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Arrangements for a decent hearing:
v. 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.
v. 30. On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their Council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.
The declaration of Paul that he was a free-born Roman citizen had its immediate effect. Those that were to put the question to him with torture stepped back immediately, with alacrity, for the torture was illegal in the case of a Roman citizen, although it might be employed in the case of slaves and foreigners. Even the chiliarch felt rather uncomfortable with fear, since he had now found out that Paul was a Roman citizen, and because he had bound him. If Paul had been of a vindictive nature, he might have caused the tribune some difficulty, but revenge did not enter his thoughts, since his object had been gained. But the commander now acted more carefully. It was still his firm resolve to find out the real reason why Paul was being accused by the Jews, what the trouble really was about. So he had Paul freed from his bonds, and commanded that the high priests and the entire Synedrion come together, the hearing probably taking place in their own council-chamber or at some place in the city outside of the Tower of Antonia, most likely in the Court of the Gentiles, where the Romans were permitted to appear, since he led Paul down from the hill and placed him in front of them. Thus the prophecy of Agabus had been fulfilled, and Paul was in the hands of the Gentiles, delivered there by the hands of his own countrymen.
Summary.Paul's speech to the Jews, first listened to in interested silence, is interrupted by shouts of anger, after which Paul saves himself from a scourging at the hands of the soldiers by declaring his Roman citizenship.