April 26, 2014: Acts Chapter 22

The Book of Acts Chapter 22

Originally posted Monday June 2, 2008 

Acts Chapter 21:37-22:21 Paul's Defense

Paul has been arrested, bound with "two chains" and the soldiers are taking him to the barracks for interrogation. The Tribune, Claudius Lysias (1), is surprised to hear Paul speaking in Greek. In fact he has made the assumption that Paul is the Egyptian insurrectionist who had only recently led a revolt against Rome (2). This might have been an early example of "they all look the same to me."

Paul is quick to distance himself from a band of revolutionaries. His mention of Tarsus establishes Paul as a Hellenistic Jew living in a city noted for its educational excellence. With these credentials established, Paul asks for permission to speak to the crowd, which the Tribune grants.

Paul addresses the crowd in Aramaic to make his defense against those who charge that he teaches other Jews to ignore the law and the Jewish traditions of holiness. He does so by presenting his "Curriculum Vitae." Not only is he a Jew (they know that), he is the product of a strict Jewish education having studied under the tutelage of the great and highly respected Pharisaic teacher Gamaliel the Elder (3), himself the grandson of the even more famous Pharisee, Hillel. His training is as a Pharisee, one as zealous for God as they are.

Paul continues, giving his background as an avid persecutor of Jewish Christians, describing his experience of conversion to the Way on the road to Damascus. With the help of another "devout Jew according to the law," Ananias, he was told what God had in mind for him as a witness to the living presence of Christ.

After being baptized by Ananias he returned to Jerusalem. While praying in the Temple, Paul "fell into a trance" (had an epiphany) in which the voice of Jesus warned him that neither he nor his message about Jesus would be accepted. Paul thinks that his former role in the persecution of Christians will give his message an edge. The one who persecutes a sect and then through a visionary experience (prophetic) becomes one of their number surely will convince the Jews of the Way's acceptability to God. The voice of Jesus becomes insistent and commands Paul to "Go" for he is being sent to the Gentiles.

Acts Chapter 22:22-30 Paul and the Roman Tribune

Paul had managed to calm the crowd but it didn't last. His final comment is heard as an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. He is a faithful Jew who was being sent to the unclean Gentiles to preach about another Jew who had been rejected by the priests and elders, then had been executed by the Romans, cursed by God as one who was "hanged on a tree." The crowds immediately took up the chant, "Away with such a fellow," as they threw off their cloaks and began tossing dust into the air as signs of hostility.

The Tribune again intervened and had Paul brought back into the barracks. The reaction of the crowd was puzzling to this Gentile. He could make no sense of their actions, wanting to kill a man without describing the crime with which he was being charged. This certainly wasn't the Roman way. If the crowd will not tell him what terrible deed deserving death Paul has done, he would extract it from Paul. When you don't know what else to do use some old fashioned Roman persuasion. A good flogging will get the truth out of him.

When he had been securely stretched out and tied to the brace with straps by the soldiers and the whips were ready, Paul played the trump card. "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who is uncondemned?" Of course it was not. Roman law forbade such an action. Only through an investigation, proper witnesses and a conviction could any punishment be administered. The surprised Centurion immediately told the Tribune who immediately asked Paul if this were true. Yes! The Tribune is not prepared for this. How can a Jew, no matter how smart and eloquent he is, be a Roman citizen? Lysias, who was a Greek, had purchased his citizenship with a large some of money. Paul did not need to buy his citizenship. He was born a citizen for his father was a citizen. With that Lysias understood what he had almost done and the punishment he would have incurred as a result. But he still did not have the answers he wanted.

The next day Lysias released Paul from confinement. He notified the Temple authorities that he was ordering a meeting of all seventy-one members of a Great Sanhedrin, the Council. He was bringing Paul to them so that he might learn of what crime he was being charged.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Notes:

(1) Claudius Lysias was the commander (chiliarch) of a thousand man Jerusalem garrison ca. 58 CE when Felix was Procurator in Judea (58-60 CE).

(2) The Jewish historian, Josephus, writes of this revolt. The unnamed Egyptian came to Jerusalem claiming he was a prophet and Messiah. He convinced a large number of people - 4,000 is Luke's hyperbole, to come out of the city to the Mount of Olives. He promised that he would command the vast city walls to collapse and they would enter triumphantly, killing all those who were cooperating with the Romans. Before he was able to carry out his plan, Felix the Procurator of Judea sent a large force of soldiers and cavalry, killing or capturing most of them while the Egyptian escaped. (Antiquities of the Jews 20:8:6)

(3) Gamaliel the Elder (died ca. 52 CE) was a renowned Pharisee and teacher. He served as the President of the Sanhedrin for nearly four decades. Paul does not mention him in any of his biographical comments. His grandson, Gamaliel the Younger, survived the destruction of Jerusalem and became an important leader in the later rabbinic process of establishing normative Judaism and probably was instrumental in the final separation of Judaism from Christianity.