[The posts which follow make extensive use of The Acts of the Apostles, by Madame Cecilia, (Religious of St Andrew's Convent, Streatham), with an Imprimi potest dated 16 October 1907 (Westminster); Burns, Oates & Washbourne Ltd. (London). With grateful prayers for the author and her team:
REQUIEM æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.ETERNAL rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.]
Acts XXII : 22-30
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| St Paul. J-J Tissot. |
[23] And as they cried out and threw off their garments, and cast dust into the air,
[24] The tribune commanded him to be brought into the castle, and that he should be scourged and tortured: to know for what cause they did so cry out against him.
[25] And when they had bound him with thongs, Paul saith to the centurion that stood by him: Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?
[26] Which the centurion hearing, went to the tribune, and told him, saying: What art thou about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.
[27] And the tribune coming, said to him: Tell me, art thou a Roman? But he said: Yea.
[28] And the tribune answered: I obtained the being free of this city with a great sum. And Paul said: But I was born so.
[29] Immediately therefore they departed from him that were about to torture him. The tribune also was afraid after he understood that he was a Roman citizen, and because he had bound him.
[30] But on the next day, meaning to know more diligently for what cause he was accused by the Jews, he loosed him, and commanded the priests to come together, and all the council: and bringing forth Paul, he set him before them.
[22] Audiebant autem eum usque ad hoc verbum, et levaverunt vocem suam dicentes : Tolle de terra hujusmodi : non enim fas est eum vivere. [23] Vociferantibus autem eis, et projicientibus vestimenta sua, et pulverem jactantibus in aerem, [24] jussit tribunus induci eum in castra, et flagellis caedi, et torqueri eum, ut sciret propter quam causam sic acclamarent ei. [25] Et cum astrinxissent eum loris, dicit astanti sibi centurioni Paulus : Si hominem Romanum, et indemnatum licet vobis flagellare?
[26] Quo audito, centurio accessit ad tribunum, et nuntiavit ei, dicens : Quid acturus es? hic enim homo civis Romanus est. [27] Accedens autem tribunus, dixit illi : Dic mihi si tu Romanus es? At ille dixit : Etiam. [28] Et respondit tribunus : Ego multa summa civilitatem hanc consecutus sum. Et Paulus ait : Ego autem et natus sum. [29] Protinus ergo discesserunt ab illo qui eum torturi erant. Tribunus quoque timuit postquam rescivit, quia civis Romanus esset, et quia alligasset eum. [30] Postera autem die volens scire diligentius qua ex causa accusaretur a Judaeis, solvit eum, et jussit sacerdotes convenire, et omne concilium, et producens Paulum, statuit inter illos.
Notes
22. heard him. They heard him until he declared that God had commissioned him to evangelize the Gentiles. At this, their Jewish pride, prejudice, and exclusiveness were aroused, and they became furious.
The prophets in successive ages had predicted the ingathering of the nations. Cf. Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrha (Isa, i. 10). Ezechiel, too, prophesies that Sodom, Samaria, and all the peoples of Palestine shall be “ sisters ” and “ daughters " to Israel (see xvi. eeq.).
We may compare this outburst of fury with that which was directed against our Lord in the synagogue at Nazareth, when He spoke of Elias being sent to a woman of Sidon, and of Eliseus healing Naaman the Syrian (see St Luke iv. 520-
their voice. The people raised a simultaneous cry of rage when he declared his mission to the Gentiles.
it is not fit. The best MSS. (A, B, C, D, E) give “ it was not befitting” (καθηκεν). The meaning is, “he ought to have been put to death long ago ; the tribune should not have rescued him from our hands.”
23. threw off their garments, etc. It is not probable, as some commentators have suggested, that they cast off their garments in order to stone St Paul, since he was in the charge of the Roman soldiers. The action here described, the waving of the garments and the stirring up of clouds of dust, were the expressions of their savage fury. Their cries and actions had for object “to make the insurrection more fierce, because they wished to frighten the governor” (St John Chrysostom). They thirsted for the blood of the blasphemer, and wished to dispense with the formality of a trial. Ovid refers to the practice of giving signs by waving the togas, “ jactatis signa dedere togis.”
“Sir John Chardin, as (noted by Harmer (Obs., iv. 203), says that it is common for the peasants in Persia, when they have a complaint to lay before their governors, to repair to them by hundreds, or a thousand, at once. They place themselves near the gate of the palace, where they suppose they are most likely to be seen and heard, and then set up a horrid outcry, rend their garments and throw dust into the air, at the same time demanding justice.”
24. scourged and tortured. Lit. “to be examined by scourges” (μαστιξιν ἀνεταζεσθαι), this verb is rarely used in this sense, and only occurs twice in the New Testament — in this passage and in verse 29. It was against the Roman law to begin a trial by torturing the accused (Non esse a tormentis incipiendum, Divas Augustus statuit, — Digest, 1. 48, tit. 18). Although it was illegal to scourge a Roman citizen, slaves and strangers might be subjected to this punishment. The object of torturing by scourging was to obtain a confession of guilt from the accused.
to know for what cause. “The tumult continued, and the commandant, who had been unable to follow the Aramaic, saw only a sea of waving garments and a cloud of dust thrown into the air — the ordinary Oriental symptoms of excitement. Hopeless of obtaining any information from the Jews, he decided to have recourse to ‘the question’ — the cruel and useless method of extracting the truth by torture, which prevailed universally down to quite modern times” (Rackham, Acts of the Apostles, p. 426).
25. bound him with thongs. The soldiers were binding St Paul to the whipping-post, so that he was leaning forward with his back bared to receive the blows of the scourge. The thongs were leathern straps used to tie the prisoner, the heating was inflicted with the scourge.
the centurion that stood by. The centurion appointed to superintend the execution of the tribune’s order. There are frequent allusions in Tacitus to this onerous part of a centurion’s duty (centurio supplicio præpositus).
Is it lawful ? etc. St Paul profited by his Roman citizenship just in time to escape being scourged. There has been no occasion to mention it before, and probably no opportunity.
uncondemned, See Annot. on xvi. 37, where the same word occurs.
26. What art thou about to do ? The words are more emphatic in the original, and are given as a warning. The A.V. reads, “ Take heed what thou doest.” By the “Lex Porcia,” it was forbidden to scourge a Roman citizen. (Porcia lex virgas ab omnium civium romanorum corpore amovit, — Cicero, Pro. Rabiro, 4.) See Annot. on xvi. 37.
27. art thou a Roman ? The question shews astonishment. The pronoun “thou” is emphatic, for it seemed incredible that this Jew, disfigured by the rough treatment of the mob, and speaking Hebrew and Greek fluently, should be a citizen of Rome.
28. with a great sum. The citizenship of Rome could be obtained by merits, by favour, or by money. In the time of Claudius this right was sold by his favourite, Messalina, for a very small sum, but under the first emperors it was obtained with great difficulty.
29. The tribune also was afraid. As the magistrates of Philippi were, when they made the same discovery.
because he had hound him. It was lawful to put one chain on the hand of a Roman citizen who was accused. St Paul, during his captivity in Rome, refers to “ the chain ” which he wore (see Phil. L 7, 13 ; Col. iv. 18, etc.). It was by binding St Paul with thongs, in order to scourge him, that the tribune had acted illegally. Had the imposition of the chain been unlawful, Lysias would have taken it off at once.
On this subject Lewin has an excellent note: “The safe custody of a Roman citizen before trial might be provided for in two ways : (1) he might have apartments assigned to him in the magistrate’s own house, or be liberated on bail, which was called 'libera custodia' ; or (2) he might be held by a chain from his right hand to a soldier's left, which was called 'militaris custodia,' Paul, on his first arrest, had been secured by two chains, but on his being recognised as a Roman he was saved from the torture and from manacles, and was secured by one chain only from the wrist of the right hand to the wrist of a soldier’s left, 'fhe militaris custodia during his imprisonment is implied in the fact that he was consigned to a centurion (Acts xxiv, 23). The custody of Paul very much resembled that of Agrippa in the time of Tiberius. Agrippa had comparative liberty, but was bound by a single chain to a soldier (Jos., Ant., xviii. 6, 10)," (Life and Epistles of St Paul, vol. ii. p. 148).
30. meaning. Better, “desiring” (βουλομενος).
loosed him. Generally, this verb is used of setting a man free, but the context shews that it simply refers here to St Paul’s chains being taken off.
commanded the priests, etc. In Josephus (Bell Jud., ii., xv. 6) we read that Gessius Florus summoned the high-priest and the whole council. Perhaps Claudius Lysias was acting for him in his absence. “ In the confusion and anarchy which was at this time beginning to prevail, Jewish independence in religious matters was seriously impaired.”
bringing forth. Better, “bringing down” (καταλαλων), i.e. from the barracks to the place of assembly. This could not be the Gazith (or hall of polished stones), which no Gentile was allowed to enter, as it was situated within the part of the Temple reserved for Israelites.
“ The Sanhedrim had originally sat in the Gazith, an apartment in the inner temple, but as the Roman emperors had granted the boon that whatever heathen passed the sacred limits might be instantly put to death, it was afterwards found unsafe to permit deliberations where the Romans themselves could not exercise a surveillance. According to tradition, the Sanhedrim ceased to hold their sessions in the Temple about twenty-eight years before the period of which we are speaking. They then moved down to the council-room, just without the Temple, and adjoining the western cloister, on the site of the present Mehkimeh or Town Hall ” (Lewin, Life and Epistles of St Paul, p. 149).
set him, before them. Lysias placed St Paul in the midst of them that he might be judged by them, but he did not give him up into their power.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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