“But Festus willing to doe the Iewes a pleasure, answered Paul, and said, Wilt thou goe vp to Hierusalem, and there be iudged of these things before me?”
1611 King James Version (KJV)
25:9 Art thou willing to go up to Jerusalem - Festus could have ordered this without asking Paul. But God secretly overruled the whole, that he might have an occasion of appealing to Rome.
Ac 25:9 Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure. He desired to avoid a difficulty with them at the very beginning of his government. He therefore proposed to Paul to go to Jerusalem for trial. This was the request of the Jews. The charges were in great part concerning a violation of the Jewish law, and the Sanhedrin claimed jurisdiction in that case. But Paul was a Roman, hence Festus could not, without his consent, send him up to the stronghold of his enemies. He perhaps thought that Paul would appeal to his rights as a citizen, and that would prevent the necessity of a refusal to comply with the wishes of the Jews.