Chapter XV.—ST. PAUL LEAVES PHILIPPI.
It would seem that the magistrates of Philippi, upon thinking calmly over the matter, felt that they had acted hastily and unjustly, in commanding two men to be scourged and put into prison, without a trial; for we read, "And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants," officers under their command, to the jailor, "saying, Let those men go." The keeper of the prison, well pleased to receive such an order, told this to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace. But Paul said unto" the serjeants who stood by, "They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out."
Now in order to understand all this, we must remember that the Romans, who thought themselves greatly superior to any other people in the world, were very jealous of their power and privileges as citizens of Rome. Thus, if a Roman citizen was ill treated, the Roman Government would severely punish any one who had dared to ill treat him. All persons whose parents were natives and citizens of Rome, were looked upon as free-born citizens; and enjoyed from their birth, all the rights and privileges given by the Roman Government to her subjects.
Persons not born of Roman citizens, if they had done good service, either by fighting for Rome, or in any other way, were often rewarded by receiving the Freedom of the City; that is, by being looked upon and treated as Roman citizens, and having an equal share in all the privileges and benefits, granted to such Romans as were free-born.
St. Paul was not a native of Rome, nor were his parents; for they were Jews, settled at Tarsus, in Cilicia: probably some of his ancestors, his grandfather or great-grandfather, had served in the Roman armies, and been rewarded for some great service, by receiving the freedom of the city: after which, all his descendants would be looked upon as free-born citizens of Rome.
The Roman Emperors sometimes allowed strangers to buy the privileges: the Emperor Claudius did so: and for a large sum of money allowed people to have for themselves the privileges of a Roman citizen—a great advantage in those days, as the rulers of every Roman province were bound to protect every Roman citizen in it, and not suffer any one to be ill treated. To scourge and imprison a Roman citizen, without having first proved him to have been guilty of some great crime, was an offence which the Roman Government punished most severely; and therefore, we find that when the serjeants went back, and "told these words unto the magistrates, they feared, when they heard that they were Romans. And they came and besought them" not to report the treatment they had received, "and brought them out" of prison, "and desired (or entreated) them to depart out of the city."
We may be quite sure that St. Paul neither valued nor used the privileges of a Roman, further than they could serve to the glory of God. In this case, many of the people who had seen him and Silas beaten and cast into prison, would naturally think that they must have done something wrong: this would prevent the people from listening to what they taught. It was necessary, therefore, that St. Paul should show clearly that he had not deserved any punishment; and that the magistrates themselves acknowledged, that they had sinned in treating him in such a manner. St. Paul, by his conduct, plainly proved his innocence of all offence. "And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed."
Of course the brethren were very sorry to lose St. Paul; but now that he had established a Church at Philippi, they could go on without him, whilst his teaching was much wanted in other places: and consequently, he and Silas journeyed on to the south-west. "Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia," preaching the Gospel no doubt, though we hear nothing as to their success, they went to Thessalonica, an important city of Macedonia, and one in which many Jews resided; for there was a synagogue there. "And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them" in their synagogue, "and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures": showing that those holy writings, prophesied both the sufferings and the rising again of Christ the Messiah; and then plainly telling them, "this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ," the promised Messiah, of whom your Scriptures speak.
"And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few." As usual, the Jews were more bitter against the Gospel than the Gentiles; and we read that "the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort,"—men of no principle, ready at any time to do any mischief which came in their way: by the help of these men, the Jews "gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted (or attacked) the house of Jason," where they supposed the Apostles to be, "and sought to bring them out to the people," who, in their excited state, would probably have put them to death without further inquiry.