Acts 22:30

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) Because he would have known the certainty . . .—Better, wishing to know the certain fact, namely, why he was accused. Failing to get the information by the process of torturing the prisoner, the chiliarch now has recourse to the other alternative of getting a formal declaration from the Sanhedrin, as the chief representative body of the Jews. As yet, it will be remembered, they had taken no official action in the proceedings, and the chief captain had heard only the clamours of the crowd.

Benson Commentary

Acts 22:30. On the morrow — The chief captain, having become more anxious to know certainly what Paul’s crime was, since he understood that he was a Roman citizen; loosed him from his bands — In which he had laid him a close prisoner; and commanded the chief priests, and all their council — All the members of the sanhedrim; to appear — Or to come together and hold a court; and brought Paul down — From the castle; and set him before them — That he might be examined and tried according to the laws and usages of his own country; in order that the most seditious of the Jews might have no reason to complain of the manner in which they were treated.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:22-30 The Jews listened to Paul's account of his conversion, but the mention of his being sent to the Gentiles, was so contrary to all their national prejudices, that they would hear no more. Their frantic conduct astonished the Roman officer, who supposed that Paul must have committed some great crime. Paul pleaded his privilege as a Roman citizen, by which he was exempted from all trials and punishments which might force him to confess himself guilty. The manner of his speaking plainly shows what holy security and serenity of mind he enjoyed. As Paul was a Jew, in low circumstances, the Roman officer questioned how he obtained so valuable a distinction; but the apostle told him he was free born. Let us value that freedom to which all the children of God are born; which no sum of money, however large, can purchase for those who remain unregenerate. This at once put a stop to his trouble. Thus many are kept from evil practices by the fear of man, who would not be held back from them by the fear of God. The apostle asks, simply, Is it lawful? He knew that the God whom he served would support him under all sufferings for his name's sake. But if it were not lawful, the apostle's religion directed him, if possible, to avoid it. He never shrunk from a cross which his Divine Master laid upon his onward road; and he never stept aside out of that road to take one up.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

On the morrow - After he had arrested Paul. Paul was still a prisoner; and if suffered to go at liberty among the Jews, his life would have been in danger.

And commanded the chief priests ... - Summoned a meeting of the Sanhedrin, or Great Council of the nation. He did this, as he was prevented from scourging Paul, in order to know what he had done, and that he might learn from the Jews themselves the nature of the charge against him. This was necessary for the safety of Paul and for the ends of justice. This should have been done without any attempt to torture him in order to extort a confession.

And brought Paul down - From the elevated castle of Antonia. The council assembled commonly in the house of the high priest.

And set him before them - He brought the prisoner to their bar, that they might have have an opportunity to accuse him, and that thus the chief captain might learn the real nature of the charge against him.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

30. commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear—that is, the Sanhedrim to be formally convened. Note here the power to order a Sanhedrim to try this case, assumed by the Roman officers and acquiesced in on their part.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He loosed him from his bands; that he might not continue, after knowledge, in that (accounted) crime of binding a Roman citizen; as also that Paul might speak with the greater liberty and freedom in his own defence.

The chief priests; the chief of the four and twenty courses amongst the priests, according to their families, or such as in place and dignity did excel in the sanhedrim.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

On the morrow,.... The next day; so that Paul was kept in the castle all night: because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews; which, as yet, he could not come at, some saying one thing, and some another; and which he ought to have known before he had bound him, and ordered him to be scourged:

he loosed him from his bands not from his being bound with thongs to the pillar, that he had been loosed from before, but from the two chains with which he was bound, and held by two soldiers; see Acts 21:33.

and commanded the chief priests, and all the council to appear, the whole Jewish sanhedrim, which was now very much under the direction and influence of the Romans: and this he the rather did, because, though he could not come at the certainty of the charge and accusation, he perceived it was a matter of religion, and so belonged to them to examine and judge of:

and brought Paul down; from the Castle of Antonia, into the temple, and to the place where the sanhedrim sat, which formerly was in the chamber Gazith, but of late years it had removed from place to place, and indeed from Jerusalem itself, and was now at Jabneh; only this was the time of Pentecost, and so the chief priests and sanhedrim were at Jerusalem on that account:

and set him before them; or "among them"; in the midst of them, to answer to what charges should be brought against him.

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Acts 22:30. Τὸ τί κατηγ. παρὰ τ. Ἰουδ.] is an epexegetical definition of τὸ ἀσφαλές. The article, as in Acts 4:21. The τί is nominative. Comp. Thuc. i. 95. ii. ἀδικία πολλὴ κατηγορεῖτο αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων, Soph. O. R. 529.

ἔλυσεν αὐτόν] Lysias did not immediately, when he learned the citizenship of Paul, order him to be loosed, but only on the following day, when he placed him before the chief priests and in general the whole Sanhedrim (τοὺς ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ πᾶν τὸ συνέδρ., comp. Matthew 26:59; Mark 14:55). This was quite the proceeding of a haughty consistency, according to which the Roman, notwithstanding the ἐφοβήθη, could not prevail upon himself to expose his mistake by an immediate release of the Jew. Enough, that he ordered them to refrain from the scourging not yet begun; the binding had at once taken place, and so he left him bound until the next day, when the publicity of the further proceedings no longer permitted it. Kuinoel’s view, that ἔλυσεν refers to the releasing from the custodia militaris, in which the tribune had commanded the apostle to be placed (bound with a chain to a soldier) after the assurance that he was a Roman citizen, is an arbitrary idea forced on the text, as ἔλυσεν necessarily points back to δεδεκώς, Acts 22:29 (and this to Acts 21:33).

καταγαγών from the castle of Antonia down to the council-room of the Sanhedrim.[141] Comp. Acts 23:10.

[141] See also Wieseler, Beitr. z. Würdig. d. Ev. p. 211.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 22:30. τὸ τί κατηγ. παρὰ τῶν Ἰ.: epexegetical of τὸ ἀσφαλὲς, cf. Acts 4:21 for the article, and Luke 1:62; Luke 9:46; Luke 19:48; Luke 22:2; Luke 22:4; Luke 22:23-24; Luke 22:37, also 1 Thessalonians 4:1, Romans 8:26, Matthew 19:18, Mark 9:10; Mark 9:23. The usage therefore is more characteristic of St. Luke than of the other Evangelists, Viteau, Le Grec du N.T., p. 67 (1893), Hawkins, Horæ Synopticæ, p. 38.—παρὰ, if retained, cf. Winer-Moulton, xlvii., 5 b, who takes it to mean “on the part of the Jews,” i.e., they had not as yet presented any accusation.—ἔλυσεν αὐτὸν: according to Acts 22:29 it looks as if the chiliarch immediately he knew of St. Paul’s Roman citizenship released him from his severe bondage. Overbeck, Weiss, Holtzmann therefore refer τῇ ἐπαύριον only to βουλ. γνῶναι, and not to ἔλυσεν and ἐκέλευσεν, but the order of the words cannot be said to favour this, and Wendt (1899) rejects this interpretation. The words may possibly mean that he was released from the custodia militaris in which he had been placed as a Roman citizen, although he had been at once released from tine chains, cf. Acts 21:33. In Acts 22:10 of the next chapter he apparently stands before the Council not in any way as a prisoner, but as one who stood on common ground with his accusers.—καταγ., i.e., from Antonia.—συν(ελθεῖν) … τὸ συν. Schürer, Jewish People, div. ii., vol. i., p. 190, E.T., contends that the Council probably met upon the Temple Mount itself; it could not have been within the Temple, or we could not account for the presence of Lysias and his soldiers (see also Schürer, u. s., p. 191, note), but cf. on the other hand for the place of meeting, O. Holtzman, Neutest. Zeitgeschichte, p. 176, and also the remarks of Edersheim, Hist. of the Jewish Nation, p. 131. Hilgenfeld, Zw, Th., p. 517 ff. (1896), so Wendt, Clemen, Jüngst, J. Weiss and Spitta regard the whole scene before the Sanhedrim as an interpolation extending from Acts 20:30 to Acts 23:10. But most of the objections to the passage may be classed as somewhat captious, e.g., objection is taken to the fact that on the second night of his imprisonment St. Paul is assured by Christ that he should testify at Rome, Acts 23:11; why should such a communication be delayed to the second night of the imprisonment? it belongs to the first night, just as we reckon dreams significant which occur in the first night of a new dwelling-place! So again it is urged that the vision of the Lord would have had a meaning after the tumult of the people in 22, but not after the sitting of the Sanhedrim in 23. But if Acts 22:10 is retained there was every reason for Paul to receive a fresh assurance of safety. In Acts 23:12-35 we have again Hilgenfeld’s source , and in this too Hilgenfeld finds a denial of the preceding narrative before the Sanhedrim, on the ground that Paul’s trial is not represented as having taken place, but as only now in prospect. But Acts 22:15; Acts 22:20 may fairly be interpreted as presupposing a previous inquiry, unless we are to believe, as is actually suggested, that ἀκριβέστερον may have prompted the author of Acts to introduce the account of a preceding hearing.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

30. The Chief Captain brings Paul before the Sanhedrin

30. because he would have known] Literally and better (with Rev. Ver.) “desiring to know.” The Chief Captain was anxious as a Roman officer, that justice should be done, and this could only be by having both sides before some authoritative council.

he loosed him from his bands] The oldest MSS. do not contain the last three words, but they are to be understood, whether expressed or not.

and commanded the chief priests] He had discovered thus much that the offence charged against his prisoner was concerning the religion of the Jews. He therefore summons the chief religious authorities as those who were best able to decide whether any wrong had been done.

and all their council] The oldest text omits “their.” The council intended was the whole Jewish Sanhedrin.

to appear] i.e. to be assembled in some place to which he might bring Paul, and have the case fairly discussed. The place where the Sanhedrin met for their own consultations was called Lishkath-Haggazith and was a hall built of cut stone so situate that one half was built on holy, the other half on the profane ground, and it had two doors, one to admit to each separate section. T. B. Joma 25a. But whether this was the place of meeting at this time we have no means of deciding.

brought Paul dawn] The castle was situate on the highest part above the temple, so that wherever he had to go, the Chief Captain must come down.

set him before them] He appears to have left him there (see Acts 23:10) and to have given him over to them for examination, though still taking care that he should not be the victim of mob-law.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 22:30. Κατηγορεῖται, he was being accused) He had as yet heard no accusation, but had understood that there was some accusation lying underneath.—ἔλυσεν, he loosed him) for some time: for, in ch. Acts 23:18, he is again said to be bound, ὁ δέσμιος, “the prisoner.” Comp. ch. Acts 24:27, Acts 26:29.—ἐκέκλευσεν, he commanded) So much diminished was the authority of the people.—συνελθεῖν, to come together) to the usual place.—καταγαγὼν, having brought down) from the camp to the city, which lay in a lower position beneath.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30. - But on for on, A.V.; desiring to know for because he would have known, A.V.; loosed him for loosed him from his bands, A.V. and T.R.; the council for their council, A.V. and T.R.; to come together for to appear, A.V. and T.R. Brought Paul down; from the castle to the council-room below, either to the hall Gazith or to some other place of meeting. Lysias probably still kept Paul a prisoner through the night, on account of the excited state of the people.



Acts 22:30

Vincent's Word Studies

Brought Paul down

To the meeting-place of the Sanhedrim: probably not their usual place of assembly, which lay within the wall of partition, which Lysias and his soldiers would not have been allowed to pass.