The Response of the People Part 1 of 2

by John Lowe
(Woodruff, S.C.)

March 16, 2016
Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles
By: Tom Lowe


Lesson: IV.E.4: The Response of the People (Acts 22:22-29)


ACTS 22:22-29 (KJV)

22 And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.
23 And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air,
24 The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.
25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?
26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.
27 Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea.
28 And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.
29 Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.

Introduction
The narrative following Paul’s address is extremely dramatic and filled with suspense. At first, it looked once more as though Paul might be torn into shreds by the Jewish mob (22), but he was again rescued by the Roman tribune and taken safely into the barracks. But then the tide turned against Paul again as the Tribune decided to examine him by the cruel Roman method of scourging (24). Again Paul was rescued—this time by an appeal to his Roman citizenship (25-29).


COMMENTARY

22 And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.

AND THEY GAVE HIM AUDIENCE UNTO THIS WORD. What lay behind the desire on Paul’s part to speak to these people? Surely it was a great and passionate craving to persuade his brethren after the flesh. Why else would he ask to speak to this infuriated mob? His greatest desire was for the Jewish people, that they might yet come to an understanding of the truth.

As soon as Paul mentioned the detested word Gentiles they gave vent to their zealous rage, which had become increasingly intense, because it had been held back ever since Paul was rescued from the crowd in the courtyard, by soldiers. They yelled, they shouted, they despised Paul, saying that he was “not fit to live.” They were beside themselves. For Paul to go minister to the Gentiles was unpardonable; that he should go to them and tell them that the One they had crucified, was the Messiah and the Savior of the world, the Lord from heaven, was to them the crime of crimes. Paul was a traitor.

“AWAY WITH SUCH A FELLOW FROM THE EARTH!” they screamed. They were through listening to anything Paul had to say. They would hear no more of this blasphemy “At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, (7:57),and the opportunity was gone for Paul to defend himself—had that been his desire—against the specific charge that he had “brought Greeks into the temple area” (21:28b). But in any case, that charge was only incidental. The Jews real objection, that he had talked “against our people and our law and this place” (21:28a), had been sufficiently borne out by what they had heard.

Paul should have known better than to refer to his “Gentile” witness. It was ultimately Paul’s openness to Gentiles that got him in trouble with the crowd. “They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple”; 21:29). In those days of rising Jewish nationalism, Paul’s law-free Gentile mission seemed to be disloyal to all that was Jewish “They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs” (21:21). It was no surprise that the crowd resumed its cry of “away with him.” “The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!” (21:36).This time they escalated their outcry, adding that such a scoundrel had no right even to exist.

23 And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air,

It was good for Paul that the courtyard of the temple was paved. Had there been stones lying around, they would have been used to stone him to death then and there. As it was, they expressed their abhorrence of him vividly enough through wild gestures of outrage. They tore off their outer garments and flung them in the air. They scooped up dust and flung it about. The multitude was a mob once again. At any moment it could be expected to storm the stairway in an effort to seize Paul. The Tribune and the soldiers must have been astonished by this sudden outburst of concentrated hate by a crowd that, moments before, had been listening to their prisoner with riveted attention. Their astonishment must have been increased by the fact that they had not been able to understand a word of the language in which he had addressed the crowd.

No one is sure what they did with their cloaks. They either tore them as a gesture of horror and blasphemy (14:14), or they threw them off their bodies as if ready to stone Paul (see 7:54-60; the stoning of Stephen), or they shook them out as if trying to rid themselves of the contamination of his blasphemy, or they waved them wildly in the air to express their collective outrage. Neither is the symbolism of casting dust in the air altogether clear. It may have been a gesture of horror at perceived blasphemy, or it may have been that they hurled dust at Paul for lack of something more solid from the temple courtyard. Throwing dust on one’s head was a sign of mourning; removing it from one’s feet meant removing what was unholy (13:51); they may also shake dust from their removed garments to repudiate Paul (18:6).

24 The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.

It was not a safe place for Paul, and Lysias, recognizing that, quickly ordered him to be taken into the barracks{3]. The Tribune still did not have any idea of what the crowd had against Paul “Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks” (21:34). Paul’s address had clarified nothing for him, particularly since it was in Aramaic. However, when the Tribune saw them in their mad frenzy, he concluded that Paul must have been guilty of some very serious crime; perhaps he thought Paul had intentionally inflamed the crowd.

We can sympathize with the exasperated tribune. He had given Paul permission to speak, and the miracle had happened. Paul had quieted the mob with a gesture and a word, and the tribune was just congratulating himself that all was well when the tumult erupted again. He knew he had no hope of getting anywhere with that yelling mob. At any moment it might go on a rampage, and he himself might be in trouble with his superiors. He must get at the truth; therefore, he decided to use the standard Roman method of torture for getting the truth out of a slave or a common “non-Roman” citizen. A few strokes of the dreaded flagellum and Paul would talk fast enough. This form of torture could kill a man or leave him permanently crippled. This was the punishment Christ received (Matthew 27:26), leaving Him unable to carry His cross.

As the uproar outside the fortress intensified, the Tribune gave the order; “scourge him.” This was a particularly cruel manner of scourging. It was a much more severe manner of beating than beating with rods, which Paul and Silas underwent at Philippi (16:22, 37; 2 Corinthians 11:25). It was not uncommon for the victim to die as a result of the flagellum. Luke made it clear that the command to whip Paul was not for punishment; but rather, to obtain information.

Some may say, “Shouldn’t he have suffered, even if it meant martyrdom?” No; because martyrdom is only of value when it cannot be avoided. A cheap martyrdom never produces any great results.

25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?

Paul was no stranger to beatings. He had been beaten with lectors’ rods, and he had been lashed (whipped) by the Jews, but the scourge was something else. The scourge was a fearful thing. It consisted of leather straps weighted with sharp bits of iron and bone, bound to a stout wooden handle. In the hands of a brawny soldier, it could tear out great lumps of flesh. A flying piece of bone or metal could blind or cripple a man for life. It took a very tough man indeed to survive a thorough scourging.