Acts 22:23

Acts 22:23. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air. The cries were exclamations and ejaculations of rage and indignation, probably for the most part inarticulate. The throwing off their clothes was not, as some have supposed, a preparation for the stoning of the blasphemer, as in the case of the martyr Stephen, where we read of the clothes of those sharing in the deed of blood being taken off and laid at the feet of a young man whose name was Saul. There could have been no idea of stoning now in the case of Paul, who was in the custody of the Roman authority. The tearing off the garments on the present occasion was simply, as was the act of throwing dust into the air, an oriental way of giving some outward expression of their uncontrollable rage. These acts, which proclaimed the bitter indignation of the brethren and fathers who were standing near enough to hear Paul's words, were well calculated to inflame the populace who were crowding doubtless into the temple area.