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THE KING’S BUSINESS
v. 33. “ Then the chief captain came near, and took (laid hold on) him, and com manded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded (inquired) who he was, and what he had done.” Paul’s troubles were not over yet. The colonel o f the Roman regiment now arrested him. He took it for granted if. every one was against Paul he must be guilty o f some great crime. That is the way we often judge. But the Roman colonel was wrong, and we may be as wrong as he. Unanimity on the part of any crowd does not prove that the crowd is right. Men are as likely to be unani mous in wrong as they are in right. Paul was loaded with chains., The prophecy of Agabus was fulfilled (cf. v. 11). After thus heaping indignities upon Paul the colonel inquired “ who he was and what he had done.” It would have been far better to have inquired before hand. v7 34. “And some cried (shouted) one thing, some another, among the multitude (crowd): and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult (uproar), he com manded him to be carried (brought) into the castle.” The mob themselves did not know why they had attacked Paul. Some' shouted one thing and some another. There is nothing more senseless than a mob~(cf. ch. 19:32). vs. 35, 36. “And when he came unto,.the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people (crowd). (36) For the multitude of the people followed after, crying (add, out), Away with him.” While the mob did not know what he had done they did know what they wanted to do with him. They wanted to kill him. They surged up around the sol diers with such violence that they were forced to lift Paul above their heads and thus carry him. Paul himself séems to have been the only calm person in the whole gathering (cf. Isa. 26:3). The hoarse cry continually rent the air, “Away with him.” The same cry had rung out on the air when Pilate, wished to release Jesus, but the people clamored for His blood. Paul was following closely in the same path his
acter, where something is seen, and some thing else inferred, and the inference stated as a fact. Men see—6ne thing and suppose another, and tell not what they see but what they suppose. - The supposer is a great liar and a slanderer. v. 30. “And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took (laid hold on) Paul, and drew (dragged) him out of the temple: and forthwith (straight way) the doors were shut.” Again Paul falls a victim to a mob, but it was no new experience' to him (ch. 16:20-22; 19:29). The maddened Jews laid heavy hands upon him and dragged him out o f the temple. It m^st have recalled the treatment of Stephen in which he had had a hand (cf. ch. 7:57, 58). We are very likely ourselves in due time to be treated in the same way we treat others (cf. Gal. 6:7). v. 31.7 "And as they went about (were seeking) to kill him, tidings came unto (up to) the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an (omit, an) uproar (confusion).” It was the intention o f the Jews to kill Paul at. once without any trial o f any kind (cf. ch. 26:9, 10). They fan cied in doing this they were doing God a service (cf. John 16:2). In the whole trans action we have a striking example of. the utter folly and wickedness o f mob law. Paul’s time however had not yet come and all the mobs on earth could not kill him until God saw fit to permit it. His deliver ance came from an unexpected source, at the hand o f an unscrupulous heathen (cf. ch. 23:27). v. 32. “ Who immediately (And forth with he) took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto (upon) them: and (add, they) when they saw the chief captain and the . soldiers, they (omit, they) left (add, off) beating of (omit, of) Paul." The mur derous Jews had a healthy respect for the Roman soldiers. Mobs usually have respect for soldiers. Mobs are cowardly things. They had been beating Paul, ju s t as he in olden times had beaten those who believed in Jesus (ch. 22:19). At the first sight of the soldiers they quit.
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