22 And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. 23 And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, 24 The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. 25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? 26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman. 27 Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. 28 And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. 29 Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him. 30 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. (Acts 22:22-30 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Observe here, 1. With what patience the Jews heard the apostle’s discourse until he made mention of preaching to them. Upon which they brake forth into fury and passion, and expressed their fury by throwing dust into the air, and casting off their clothes as if they would presently stone him, whom they looked upon as the worst of villains, and unworthy to live: where we may remark at once both what a vile opinion the Jews had of the Gentiles, whom they called and accounted dogs, and what a high esteem they had of themselves, and a proud conceit of their own deservings as if the favours of heaven belonged to none but themselves, who yet trampled upon them when they were tendered to them.
Observe, 2. What a vile esteem these wicked Jews had of the holy and innocent apostle, who desired above all things to preach the glad tidings of the gospel to them, and longed most affectionately for the conversion and salvation of them. They account him the greatest villain upon earth, and unworthy to live upon it; but the good man had learnt (and let all the faithful ministers of Christ learn it after him) to take pleasure in reproaches, in persecutions, in necessities and distresses, for Christ’s sake. Away with such a fellow from the earth, it is not meet that he should live.
Observe, 3. The pious prudence and innocent policy which the apostle uses for his own preservation: when they were about to bind him to a post to scourge him, the apostle declares himself a free denizen of Rome, by being born in one of the cities which the Roman emperor had made free; accordingly St. Paul pleads for himself the privilege of a Roman citizen, who neither ought to be bound or beaten. Though we may not render evil for evil, yet we may right ourselves by all lawful means. Christ allows as much of the serpent as the dove in his servants, provided the subtlety of the one does not destroy the simplicity of the other. The head of the serpent and the heart of the dove do best together; for as policy without piety is too subtle to be good, so piety without policy is too simple to be safe.
Observe, 4. How the chief captain, fearing that he had done more than he could answer, because it was death for anyone in authority to violate the Roman privileges; therefore more out of fear than love, or more out of love to himself than the apostle, he looses St. Paul’s bonds.
Thence note, That when at any time the persecutors of the saints do desist from their bloody purposes, it is not out of love to them, but love to themselves.
Observe, lastly, The saints’ deliverances from affliction and persecution, whilst on this side of heaven, are not total or final, but momentary and partial. The apostle was delivered from his chains, not from his confinement; though unbound, not set at liberty. The next day we find him before the great council or Sanhedrin and fresh bonds and afflictions abide him.
Little rest is to be expected by the members and less rest by the faithful ministers of Jesus Christ in this world: blessed be God, for the believing hopes of eternal rest! where the fury of the persecutor and the injuries of the oppressor, shall cease forever; where no sin shall affect us, no sorrow afflict us, and no danger affright us; but we shall be perfectly like God as well in purity and immortality.
In the meantime, may we, the ministers of God who are set for the defence of the gospel, bear the burden and heat of the day with patience and courage, resolution and constancy; may we gird up the loins of our minds, not accounting either our labours or our lives dear to us, so that we finish our course with joy, and fulfil the ministry which we have received of the Lord, glorying in our reproaches for well-doing; yea, though we are accounted the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things: for when the chief shepherd shall appear, we shall receive a crown of glory which fadeth not away.