“Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him against Paul, and besought him,”
The chief priests and the Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul - the Jerusalem power structure mobilizes immediately, understanding that a new governor might be more malleable. Their petition is not judicial argument but political leverage, appealing to Festus's desire to 'favor the Jews.' Luke shows how religious authority can become corrupted into machinery for persecution, even as it maintains the forms of law.
Church Fathers on Acts 25:2
Now when Festus had come into the province, after three days he ascended from Cæsarea to Jerusalem. Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him against Paul, and besought him, and desired favor against him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying wait in the way to kill him. Acts 25:1-3 Here now God's providence interposed, not permitting the governor to do this: for it was natural that he having just come to the government would wish to gratify them:…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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