mh_parser/vol_split/44 - Acts/Chapter 22.xml

<div2 id="Acts.xxiii" n="xxiii" next="Acts.xxiv" prev="Acts.xxii" progress="24.29%" title="Chapter XXII">
<h2 id="Acts.xxiii-p0.1">A C T S.</h2>
<h3 id="Acts.xxiii-p0.2">CHAP. XXII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Acts.xxiii-p1">In the close of the foregoing chapter we had Paul
bound, according to Agabus's prophecy of the hard usage he should
receive from the Jews at Jerusalem, yet he had his tongue set at
liberty, by the permission the chief captain gave him to speak for
himself; and so intent he is upon using that liberty of speech
which is allowed him, to the honour of Christ and the service of
his interest, that he forgets the bonds he is in, makes no mention
of them, but speaks of the great things Christ had done for him
with as much ease and cheerfulness as if nothing had been done to
ruffle him or put him into disorder. We have here, I. His address
to the people, and their attention to it, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.1-Acts.22.2" parsed="|Acts|22|1|22|2" passage="Ac 22:1,2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II. The account he gives of
himself. 1. What a bigoted Jew he had been in the beginning of his
time, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.3-Acts.22.5" parsed="|Acts|22|3|22|5" passage="Ac 22:3-5">ver. 3-5</scripRef>. 2. How he
was miraculously converted and brought over to the faith of Christ,
<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.6-Acts.22.11" parsed="|Acts|22|6|22|11" passage="Ac 22:6-11">ver. 6-11</scripRef>. 3. How he was
confirmed and baptized by the ministry of Ananias, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.12-Acts.22.16" parsed="|Acts|22|12|22|16" passage="Ac 22:12-16">ver. 12-16</scripRef>. 4. How he was
afterwards called, by an immediate warrant from heaven, to be the
apostle of the Gentiles, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.17-Acts.22.21" parsed="|Acts|22|17|22|21" passage="Ac 22:17-21">ver.
17-21</scripRef>. III. The interruption given him upon this by the
rabble, who could not bear to hear any thing said in favour of the
Gentiles, and the violent passion they flew into upon it, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.22-Acts.22.23" parsed="|Acts|22|22|22|23" passage="Ac 22:22,23">ver. 22, 23</scripRef>. IV. Paul's second
rescue out of the hands of the rabble, and the further course which
the chief captain took to find out the true reason of this mighty
clamour against Paul, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.24-Acts.22.25" parsed="|Acts|22|24|22|25" passage="Ac 22:24,25">ver. 24,
25</scripRef>. V. Paul's pleading his privilege as a Roman citizen,
by which he was exempted from this barbarous method of inquisition,
<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.26-Acts.22.29" parsed="|Acts|22|26|22|29" passage="Ac 22:26-29">ver. 26-29</scripRef>. VI. The
chief captain's removing the cause into the high priest's court,
and Paul's appearing there, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.30" parsed="|Acts|22|30|0|0" passage="Ac 22:30">ver.
30</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Acts.xxiii-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22" parsed="|Acts|22|0|0|0" passage="Ac 22" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Acts.xxiii-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.1-Acts.22.2" parsed="|Acts|22|1|22|2" passage="Ac 22:1-2" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Acts.22.1-Acts.22.2">
<h4 id="Acts.xxiii-p1.12">Paul's First Defence.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Acts.xxiii-p2">1 Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence
<i>which I make</i> now unto you.   2 (And when they heard
that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more
silence: and he saith,)</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p3">Paul had, in the <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.21.40" parsed="|Acts|21|40|0|0" passage="Ac 21:40">last verse of the foregoing chapter</scripRef>, gained a
great point, by commanding so profound a silence after so loud a
clamour. Now here observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p4">I. With what an admirable composure and
presence of mind he addresses himself to speak. Never was poor man
set upon in a more tumultuous manner, nor with more rage and fury;
and yet, in what he said, 1. There appears o fright, but his mind
is sedate and composed. Thus he makes his own words good, <i>None
of these things move me;</i> and David's (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.3.6" parsed="|Ps|3|6|0|0" passage="Ps 3:6">Ps. iii. 6</scripRef>), <i>I will not be afraid of ten
thousands of people that have set themselves against me round
about.</i> 2. There appears no passion. Though the suggestions
against him were all frivolous and unjust, though it would have
vexed any man alive to be charged with profaning the temple just
then when he was contriving and designing to show his respect to
it, yet he breaks out into no angry expressions, but is <i>led as a
lamb to the slaughter.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p5">II. What respectful titles he gives even to
those who thus abused him, and how humbly he craves their
attention: "<i>Men, brethren, and fathers,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.1" parsed="|Acts|22|1|0|0" passage="Ac 22:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. <i>To you, O men, I call;</i>
men, that should hear reason, and be ruled by it; men, from whom
one may expect humanity. You, <i>brethren</i> of the common people;
you, <i>fathers</i> of the priests." Thus he lets them know that he
was one of them, and had not renounced his relation to the Jewish
nation, but still had a kindness and concern for it. Note, Though
we must not give flattering titles to any, yet we ought to give
titles of due respect to all; and those we would do good to we
should endeavour not to provoke. Though he was rescued out of their
hands, and was taken under the protection of the chief captain, yet
he does not fall foul upon them, with, <i>Hear now, you rebels;</i>
but compliments them with, <i>Men, brethren, and fathers.</i> And
observe, he does not exhibit a charge against them, does not
recriminate, Hear now what I have to say against you, but, Hear now
what I have to say for myself: <i>Hear you my defence;</i> a just
and reasonable request, for every man that is accused has a right
to answer for himself, and has not justice done him if his answer
be not patiently and impartially heard.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p6">III. The language he spoke in, which
recommended what he said to the auditory; <i>He spoke in the Hebrew
tongue,</i> that is, the vulgar language of the Jews, which, at
this time, was not the pure Old-Testament Hebrew, but the Syriac, a
dialect of the Hebrew, or rather a corruption of it, as the Italian
of the Latin. However, 1. It showed his continued respect to his
countrymen, the Jews. Though he had conversed so much with the
Gentiles, yet he still retained the Jews' language, and could talk
it with ease; by this it appears he is a Jew, <i>for his speech
betrayeth him.</i> 2. What he said was the more generally
understood, for that was the language every body spoke, and
therefore to speak in that language was indeed to appeal to the
people, by which he might have somewhat to insinuate into their
affections; and therefore, <i>when they heard that he spoke in the
Hebrew tongue, they kept the more silence.</i> How can it be
thought people should give any attention to that which is spoken to
them in a language they do not understand? The chief captain was
surprised to hear him speak Greek (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.21.37" parsed="|Acts|21|37|0|0" passage="Ac 21:37"><i>ch.</i> xxi. 37</scripRef>), the Jews were surprised
to hear him speak Hebrew, and both therefore think the better of
him. But how would they have been surprised if they had enquired,
as they ought to have done, and found in what variety of tongues
<i>the Spirit gave him utterance!</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.14.18" parsed="|1Cor|14|18|0|0" passage="1Co 14:18">1 Cor. xiv. 18</scripRef>, <i>I speak with tongues more
than you all.</i> But the truth is, many wise and good men are
therefore slighted only because they are not known.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Acts.xxiii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.3-Acts.22.21" parsed="|Acts|22|3|22|21" passage="Ac 22:3-21" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Acts.22.3-Acts.22.21">
<h4 id="Acts.xxiii-p6.4">Paul's First Defence.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Acts.xxiii-p7">3 I am verily a man <i>which am</i> a Jew, born
in Tarsus, <i>a city</i> in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at
the feet of Gamaliel, <i>and</i> taught according to the perfect
manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye
all are this day.   4 And I persecuted this way unto the
death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
  5 As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the
estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the
brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there
bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.   6 And it came to
pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus
about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round
about me.   7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice
saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?   8 And I
answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of
Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.   9 And they that were with
me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the
voice of him that spake to me.   10 And I said, What shall I
do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus;
and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed
for thee to do.   11 And when I could not see for the glory of
that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came
into Damascus.   12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to
the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt
<i>there,</i>   13 Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me,
Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon
him.   14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and
shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.   15 For thou shalt be
his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.  
16 And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away
thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.   17 And it came to
pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed
in the temple, I was in a trance;   18 And saw him saying unto
me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they
will not receive thy testimony concerning me.   19 And I said,
Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them
that believed on thee:   20 And when the blood of thy martyr
Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his
death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.   21 And he
said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the
Gentiles.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p8">Paul here gives such an account of himself
as might serve not only to satisfy the chief captain that he was
not that Egyptian he took him to be, but the Jews also that he was
not that enemy to their church and nation, to their law and temple,
they took him to be, and that what he did in preaching Christ, and
particularly in preaching him to the Gentiles, he did by a divine
commission. He here gives them to understand,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p9">I. What his extraction and education were.
1. That he was one of their own nation, <i>of the stock of Israel,
of the seed of Abraham, a Hebrew of the Hebrews,</i> not of any
obscure family, or a renegado of some other nation: "No, <i>I am
verily a man who is a Jew,</i> <b><i>aner Ioudaios</i></b>—<i>a
Jewish man;</i> I am a man, and therefore ought not to be treated
as a beast; a man who is a Jew, not a barbarian; I am a sincere
friend to your nation, for I am one of it, and should defile my own
nest if I should unjustly derogate from the honour of your law and
your temple." 2. That he was born in a creditable reputable place,
<i>in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia,</i> and was by his birth a freeman
of that city. He was not born in servitude, as some of the Jews of
the dispersion, it is likely, were; but he was a gentleman born,
and perhaps could produce his certificate of his freedom in that
ancient and honourable city. This was, indeed, but a small matter
to make any boast of, and yet it was needful to be mentioned at
this time to those who insolently trampled upon him, as if he were
to be ranked with the children of fools, yea, the children of base
men, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.30.8" parsed="|Job|30|8|0|0" passage="Job 30:8">Job xxx. 8</scripRef>. 3. That he
had a learned and liberal education. He was not only a Jew, and a
gentleman, but a scholar. He <i>was brought up</i> in Jerusalem,
the principal seat of the Jewish learning, and <i>at the feet of
Gamaliel,</i> whom they all knew to be an eminent doctor of the
Jewish law, of which Paul was designed to be himself a teacher; and
therefore he could not be ignorant of their law, nor be thought to
slight it because he did not know it. His parents had brought him
very young to this city, designing him for a Pharisee; and some
think his being brought up at the feet of Gamaliel intimates, not
only that he was one of his pupils, but that he was, above any
other, diligent and constant in attending his lectures, observant
of him, and obsequious to him, in all he said, as <i>Mary,</i> that
<i>sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.</i> 4. That he was in
his early days a very forward and eminent professor of the Jews'
religion; his studies and learning were all directed that way. So
far was he from being principled in his youth with any disaffection
to the religious usages of the Jews that there was not a young man
among them who had a greater and more entire veneration for them
than he had, was more strict in observing them himself, or more hot
in enforcing them upon others. (1.) He was an intelligent professor
of their religion, and had a clear head. He minded his business at
Gamaliel's feet, and was there <i>taught according to the perfect
manner of the law of the fathers.</i> What departures he had made
from the law were not owing to any confused or mistaken notions of
it, for he understood it to a nicety, <b><i>kata
akribeian</i></b>—<i>according to the most accurate and exact
method.</i> He was not trained up in the principles of the
latitudinarians, had nothing in him of a Sadducee, but was of that
sect that was most studious in the law, kept most close to it, and,
to make it more strict than it was, added to it the traditions of
the elders, the law of the fathers, the law which was given to
them, and which they gave to their children, and so it was handed
down to us. Paul had as great a value for antiquity, and tradition,
and the authority of the church, as any of them had; and there was
never a Jew of them all that understood his religion better than
Paul did, or could better give an account of it or a reason for it.
(2.) He was an active professor of their religion, and had a warm
heart: <i>I was zealous towards God, as you all are this day.</i>
Many that are very well skilled in the theory of religion are
willing to leave the practice of it to others, but Paul was as much
a zealot as a rabbi. He was zealous against every thing that the
law prohibited, and for every thing that the law enjoined; and this
was zeal towards God, because he thought it was for the honour of
God and the service of his interests; and here he compliments his
hearers with a candid and charitable opinion of them, <i>that they
all were this day zealous towards God; he bears them record</i>
(<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.2" parsed="|Rom|10|2|0|0" passage="Ro 10:2">Rom. x. 2</scripRef>), <i>that they
have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.</i> In hating
him, and casting him out, they said, <i>Let the Lord be
glorified</i> (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.5" parsed="|Isa|66|5|0|0" passage="Isa 66:5">Isa. lxvi.
5</scripRef>), and, though this did by no means justify their rage,
yet it enabled those that prayed, <i>Father, forgive them,</i> to
plead, as Christ did, <i>For they know not what they do.</i> And
when Paul owns that he had been zealous for God in the law of
Moses, <i>as they were this day,</i> he intimates his hope that
they might be zealous for God, in Christ, as he was this day.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p10">II. What a fiery furious persecutor he had
been of the Christian religion in the beginning of his time,
<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.4-Acts.22.5" parsed="|Acts|22|4|22|5" passage="Ac 22:4,5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. He
mentions this to make it the more plainly and evidently to appear
that the change which was wrought upon him, when he was converted
to the Christian faith, was purely the effect of a divine power;
for he was so far from having any previous inclinations to it, or
favourable opinions of it, that immediately before that sudden
change was wrought in him he had the utmost antipathy imaginable to
Christianity, and was filled with rage against it to the last
degree. And perhaps he mentions it to justify God in his present
trouble; how unrighteous soever those were that persecuted him, God
was righteous, who permitted them to do it, for time was when he
was a persecutor; and he may have a further view in it to invite
and encourage those people to repent, for he himself had been <i>a
blasphemer, and a persecutor,</i> and yet obtained mercy. Let us
view Paul's picture of himself when he was a persecutor. 1. He
hated Christianity with a mortal enmity: <i>I persecuted this way
unto the death,</i> that is, "Those that walked in this way I
aimed, if possible, to be the death of." <i>He breathed out
slaughter against them,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.9.1" parsed="|Acts|9|1|0|0" passage="Ac 9:1"><i>ch.</i>
ix. 1</scripRef>. When <i>they were put to death, he gave his voice
against them,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.26.10" parsed="|Acts|26|10|0|0" passage="Ac 26:10"><i>ch.</i> xxvi.
10</scripRef>. Nay, he persecuted not only those that walked in
this way, but the way itself, Christianity, which was branded as a
byway, a sect; he aimed to persecute this to the death, to be the
ruin of this religion. He <i>persecuted it to the death,</i> that
is, he could have been willing himself to die in his opposition to
Christianity, so some understand it. He would contentedly have lost
his life, and would have thought it well laid out, in defence of
the laws and traditions of the fathers. 2. He did all he could to
frighten people from this way, and out of it, by <i>binding and
delivering into prison both men and women;</i> he filled the jails
with Christians. Now that he himself was bound, he lays a
particular stress upon this part of his charge against himself,
that he had bound the Christians, and carried them to prison; he
likewise reflects upon it with a special regret that he had
imprisoned not only the men, but the women, the weaker sex, who
ought to be treated with particular tenderness and compassion. 3.
He was employed by the great sanhedrim, the high priest, and all
the estate of the elders, as an agent for them, in suppressing this
new sect; so much had he already signalized himself for his zeal
against it, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.5" parsed="|Acts|22|5|0|0" passage="Ac 22:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. The
high priest can witness for him that he was ready to be employed in
any service against the Christians. When they heard that many of
the Jews at Damascus had embraced the Christian faith, to deter
others from doing the like they resolved to proceed against them
with the utmost severity, and could not think of a fitter person to
be employed in that business, nor one more likely to go through
with it, than Paul. They therefore sent him, and letters by him, to
the Jews at Damascus, here called <i>the brethren,</i> because they
all descended from one common stock, and were of one family in
religion too, ordering them to be assisting to Paul in seizing
those among them that had turned Christians, and bringing them up
prisoners to Jerusalem, in order to their being punished as
deserters from the faith and worship of the God of Israel; and so
might either be compelled to retract, or be put to death for a
terror to others. Thus did Saul make <i>havoc of the church,</i>
and was in a fair way, if he had gone on awhile, to ruin it, and
root it out. "Such a one," says Paul, "I was at first, just such as
you now are. I know the heart of a persecutor, and therefore pity
you, and pray that you may know the heart of a convert, as God soon
made me to do. <i>And who was I that I could withstand
God?</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p11">III. In what manner he was converted and
made what he now was. It was not from any natural or external
causes; he did not change his religion from an affectation of
novelty, for he was then as well affected to antiquity as he used
to be; nor did it arise from discontent because he was disappointed
in his preferment, for he was now, more than ever, in the way of
preferment in the Jewish church; much less could it arise from
covetousness, or ambition, or any hope of mending his fortune in
the world by turning Christian, for it was to expose himself to all
manner of disgrace and trouble; nor had he any conversation with
the apostles or any other Christians, by whose subtlety and
sophistry he might be thought to have been wheedled into this
change. No, it was the Lord's doing, and the circumstances of the
doing of it were enough to justify him in the change, to all those
who believe there is a supernatural power; and none can condemn him
for it, without reflecting upon that divine energy by which he was
he rein overruled. He relates the story of his conversion here very
particularly, as we had it before (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.9.1-Acts.9.19" parsed="|Acts|9|1|9|19" passage="Ac 9:1-19"><i>ch.</i> ix.</scripRef>), aiming to show that it was
purely the act of God. 1. He was a fully bent upon persecuting the
Christians just before Christ arrested him as ever. He <i>made his
journey, and was come nigh to Damascus</i> (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.6" parsed="|Acts|22|6|0|0" passage="Ac 22:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), and had no other thought than to
execute the cruel design he was sent upon; he was not conscious of
the least compassionate relentings towards the poor Christians, but
still represented them to himself as heretics, schismatics, and
dangerous enemies both to church and state. 2. It was <i>a light
from heaven</i> that first startled him, <i>a great light,</i>
which <i>shone suddenly round about him,</i> and the Jews knew that
God is light, and his angels angels of light, and that such a light
as this shining at noon, and therefore exceeding that of the sun,
must be from God. Had it shone in upon him into some private room,
there might have been a cheat in it, but it shone upon him in the
open road, at high noon, and so strongly <i>that it struck him to
the ground</i> (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.7" parsed="|Acts|22|7|0|0" passage="Ac 22:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>), and all <i>that were with him,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.26.14" parsed="|Acts|26|14|0|0" passage="Ac 26:14"><i>ch.</i> xxvi. 14</scripRef>. They could not
deny but that surely the Lord was in this light. 3. It was a voice
<i>from heaven</i> that first begat in him awful thoughts of Jesus
Christ, of whom before he had had nothing but hateful spiteful
thoughts. The voice called to him by name, to distinguish him from
<i>those that journeyed with him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me?</i> And when he asked, <i>Who art thou, Lord?</i> it was
answered, <i>I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest,</i>
<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.8" parsed="|Acts|22|8|0|0" passage="Ac 22:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. By which it
appeared that this Jesus of Nazareth, whom they also were now
persecuting, was one that spoke from heaven, and they knew it was
dangerous resisting one that did so, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.25" parsed="|Heb|12|25|0|0" passage="Heb 12:25">Heb. xii. 25</scripRef>. 4. Lest it should be objected,
"How came this light and voice to work such a change upon him, and
not upon those that journeyed with him?" (though, it is very
probable, it had a good effect upon them, and that they thereupon
became Christians), he observes <i>that his fellow travellers saw
indeed the light, and were afraid</i> they should be consumed with
fire from heaven, their own consciences, perhaps, now telling them
that the way they were in was not good, but like Balaam's when he
was going to curse Israel, and therefore they might expect to meet
an angel with a flaming glittering sword; but, though the light
made them afraid, they heard not the voice of him that spoke to
Paul, that is, they did not distinctly hear the words. Now faith
comes by hearing, and therefore that change was now presently
wrought upon him that heard the words, and heard them directed to
himself, which was not wrought upon those who only saw the light;
and yet it might afterwards be wrought upon them too. 5. He assures
them that when he was thus startled he referred himself entirely to
a divine guidance; he did not hereupon presently cry out, "Well, I
will be a Christian," but, "<i>What shall I do, Lord?</i> Let the
same voice from heaven that has stopped me in the wrong way guide
me into the right way, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p11.7" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.10" parsed="|Acts|22|10|0|0" passage="Ac 22:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>. Lord, tell me what I shall do, and I will do it."
And immediately he had directions to go to Damascus, and there he
should hear further from him that now spoke to him: "No more needs
to be said from heaven, <i>there it shall be told thee,</i> by a
man like thyself, in the name of him that now speaks to thee,
<i>all things which are appointed for thee to do.</i>" The
extraordinary ways of divine revelation, by visions, and voices,
and the appearance of angels, were designed, both in the Old
Testament and in the New, only to introduce and establish the
ordinary method by the scriptures and a standing ministry, and
therefore were generally superseded when these were settled. The
angel did not preach to Cornelius himself, but bade him send for
Peter; so the voice here tells not Paul what he shall do, but bids
him go to Damascus, and there it shall be told him. 6. As a
demonstration of the greatness of that light which fastened upon
him, he tells them of the immediate effect it had upon his
eye-sight (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p11.8" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.11" parsed="|Acts|22|11|0|0" passage="Ac 22:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>):
<i>I could not see for the glory of that light.</i> It struck him
blind for the present. <i>Nimium sensibile lædit sensum—Its
radiance dazzled him.</i> Condemned sinners are struck blind, as
the Sodomites and Egyptians were, by the power of darkness, and it
is a lasting blindness, like that of the unbelieving Jews; but
convinced sinners are struck blind, as Paul here was, not by
darkness, but by light: they are for the present brought to be at a
loss within themselves, but it is in order to their being
enlightened, as the putting of clay upon the eyes of the blind man
was the designed method of his cure. Those that were with Paul had
not the light so directly darted into their faces as Paul had unto
his, and therefore they were not blinded, as he was; yet,
considering the issue, who would not rather have chosen his lot
than theirs? They, having their sight, led <i>Paul by the hand into
the city.</i> Paul, being a Pharisee, was proud of his spiritual
eyesight. The Pharisees said, <i>Are we blind also?</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p11.9" osisRef="Bible:John.9.40" parsed="|John|9|40|0|0" passage="Joh 9:40">John ix. 40</scripRef>. Nay, they were confident
<i>that they themselves were guides to the blind,</i> and <i>lights
to those that were in darkness,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p11.10" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.19" parsed="|Rom|2|19|0|0" passage="Ro 2:19">Rom. ii. 19</scripRef>. Now Paul was thus struck with
bodily blindness to make him sensible of his spiritual blindness,
and his mistake concerning himself, when he was <i>alive without
the law,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p11.11" osisRef="Bible:Rom.7.9" parsed="|Rom|7|9|0|0" passage="Ro 7:9">Rom. vii. 9</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p12">IV. How he was confirmed in the change he
had made, and further directed what he should do, by Ananias who
lived at Damascus.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p13">Observe, 1. The character here given of
Ananias. He was not a man that was any way prejudiced against the
Jewish nation or religion, but was himself <i>a devout man
according to the law;</i> if not a Jew by birth, yet one that had
been proselyted to the Jewish religion, and therefore called a
devout man, and thence advanced further to the faith of Christ; and
he conducted himself so well that he had a <i>good report of all
the Jews that dwelt at Damascus.</i> This was the first Christian
that Paul had any friendly communication with, and it was not
likely that he should instil into him any such notions as they
suspected him to espouse, injurious to the law or to this holy
place.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p14">2. The cure immediately wrought by him upon
Paul's eyes, which miracle was to confirm Ananias's mission to
Paul, and to ratify all that he should afterwards say to him. He
<i>came to him</i> (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.13" parsed="|Acts|22|13|0|0" passage="Ac 22:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>); and, to assure him that he came to him from Christ
(the very same who had torn and would heal him, had smitten, but
would bind him up, had taken away his sight, but would restore it
again, with advantage), he <i>stood by him, and said, Brother Saul,
receive thy sight.</i> Power went along with this word, and <i>the
same hour,</i> immediately, he recovered his sight, and <i>looked
up upon him,</i> ready to receive from him the instructions sent by
him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p15">3. The declaration which Ananias makes to
him of the favour, the peculiar favour, which the Lord Jesus
designed him above any other.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p16">(1.) In the present manifestation of
himself to him (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.14" parsed="|Acts|22|14|0|0" passage="Ac 22:14"><i>v.</i>
14</scripRef>): <i>The God of our fathers has chosen thee.</i> This
powerful call is the result of a particular choice; his calling God
the God of our fathers intimates that Ananias was himself a Jew by
birth, that observed the law of the fathers, and lived upon the
promise made unto the fathers; and he gives a reason why he said
<i>Brother Saul,</i> when he speaks of God as the God of our
fathers: <i>This God of our fathers has chosen thee that thou
shouldst,</i> [1.] <i>Know his will,</i> the will of his precept
that is to be done by thee, the will of his providence that is to
be done concerning thee. He hath chosen thee that thou shouldst
know it in a more peculiar manner; not of man nor by man, but
immediately by <i>the revelation of Christ,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Gal.1.1-Gal.1.2" parsed="|Gal|1|1|1|2" passage="Ga 1:1,2">Gal. i. 1, 12</scripRef>. Those whom God hath chosen he
hath chosen to know his will, and to do it. [2.] <i>That thou
shouldst see that Just One, and shouldst hear the voice of his
mouth,</i> and so shouldst know his will immediately from himself.
This was what Paul was, in a particular manner, chosen to above
others; it was a distinguishing favour, that he should see Christ
here upon earth after his ascension into heaven. Stephen saw him
<i>standing at the right hand of God,</i> but Paul saw him standing
at his right hand. This honour none had but Paul. Stephen saw him,
but we do not find that he heard the voice of his mouth, as Paul
did, who says, <i>he was last of all seen of me, as of one born out
of due time,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.8" parsed="|1Cor|15|8|0|0" passage="1Co 15:8">1 Cor. xv.
8</scripRef>. Christ is here called <i>that Just One;</i> for he is
Jesus Christ the righteous, and suffered wrongfully. Observe, Those
whom God has chosen to know his will must have an eye to Christ,
and must see him, and hear the voice of his mouth; for it is by him
that God has made known his will, his good-will to us, and he has
said, <i>Hear you him.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p17">(2.) In the after-manifestation of himself
by him to others (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.15" parsed="|Acts|22|15|0|0" passage="Ac 22:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>): "<i>Thou shalt be his witness,</i> not only a
monument of his grace, as a pillar may be, but a witness <i>viva
voce—by word of mouth;</i> thou shalt publish his gospel, as that
which thou hast experienced the power of, and been delivered into,
the mould of; <i>thou shalt be his witness unto all men,</i>
Gentiles as well as Jews, <i>of what thou hast seen and heard,</i>
now at the very first." And finding Paul so particularly relating
the manner of his conversation in his apologies for himself, here
and <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.26.1-Acts.26.32" parsed="|Acts|26|1|26|32" passage="Ac 26:1-32"><i>ch.</i> xxvi.</scripRef>, we
have reason to think that he frequently related the same narrative
in his preaching for the conversion of others; he told them what
God had done for his soul, to encourage them to hope that he would
do something for their souls.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p18">4. The counsel and encouragement he gave
him to join himself to the Lord Jesus by baptism (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.16" parsed="|Acts|22|16|0|0" passage="Ac 22:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <i>Arise, and be
baptized,</i> He had in his circumcision been given up to God, but
he must now by baptism be given up to God in Christ—must embrace
the Christian religion and the privileges of it, in submission to
the precepts of it. This must now be done immediately upon his
conversion, and so was added to his circumcision: but to the seed
of the faithful it comes in the room of it; for it is, as that was
to Abraham and his believing seed, <i>a seal of the righteousness
which is by faith.</i> (1.) The great gospel privilege which by
baptism we have sealed to us is the remission of sins: <i>Be
baptized and wash away thy sins;</i> that is, "Receive the comfort
of the pardon of thy sins in the through Jesus Christ and lay hold
of his righteousness for that purpose, and receive power against
sin for the mortifying of thy corruption;" for our being washed
includes our being both justified and sanctified, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.6.11" parsed="|1Cor|6|11|0|0" passage="1Co 6:11">1 Cor. vi. 11</scripRef>. Be baptized, and rest
not in the sign, but make sure of the thing signified, the putting
away of the filth of sin. (2.) The great gospel duty which by our
baptism we are bound to is <i>to call on the name of the Lord, the
Lord Jesus;</i> to acknowledge him to be our Lord and our God, and
to apply to him accordingly; to give honour to him, to put all our
petitions in his hand. To <i>call on the name of Jesus Christ our
Lord</i> (Son of David, have mercy on us) is the periphrasis of a
Christian, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.1.2" parsed="|1Cor|1|2|0|0" passage="1Co 1:2">1 Cor. i. 2</scripRef>. We
must <i>wash away our sins, calling on the name of the Lord;</i>
that is, we must seek for the pardon of our sins in Christ's name,
and in dependence on him and his righteousness. In prayer, we must
not any longer call God the God of Abraham, but the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and in him our Father; in every prayer, our eye
must be to Christ. (3.) We must do this quickly. <i>Why tarriest
thou?</i> Our covenanting with God in Christ is needful work, that
must not be deferred. The case is so plain that it is needless to
deliberate; and the hazard so great that it is folly to delay. Why
should not that be done at the present time that must be done some
time, or we are undone?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p19">V. How he was commissioned to go and preach
the gospel to the Gentiles. This was the great thing for which they
were so angry at him, and therefore it was requisite he should for
this, in a special manner, produce a divine warrant; and here he
does it. This commission he did not receive presently upon his
conversion, for this was <i>at Jerusalem,</i> whither he did not go
till <i>three years after,</i> or more (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Gal.1.18" parsed="|Gal|1|18|0|0" passage="Ga 1:18">Gal. i. 18</scripRef>); and whether it was then, or
afterwards, that he had this vision here spoken of, we are not
certain. But, to reconcile them, if possible, to his preaching the
gospel among the Gentiles, he tells them, 1. That he received his
orders to do it when he was at prayer, begging of God to appoint
him his work and to show him the course he should steer; and (which
was a circumstance that would have some weight with those he was
now speaking to) he was <i>at prayer in the temple,</i> which was
to be called <i>a house of prayer for all people;</i> not only in
which all people should pray, but in which all people should be
prayed for. Now as Paul's praying in the temple was an evidence,
contrary to their malicious suggestion, that he had a veneration
for the temple, though he did not make an idol of it as they did;
so God's giving him this commission there in the temple was an
evidence that the sending him to the Gentiles would be no prejudice
to the temple, unless the Jews by their infidelity made it so. Now
it would be a great satisfaction to Paul afterwards, in the
execution of this commission, to reflect upon it that he received
it when he was at prayer. 2. He received it in a vision. He fell
<i>into a trance</i> (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.17" parsed="|Acts|22|17|0|0" passage="Ac 22:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>), his external senses, for the present, locked up; he
was in an ecstasy, as when he was <i>caught up into the third
heaven,</i> and was not at that time sensible whether he was <i>in
the body or out of the body.</i> In this trance he saw Jesus
Christ, not with the eyes of his body, as at his conversion, but
represented to the eye of his mind (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.18" parsed="|Acts|22|18|0|0" passage="Ac 22:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): <i>I saw him saying unto
me.</i> Our eye must be upon Christ when we are receiving the law
from his mouth; and we must not only hear him speak, but see him
speaking to us. 3. Before Christ gave him a commission to go to the
Gentiles, he told him it was to no purpose for him to think of
doing any good at Jerusalem; so that they must not blame him, but
themselves, if he be sent to the Gentiles. Paul came to Jerusalem
full of hopes that, by the grace of God, he might be instrumental
to bring those to the faith of Christ who had stood it out against
the ministry of the other apostles; and perhaps this was what he
was now praying for, that he, having had his education at Jerusalem
and being well known there, might be employed in gathering the
children of Jerusalem to Christ that were not yet gathered, which
he thought he had particular advantages for doing of. But Christ
crosses the measures he had laid: "<i>Make haste,</i>" says he,
"<i>and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem;</i>" for, though thou
thinkest thyself more likely to work upon them than others, thou
wilt find they are more prejudiced against thee than against any
other, and therefore "<i>will not receive thy testimony concerning
me.</i>" As God knows before who will receive the gospel, so he
knows who will reject it. 4. Paul, notwithstanding this, renewed
his petition that he might be employed at Jerusalem, because they
knew, better than any did, what he had been before his conversion,
and therefore must ascribe so great a change in him to the power of
almighty grace, and consequently give the greater regard to his
testimony; thus he reasoned, both with himself and with the Lord,
and thought he reasoned justly (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.19-Acts.22.20" parsed="|Acts|22|19|22|20" passage="Ac 22:19,20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>): "<i>Lord,</i>" says he,
"<i>they know</i> that I was once of their mind, that I was as
bitter an enemy as any of them to such as believed on thee, that I
irritated the civil power against them, and <i>imprisoned them,</i>
and turned the edge of the spiritual power against them too, and
<i>beat them in every synagogue.</i>" And therefore they will not
impute my preaching Christ to education nor to any prepossession in
his favour (as they do that of other ministers), but will the more
readily regard what I say because they know I have myself been one
of them: particularly in Stephen's case; they know that when he was
stoned I was standing by, I was aiding and abetting and
<i>consenting to his death,</i> and in token of this <i>kept the
clothes of those that stoned him.</i> Now "Lord," says he, "if I
appear among them, preaching the doctrine that Stephen preached and
suffered for, they will no doubt receive my testimony." "No," says
Christ to him, "they will not; but will be more exasperated against
thee as a deserter from, than against others whom they look upon
only as strangers to, their constitution." 5. Paul's petition for a
warrant to preach the gospel at Jerusalem is overruled, and he has
peremptory orders to go among the Gentiles (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p19.5" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.21" parsed="|Acts|22|21|0|0" passage="Ac 22:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>): <i>Depart, for I will send
thee far hence, unto the Gentiles.</i> Note, God often gives
gracious answers to the prayers of his people, not in the thing
itself that they pray for, but in something better. Abraham prays,
<i>O that Ishmael may live before thee;</i> and God hears him for
Isaac. So Paul here prays that he may be an instrument of
converting souls at Jerusalem: "No," says Christ, "but thou shalt
be employed among the Gentiles, and <i>more shall be the children
of the desolate than those of the married wife.</i>" It is God that
appoints his labourers both their day and their place, and it is
fit they should acquiesce in his appointment, though it may cross
their own inclinations. Paul hankers after Jerusalem: to be a
preacher there was the summit of his ambition; but Christ designs
him greater preferment. He shall not enter into other men's labours
(as the other apostles did, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p19.6" osisRef="Bible:John.4.38" parsed="|John|4|38|0|0" passage="Joh 4:38">John iv.
38</scripRef>), but shall break up new ground, and <i>preach the
gospel where Christ was not named,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p19.7" osisRef="Bible:Rom.15.20" parsed="|Rom|15|20|0|0" passage="Ro 15:20">Rom. xv. 20</scripRef>. So often does Providence
contrive better for us than we for ourselves; to the guidance of
that we must therefore refer ourselves. <i>He shall choose our
inheritance for us.</i> Observe, Paul shall not go to preach among
the Gentiles without a commission: <i>I will send thee.</i> And, if
Christ send him, his Spirit will go along with him, he will stand
by him, will carry him on, and bear him out, and give him to see
the fruit of his labours. Let not Paul set his heart upon
Jerusalem, for he must be sent far hence; his call must be quite
another way, and his work of another kind. And it might be a
mitigation of the offence of this to the Jews that he did not set
up a Gentile church in the neighbouring nations; others did this in
their immediate vicinity; he was sent to places at a distance, a
vast way off, where what he did could not be thought an annoyance
to them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p20">Now, if they would lay all this together,
surely they would see that they had no reason to be angry with Paul
for preaching among the Gentiles, or construe it as an act of
ill-will to his own nation, for he was compelled to it, contrary to
his own mind, by an overruling command from heaven.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Acts.xxiii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.22-Acts.22.30" parsed="|Acts|22|22|22|30" passage="Ac 22:22-30" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Acts.22.22-Acts.22.30">
<h4 id="Acts.xxiii-p20.2">Paul's First Defence.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Acts.xxiii-p21">22 And they gave him audience unto this word,
and <i>then</i> lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a
<i>fellow</i> from the earth: for it is not fit that he should
live.   23 And as they cried out, and cast off <i>their</i>
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 <i>that,</i> 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 <i>free</i> 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.   30 On the morrow, because he would
have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he
loosed him from <i>his</i> bands, and commanded the chief priests
and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him
before them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p22">Paul was going on with this account of
himself, had shown them his commission to preach among the Gentiles
without any peevish reflections upon the Jews, and we may suppose
designed next to show how he was afterwards, by a special direction
of the Holy Ghost at Antioch, separated to this service, how tender
he was of the Jews, how respectful to them, and how careful to give
them the precedency in all places whither he came, and to unite
Jews and Gentiles in one body; and then to show how wonderfully God
had owned him, and what good service had been done to the interest
of God's kingdom among men in general, without damage to any of the
true interests of the Jewish church in particular. But, whatever he
designs to say, they resolve he shall say no more to them: <i>They
gave him audience to this word.</i> Hitherto they had heard him
with patience and some attention. But when he speaks of being sent
to the Gentiles, though it was what Christ himself said to him,
they cannot bear it, not so much as to hear the Gentiles named,
such an enmity had they to them, and such a jealousy of them. Upon
the mention of this, they have no manner of patience, but forget
all rules of decency and equity; thus were they <i>provoked to
jealousy by those that were no people,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.19" parsed="|Rom|10|19|0|0" passage="Ro 10:19">Rom. x. 19</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p23">Now here we are told how furious and
outrageous the people were against Paul, for mentioning the
Gentiles as taken into the cognizance of divine grace, and so
justifying his preaching among them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p24">I. They interrupted him, by lifting up
their voice, to put him into confusion, and that nobody might hear
a word he said. Galled consciences kick at the least touch; and
those who are resolved not to be rules by reason commonly resolve
not to hear it if they can help it. And the spirit of enmity
against the gospel of Christ commonly shows itself in silencing the
ministers of Christ and his gospel, and stopping their mouths, as
the Jews did Paul's here. Their fathers had said to the best of
seers, <i>See not,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.30.10" parsed="|Isa|30|10|0|0" passage="Isa 30:10">Isa. xxx.
10</scripRef>. And so they to the best of speakers, <i>Speak not.
Forbear, wherefore shouldst thou be smitten?</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.25.16" parsed="|2Chr|25|16|0|0" passage="2Ch 25:16">2 Chron. xxv. 16</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p25">II. They clamoured against him as one that
was unworthy of life, much more of liberty. Without weighing the
arguments he had urged in his own defence, or offering to make any
answer to them, they cried out with a confused noise, "<i>Away with
such a fellow</i> as this <i>from the earth,</i> who pretends to
have a commission to preach to the Gentiles; why, <i>it is not fit
that he should live.</i>" Thus the men that have been the greatest
blessings of their age have been represented not only as the
burdens of the earth, but the plague of their generation. He that
was worthy of the greatest honours of life is condemned as not
worthy of life itself. See what different sentiments God and men
have of good men, and yet they both agree in this that they are not
likely to live long in this world. Paul says of the godly Jews that
they were men of <i>whom the world was not worthy,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.38" parsed="|Heb|11|38|0|0" passage="Heb 11:38">Heb. xi. 38</scripRef>. And therefore they must
be removed, that the world may be justly punished with the loss of
them. The ungodly Jews here say of Paul that it was not fit he
should live; and therefore he must be removed, that the world may
be eased of the burden of him, as of the two witnesses, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.10" parsed="|Rev|11|10|0|0" passage="Re 11:10">Rev. xi. 10</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p26">III. They went stark mad against Paul, and
against the chief captain for not killing him immediately at their
request, or throwing him as a pry into their teeth, that they might
devour him (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p26.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.23" parsed="|Acts|22|23|0|0" passage="Ac 22:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>);
as men whose reason was quite lost in passion, they cried out like
roaring lions or raging bears, and howled like the evening wolves;
they <i>cast off their clothes</i> with fury and violence, as much
as to say that thus they would tear him if they could but come at
him. Or, rather, they thus showed how ready they were to stone him;
those that stoned Stephen threw off their clothes, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p26.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.20" parsed="|Acts|22|20|0|0" passage="Ac 22:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Or, they <i>rent their
clothes,</i> as if he had spoken blasphemy; and <i>threw dust into
the air,</i> in detestation of it; or signifying how ready they
were to throw stones at Paul, if the chief captain would have
permitted them. But why should we go about to give a reason for
these experiences of fury, which they themselves could not account
for? All they intended was to make the chief captain sensible how
much they were enraged and exasperated at Paul, so that he could
not do any thing to gratify them more than to let them have their
will against him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p27">IV. The chief captain took care for his
safety, by ordering him to be brought into the castle, <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.24" parsed="|Acts|22|24|0|0" passage="Ac 22:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. A prison sometimes has
been a protection to good men from popular rage. Paul's hour was
not yet come, he had not finished his testimony, and therefore God
raised up one that took care of him, when none of his friends durst
appear on his behalf. <i>Grant not, O Lord, the desire of the
wicked.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p28">V. He ordered him the torture, to force
from him a confession of some flagrant crimes which had provoked
the people to such an uncommon violence against him. <i>He ordered
that he should be examined by scourging</i> (as now in some
countries by the rack), that <i>he might know wherefore they cried
so against him.</i> Herein he did not proceed fairly; he should
have singled out some of the clamorous tumultuous complainants, and
taken them into the castle as breakers of the peace, and should
have examined them, and by scourging too, what they had to lay to
the charge of a man that could give so good an account of himself,
and did not appear to have done any thing worthy of death or of
bonds. It was proper to ask them, but not at all proper to ask
Paul, <i>wherefore they cried so against him.</i> He could tell
that he had given them no just cause to do it; if there were any
cause, let them produce it. No man is bound to accuse himself,
though he be guilty, much less ought he to be compelled to accuse
himself when he is innocent. Surely the chief captain did not know
the Jewish nation when he concluded that he must needs have done
something very bad whom they cried out against. Had they not just
thus cried out against our Lord Jesus, <i>Crucify him, crucify
him,</i> when they had not one word to say in answer to the judge's
question, <i>Why, what evil has he done?</i> Is this a fair or just
occasion to scourge Paul, that a rude tumultuous mob cry out
against him, but cannot tell why or wherefore, and therefore he
must be forced to tell?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p29">VI. Paul pleaded his privilege as a Roman
citizen, by which he was exempted from all trials and punishments
of this nature (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.25" parsed="|Acts|22|25|0|0" passage="Ac 22:25"><i>v.</i>
25</scripRef>): <i>As they bound him with thongs,</i> or leathern
bands, to the whipping post, as they used to bind the vilest of
malefactors in bridewell from whom they would extort a confession,
he made no outcry against the injustice of their proceedings
against an innocent man, but very mildly let them understand the
illegality of their proceedings against him as a citizen of Rome,
which he had done once before at Philippi after he had been
scourged (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p29.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.16.37" parsed="|Acts|16|37|0|0" passage="Ac 16:37"><i>ch.</i> xvi.
37</scripRef>), but here he makes use of it for prevention. He
<i>said to the centurion that stood by,</i> "You know the law; pray
<i>is it lawful for you</i> who are yourselves Romans to <i>scourge
a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?</i>" The manner of his
speaking plainly intimates what a holy security and serenity of
mind this good man enjoyed, not disturbed either with anger or fear
in the midst of all those indignities that were done him, and the
danger he was in. The Romans had a law (it was called <i>lex
Sempronia</i>), that if any magistrate did chastise or condemn a
freeman of Rome, <i>indicta causa—without hearing him speak for
himself, and deliberating upon the whole of his case,</i> he should
be liable to the sentence of the people, who were very jealous of
their liberties. It is indeed the privilege of every man not to
have wrong done him, except it be proved he has done wrong; as it
is of every Englishman by <i>Magna Charta</i> not to be dis-seized
of his life or freehold, but by a verdict of twelve men of his
peers.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Acts.xxiii-p30">VII. The chief captain was surprised at
this, and put into a fright. He had taken Paul to be a vagabond
Egyptian, and wondered he could speak Greek (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.21.37" parsed="|Acts|21|37|0|0" passage="Ac 21:37"><i>ch.</i> xxi. 37</scripRef>), but is much more
surprised now he finds that he is as good a gentleman as himself.
How many men of great worth and merit are despised because they are
not known, are looked upon and treated as the offscouring of all
things, when those that count them so, if they knew their true
character, would own them to be of the excellent ones of the earth!
The chief captain had centurions, under-officers, attending him,
<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p30.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.21.32" parsed="|Acts|21|32|0|0" passage="Ac 21:32"><i>ch.</i> xxi. 32</scripRef>. One of
these reports this matter to the chief captain (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p30.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.26" parsed="|Acts|22|26|0|0" passage="Ac 22:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>): <i>Take heed what thou doest,
for this man is a Roman,</i> and what indignity is done to him will
be construed an offence against the majesty of the Roman people, as
they loved to speak. They all knew what a value was put upon this
privilege of the Roman citizens. Tully extols it in one of his
orations against Verres, <i>O nomen dulce libertatis, O jus eximium
nostræ civitatis! O lex Porcia! O leges Semproniæ; facinus est
vincere Romanum civem, scelus verberare—O Liberty! I love thy
charming name; and these our Porcian and Sempronian laws, how
admirable! It is a crime to bind a Roman citizen, but an
unpardonable one to beat him.</i> "Therefore" (says the centurion)
"let us look to ourselves; if this man be a Roman, and we do him
any indignity, we shall be in danger to lose our commissions at
least." Now, 1. The chief captain would be satisfied of the truth
of this from his own mouth (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p30.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.27" parsed="|Acts|22|27|0|0" passage="Ac 22:27"><i>v.</i>
27</scripRef>): "<i>Tell me, art thou a Roman?</i> Art thou
entitled to the privileges of a Roman citizen?" "Yes," says Paul,
"<i>I am;</i>" and perhaps produced some ticket or instrument which
proved it; for otherwise they would scarcely have taken his word.
2. The chief captain very freely compares notes with him upon this
matter, and it appears that the privilege Paul had as a Roman
citizen was of the two more honourable than the colonel's; for the
colonel owns that his was purchased: "I am a freeman of Rome; but
<i>with a great sum obtained I this freedom,</i> it cost me dear,
how came you by it?" "Why truly," says Paul, "<i>I was
free-born.</i>" Some think he became entitled to this freedom by
the place of his birth, as a native of Tarsus, a city privileged by
the emperor with the same privileges that Rome itself enjoyed;
others rather think it was by his father or grandfather having
served in the war between Cæsar and Antony, or some other of the
civil wars of Rome, and being for some signal piece of service
rewarded with a freedom of the city, and so Paul came to be
free-born; and here he pleads it for his own preservation, for
which end not only we may but we ought to use all lawful means. 3.
This put an immediate stop to Paul's trouble. Those that were
appointed to examine him by scourging quitted the spot; they
<i>departed from him</i> (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p30.5" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.29" parsed="|Acts|22|29|0|0" passage="Ac 22:29"><i>v.</i>
29</scripRef>), lest they should run themselves into a snare. Nay,
and the colonel himself, though we may suppose him to have a
considerable interest, was afraid when he heard he was a Roman,
because, though he had not beaten him, yet he had bound him in
order to his being beaten. Thus many are restrained from evil
practices by the fear of man who would not be restrained from them
by the fear of God. See here the benefit of human laws and
magistracy, and what reason we have to be thankful to God for them;
for even when they have given no countenance nor special protection
to God's people and ministers, yet, by the general support of
equity and fair dealing between man and man, they have served to
check the rage of wicked and unreasonable illegal men, who
otherwise would know no bounds, and to say, <i>Hitherto it shall
come, but no further; here shall its proud waves by stayed.</i> And
therefore this service we owe to all in authority, to pray for
them, because this benefit we have reason to expect from them,
whether we have it or no, as long as we are quiet and peaceable—to
live <i>quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty,</i>
<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p30.6" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.2.1-1Tim.2.2" parsed="|1Tim|2|1|2|2" passage="1Ti 2:1,2">1 Tim. ii. 1, 2</scripRef>. 4. The
governor, the next day, brought Paul before the sanhedrim,
<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p30.7" osisRef="Bible:Acts.22.30" parsed="|Acts|22|30|0|0" passage="Ac 22:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. He first
<i>loosed him from his bands,</i> that those might not prejudge his
cause, and that he might not be charged with having pinioned a
Roman citizen, and then summoned the chief priests and all their
council to come together to take cognizance of Paul's case, for he
found it to be a matter of religion, and therefore looked upon them
to be the most proper judges of it. Gallio in this case discharged
Paul; finding it to be a matter of their law, he drove the
prosecutors from the judgement-seat (<scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p30.8" osisRef="Bible:Acts.18.16" parsed="|Acts|18|16|0|0" passage="Ac 18:16"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 16</scripRef>), and would not concern
himself at all in it; but this Roman, who was a military man, kept
Paul in custody, and appealed from the rabble to the general
assembly. Now, (1.) We may hope that hereby he intended Paul's
safety, as thinking, if he were an innocent and inoffensive man,
though the multitude might be incensed against him, yet the chief
priests and elders would do him justice, and clear him; for they
were, or should be, men of learning and consideration, and their
court governed by rules of equity. When the prophet could find no
good among the poorer sort of people, he concluded that it was
because they <i>knew not the way of the Lord, nor the judgments of
their God,</i> and promised himself that he should speed better
among the great men, as the chief captain here did, but soon found
himself disappointed there: these have <i>altogether broken the
yoke, and burst the bonds,</i> <scripRef id="Acts.xxiii-p30.9" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.4-Jer.5.5" parsed="|Jer|5|4|5|5" passage="Jer 5:4,5">Jer.
v. 4, 5</scripRef>. But, (2.) That which he is here said to aim at
is the gratifying of his own curiosity: He <i>would have known the
certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews.</i> Had he sent for
Paul to his own chamber, and talked freely with him, he might soon
have learned from him that which would have done more than satisfy
his enquiry, and which might have persuaded him to be a Christian.
But it is too common for great men to affect to set that at a
distance from them which might awaken their consciences, and to
desire to have no more of the knowledge of God's ways than may
serve them to talk of.</p>
</div></div2>