College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Acts 22:22-30
d.
The response of the mob. Paul imprisoned. Acts 22:22-30.
And they gave him audience unto this word; and they lifted up their voice, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.
And as they cried out, and threw off their garments, and cast dust into the air,
the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, bidding that he should be examined by scourging, that he might know for what cause they so shouted against him.
And when they had tied him up with the thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?
And when the centurion heard it, he went to the chief captain and told him, saying, What art thou about to do? for this man is a Roman.
And the chief captain came and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? And he said, Yea.
And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this citizenship. And Paul said, But I am a Roman born.
They then that were about to examine him straightway departed from him: and the chief captain also was afraid when he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
But on the morrow desiring to know the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him, and commanded the chief priests and all the council to come together, and brought Paul down and set him before them.
Acts 22:22-23 But their prejudice was so deep-seated that nothing either logical or divine would free them from it. Then began one of the most odious and despicable spectacles which the world can witness, the spectacle of an Oriental mob, hideous with impotent rage, howling, yelling, cursing, gnashing their teeth, flinging about their arms, waving and tossing their blue and red robes, casting dust into the air by handfuls, with all the furious gesticulations of an uncontrolled fanaticism (Farrar, page 535).
Away with such a fellow (a word of the deepest contempt) from the earth. He contaminates the earth with his presence.
The chief captain simply repeated his former command, probably in disgust at a waste of time. Take him into the castle and when you have him there examine him with -flagellum-'. Maybe that will make him -take sense-'.
Acts 22:24-28 The tribune must know why these many men shouted against this one so.
The soldiers at once tied his hands together, stripped his back bare, and bent him forward into the position for that horrid and often fatal examination by torture which, not far from that very spot, his Lord had undergone.
Thrice before, on that scarred back had Paul felt the fasces of Roman lictors; five times the nine-and-thirty strokes of Jewish thongs; here was a new form of agony, the whipthe horrible flagellumwhich the Romans employed to force by torture the confession of truth. (ibid.)
But even as they tightened the ropes on his hands, Paul turned to the captain who stood by watching the proceedings and asked in a quiet voice, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned or untried?
This question had more than one thought in it for it was not only strictly against the Roman law to beat a Roman citizen before a trial but it was also strictly forbidden to put bonds on such a one.
This question stopped the action of the soldiers immediately and the captain hurried to the tribune with the blunt question: What art thou about to do?For this man is a Roman.
Claudius Lysias probably began to wonder just who this stranger was. He thought him to be an Egyptian and he spoke Greekwhen he gave him permission to speak he spoke Hebrewwhen he wanted him examined he turned out to be a Roman. With these thoughts in his mind, the chief captain approached Paul and asked this question, Tell me, art thou a Roman? Perhaps looking up and down the ordinary looking figure and clothes of Paul he could see that this man was a Jew and a poor one at that. How could he be a Roman citizen?
In a day when the honor of being a citizen was an expensive one this army captain had a right to wonder.
I know how much it cost me to get this citizenship, he remarked, in a dubious tone of voice. But I have been a citizen from my birth, was the calm answer to his unexpressed suspicion. (ibid 537).
855.
How did Paul imagine he would convince these Jews?
856.
What does Farrar say about the mob?
857.
How did the tribune propose to find out what this one had done?
858.
Describe the examination Paul was about to receive.
859.
What three types of beatings were given Paul?
860.
What two Roman laws were violated here?
861.
Show the real perplexity of Claudius Lysias.
862.
Why emphasize the thou in the question of the tribune to Paul?
Acts 22:29-30 Paul's claim was accepted and the whips were dropped and the soldiers who were to lay on the lash left him.
But this only served to heighten the trouble of the chief captainhe had captured this man, indeed he had saved him from death, he had bound him, he could not go back on his decision, but who was he and what had he done? The law of Rome had been violated. and he had a prisoner on his hands of whom he knew nothing. Something must be done. It was the Jews that called for his death, let them explain the charges against him.
So sending word to the Sanhedrin to gather, he loosed Paul and brought him on the morrow to stand before the highest court of Jewish law.
863.
How did the tribune become a Roman citizen?
864.
What problem did Lysias hope to solve by bringing Paul before the Sanhedrin?