We have now seen what the elders advised St. Paul to do, in order to show the Jews that he was no enemy to the Law of Moses, and did not think it wrong to observe its forms, if people liked to do so, though it was unnecessary. And they added, "As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication": thus repeating that decision of the Church, with which the teaching of St. Paul agreed.
"Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them." All this was done for the sake of peace, and to make the Jews more willing to listen to St. Paul. Some people think it was not right nor wise to act in this manner, because it might lead man to believe, that the Law ought to be observed in all its ceremonies, and that St. Paul's practice did not quite agree with his preaching. At any rate it had not the effect of satisfying the Jews; on the contrary, it caused a serious disturbance. "When the seven days were almost ended," some unbelieving Jews of Asia, who had persecuted St. Paul in their own country, and were now come to Jerusalem for the same purpose, "when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help: this is the man, that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place." They declared that St. Paul, by his teaching, was taking away from the Jews all their privileges as the chosen people of God, and putting the heathen on an equality with them; that he taught men not to respect the law, nor to reverence the temple; and that he did not reverence it himself, but had polluted and defiled it; for, said they, he "brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place." This they said, because they had seen an Ephesian convert, named Trophimus, in the city with St. Paul, and "supposed that Paul had brought (him) into the temple"; which of course he had not done: because, though he knew that the entrance of a true Christian into the temple would not be displeasing to God, he knew that it would greatly offend the Jews, if any one who had been a Gentile, went any further than the outer court of the temple, set apart for the Gentiles: and he did not wish to offend or vex the Jews needlessly. We should never do anything to vex or grieve others, unless it is our duty to do it. Our duty we must do, whatever be the consequence.
The Jews, who now tried to stir up the people against St. Paul, succeeded to their utmost wish in raising a disturbance, for "all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut. And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar." The band here spoken of, was the Roman garrison, or party of soldiers, posted in Jerusalem, to keep the city in order, and prevent any kind of disturbance or riot amongst the Jews. The chief captain of this band, at the time we are speaking of, was a Roman named Claudius Lysias; "who," upon hearing of the uproar, "immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them." They had not far to go, for the place in which they were posted was the castle of Antonia, close to the north-west corner of the temple. This castle, or strong tower, had been built by Herod the Great: it was so high, that from the upper part, the soldiers on watch could see what was going on in the two outer courts of the temple: they would therefore have seen St. Paul dragged out of the temple by an angry mob, and they would at once have taken these tidings to their captain, who went down with all haste, and arrived in time to save the Apostle's life; for the Jews feared the Roman soldiers, and when they saw them, "they left beating of Paul"—that is, ceased to beat him.
"Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains"; for as he naturally concluded that St. Paul must have committed some crime, to make the Jews treat him in this way, his first care was to secure him, that he might not run away, and thus escape the punishment he deserved. We may be quite sure that the Apostle would have made no attempt to escape; but that the Romans could not know. When Claudius Lysias had secured his prisoner, he "demanded who he was, and what he had done." To this question, no reasonable answer could be given; for as St. Paul had not committed any crime, no intelligible accusation could be brought against him: and therefore, "some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude": so that Claudius Lysias could make out nothing for certain; "and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle." The Jews, unwilling to lose their victim, pressed after the soldiers who were leading him away, eager to kill him. "And when he came upon the stairs," leading up into the castle, "so it was, that he was borne," or carried, by "the soldiers for the violence of the people. For the multitude followed after, crying, Away with him." On the top of the stairs, the Apostle was out of reach of his furious enemies; "and as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee?" These words were spoken in Greek, to the astonishment of Claudius Lysias, who imagined that his prisoner must be a certain Egyptian, or rather a Jew who had come from Egypt to Jerusalem, about two years before this time. Giving out that he was a great prophet sent by God, this man persuaded great numbers of people to go with him to the Mount of Olives, promising, that they should see the walls of the city fall down at his command: but he intended, with the help of these people, to force his way into the city, and destroy the Roman guards. This attempt was, however, prevented by Felix, the governor of Judæa: many of these foolish people were killed, and the leader himself fled into the wilderness, accompanied by a great number of men, that "were murderers," or had committed other crimes which made them liable to punishment. Josephus the historian tells us, that these murderers were persons who, under pretence of religion, came up to Jerusalem with daggers or short swords, concealed under their cloaks, ready to do any act of violence. They were employed by Felix to murder Jonathan the High Priest; and for this crime they of course received no punishment. They afterwards made it a practice, to come up to Jerusalem for all the feasts; and then, either by hiring themselves out as assassins to those who wished to get rid of an enemy, or by killing those against whom they had any grudge, they committed numerous murders, even in the temple itself. The number of these murderers became very considerable, and the Roman Government wished to destroy them.
Chapter XXIII.—ST. PAUL BROUGHT BEFORE THE SANHEDRIM.
When St. Paul said in Greek to the Chief captain, "May I speak unto thee?" he said, in answer, "Canst thou speak Greek? Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers? But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people." Claudius Lysias readily granted this request. "And when he had given him licence, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people"; signifying that he had something to say, if they would only be quiet and listen to him. The people were now willing to hear him. "And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying, Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you." It would seem that many of those who had been crying out against St. Paul, had no idea that he was himself a Jew, and able to speak to them in their own beloved language; for "when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence." St. Paul then told the people that he himself was born a Jew, and had been brought up in Jerusalem by their famous teacher Gamaliel, who had taught him the very strictest observance of the Law of Moses; and that he himself had been so zealous for the Law, that he had at one time cruelly persecuted the Christians, as the High Priest and all the elders of the Jews could bear witness. Then he went on to give an account of all that had happened to him on his way to Damascus, and how he had in consequence become himself a believer in Jesus Christ. He also told the people, that when he was afterwards in Jerusalem, the Lord had appeared to him in a vision, and given him a positive command to go and preach to the Gentiles, saying, "Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles." Hitherto, the assembled multitude had listened quietly to what the Apostle said, "they gave him audience unto this word"; but when they heard him plainly declare, that it was the will of God that the Gentiles should share His favour, which they thought belonged only to themselves, they were filled with rage, and would hear no more: they "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 cast off their upper garments, that they might be ready to stone him, and threw dust up into the air, to show their hatred and contempt.
The Arabs in these days have a custom like this; for when any person, who is speaking in public, says anything they disapprove of, they throw dust into the air, to show that they have no respect for the speaker and do not believe what he is saying. St. Paul was now in great danger of being torn in pieces, if the people, who stood raging and shouting round the stairs on which he stood, could catch hold of him. Claudius Lysias saw that the only hope of stopping the uproar, was to take St. Paul out of sight of the enraged multitude. "And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle." But he was as far as ever from knowing what the Jews accused St. Paul of: he did not understand Hebrew, and therefore he had no idea of what had been said; but he naturally thought, that it must be something very wrong to put the people into such a rage. Seeing therefore, that there was no other chance of learning the truth, he now determined to have St. Paul beaten, according to the custom of the Romans, who treated prisoners in this way, in order to make them confess what crimes they had committed. Claudius Lysias therefore, after having had the Apostle brought into the castle, "bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. And as they bound him with thongs" to a pillar, as was usual in such cases, "Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?" The privileges of a Roman, that is, of a Roman citizen, have been explained. The centurion, who commanded the party of soldiers about to scourge the prisoner, was fully aware of the danger of so treating one, who had in any way obtained the freedom of Rome; and therefore, when he heard such words spoken by his prisoner, he at once "went, and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest; for this man is a Roman." Such a startling piece of intelligence, at once brought Claudius to the spot where the prisoner stood bound with thongs to a pillar, with the soldiers round ready to scourge him. "Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him" by this torture: and not only did the chief captain give up all idea of scourging St. Paul, but he "also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him."
Even binding a Roman citizen was unlawful, and for doing this Claudius Lysias was liable to be punished. Nero, who had become Emperor of Rome about four years before this time, on the death of Claudius, a.d. 54, was a harsh and cruel tyrant; and though he would not have cared whether St. Paul was tortured or not, he would have been very angry if any of the laws concerning the Roman privileges had been broken; and therefore Claudius Lysias had good reason to fear, that if St. Paul complained of the treatment which he, a free-born citizen of Rome, had received, the Emperor would cause him to be punished. If he had known more of the precepts taught by Jesus, he would have felt sure that St. Paul would have no wish to revenge himself in such a manner. The Apostle made use of his rights as a Roman citizen to save himself from a cruel punishment; because, if he had been scourged, it might have led men to think that he must have been guilty of some crime to deserve such a punishment; and it was necessary that the teachers of the holy Word of God should appear blameless before all men.
The chief captain now took other measures for finding out what St. Paul was accused of; and he summoned the Sanhedrim to meet, that they might in a lawful manner examine and judge the prisoner, and so ascertain whether there was any reason for the rage of the people against him. We read, "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. And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day."