of Mormon describes.  But their plan was thwarted by “Paul’s sister’s son” who when he “heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul.”  I wonder how he heard of the plot which surely must have been a secret among those who made it.  Perhaps he had snuck into their meetings or secretly pretended to be one of them, but likely he was incurring no small danger in discovering and then revealing this plan.  He went to the chief captain and disclosed everything he knew of the plot, and the danger of the situation was confirmed by the injunction of the Roman to him: “See thou tell no man that thou hast shewed these things to me” (Acts 23:12-16, 22).  It was thanks to this information that they were able to get Paul out of the city in the middle of the night and up to Caesarea away from the mob bent on his death.  We don’t know how old this nephew was, but he was a “young man,” and so he was likely in his late teens, perhaps not to unlike the stripling warriors. Like them, he did “think more upon the liberty of [his] fathers than [he] did upon [his life]” (Alma 56:47).  We don’t know what happened to him afterwards or if those conspirators who ever found out about what he did.  Surely if they were ready to kill Paul they were ready to kill him as well who saved Paul’s life.  Though we don’t know his name, he stands as a great example of courage to do what was right despite the risks. 

                This account reminds me of a similar story in our dispensation near the end of the Prophet Joseph’s life.  In the spring of 1844 William Law and other dissenters met together to plan the demise of the prophet, and a man named Emer Harris and his nineteen-year-old son Denison were invited to their meetings.  Emer told the prophet who counseled him not to go but that Denison should go and learn what was happening.  He went with his friend Robert Scott and reported back to Joseph each time they went.  Before the third meeting Joseph told them, “Be strictly reserved, and make no promises to conspire against me or any portion of the community.”  They were warned that they could be killed, but they went out of faithfulness to the Prophet.  In that meeting they were asked to make an oath against Joseph, but they refused to do so.  When the men threatened to kill them, they still held their ground and refused to join in their secret combination.  Ultimately they weren’t killed but were threatened again and let go, immediately reporting back to the Prophet.  They were true to their faith and risked their lives to help protect the life of Joseph—following the Savior’s injunction to Oliver to “stand by my servant Joseph, faithfully, in whatsoever difficult circumstances he may be for the word’s sake”—just as the nephew of Paul worked amidst a plot of death against his uncle to help protect that great ancient apostle’s life (Doctrine and Covenants 6:18).  Their actions of courage and love epitomized this description given us by the Savior: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).  We may not have the opportunity to risk our lives for the Prophet, but we can like these young men stand by him and his words faithfully in the midst of the cacophony of voices against the word of God in the world today.