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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Acts 22:22 - 22:29
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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Act_22:22-29
22They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!" 23And as they were crying out and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air, 24the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, stating that he should be examined by scourging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way. 25But when they stretched him out with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?" 26When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman." 27The commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" And he said, "Yes." 28The commander answered, "I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money." And Paul said, "But I was actually born a citizen." 29Therefore those who were about to examine him immediately let go of him; and the commander also was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had put him in chains.
Act_22:22 Their statement is idiomatic and has two parts.
1. "take (present active imperative) from the earth such a man" (cf. Luk_23:18; Act_21:36)
2. "not fitting (imperfect active indicative) for him to live" (cf. Act_25:24)
Their racial and religious biases are revealed. All humans are historically and culturally conditioned.
Act_22:23
NASB "throwing off their clothes"
NKJV "tore off their clothes"
NRSV "throwing off their cloaks"
TEV "waving their clothes"
NJB "waving their cloaks"
This tearing off and waving of clothes or the throwing of them into the air were OT signs of mourning over a blasphemy (Greek-English Lexicon, Louw and Nida, vol. 1, p. 213, cf. Act_14:14).
▣ "tossing dust into the air" Paul was lucky that there were no rocks available. Putting dust on one's head was a sign of mourning (cf. Jos_7:6; 1Sa_4:12; 2Sa_1:2; Job_2:12), here mourning over blasphemy (cf. Isaiah 47; Lamentations 2; Mic_1:10).
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Act_22:24 "the commander" This is the word chiliarch (cf. Act_22:27-29), which means a leader of 1000, as the term centurion (cf. Act_22:25-26) implies a leader of 100. However, the numbers are relative. He was the officer in charge of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem.
▣ "the barracks" This refers to the Fortress Antonia, which overlooked and connected to the Temple area. It was built in the Persian Period during Nehemiah's day (cf. Neh_2:8; Neh_7:2). Herod the Great renamed it after Marc Antony. During feast days Jerusalem swelled to three times its normal population. The Romans moved large numbers of troops from Caesarea into the Fortress Antonia for security purposes.
▣ "examined by scourging" This implies "beat the information out of him." Scourging was a cruel form of torture. Many died from it. It was much more severe than Jewish flogging or Roman beating with rods. A leather whip with pieces of metal, stone or bones sewn into the strands was used to whip prisoners.
Act_22:25 "stretched him out" Usually the victims were bent over and bound to a low post for the scourging to be performed.
▣ "Is it lawful" These soldiers were about to transgress their own law in several points:
1. a Roman citizen could not be bound (cf. Act_21:33; Act_22:29)
2. a Roman citizen could not be scourged (cf. Livy, History 10:9:4; Cicero, Pro Rabirio 4:12-13)
3. Paul had not been tried and found guilty (cf. Act_16:37)
Act_22:27 "are you a Roman" The "you" is emphasized. This Roman officer could not believe Paul was a Roman citizen.
Act_22:28 "I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money" There were three ways to be a Roman citizen:
1. by birth
2. given for special service to the state
3. purchased (Dio Cassius, Rom. Hist. 60:17:5-6)
This soldier's name implies that he purchased his citizenship under Claudius and that he was a Greek (Claudius Lysias, cf. Act_23:26). Claudius' wife, Messaline, often sold Roman citizenships for large sums of money.