Act 21:31-32 | KingComments | STEP | It seems that Paul’s time is up, that’s probably how he experienced it. The Jews, his people, are against him. We hear nothing more from his Jewish-Christian fellow-brothers. Then the Lord arranges for the commander of the Roman cohort to hear about it. He acts resolutely. He knows the highly inflammable Jews and certainly because of the hustle and bustle of the feast he will have put his soldiers in the highest state of readiness to intervene as soon as there would be an uproar. In the Antonia Fortress there was always a garrison of soldiers ready to act. From the fortress they had a good view over the temple square. The commander takes a department of soldiers with him and goes to the place where the lynching is in full swing. When those who attack Paul see the commander and the soldiers, they stop beating Paul. Surely he must have had a lot of fists and kicks by then. The commander frees Paul, but not to release him. He gives the order to handcuff Paul with two chains. Someone who incurs the folk anger in this way must have had a lot on his conscience, he must have thought. He immediately saw that it was not an ordinary quarrel. He asks the crowd about the person of Paul and about the crime he must have committed. As so often, the crowd is not unanimous because many have become involved in this uproar without knowing what it is all about. The commander does not learn anything from the crowd and orders that Paul be brought into the barracks of the Antonia Fortress in order to interrogate him there. This is done via the steps leading from the courtyard of the Gentiles to the fortress. These steps become the grandstand for Paul’s speech to the people. It is symbolic that he speaks to the people gathered here in the court of the Gentiles. By the way, the court of the Gentiles was made in response to the word that the house of God would be a house of prayer for all nations ( ). Paul may have been freed and captured by the commander and the soldiers, but that does not mean that the bloodlust of the crowd is stilled. They see their prey escape and try to get their hands on him again. The soldiers must protect him from the violence of the crowd by taking him in their midst and carrying him. While their prey escapes their hands, they shout: “Away with him!” This cry also sounded against the Lord Jesus ( ). In this Paul experiences the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ ( ).

‏ Acts 21:31-32

Paul Freed by the Romans

It seems that Paul’s time is up, that’s probably how he experienced it. The Jews, his people, are against him. We hear nothing more from his Jewish-Christian fellow-brothers. Then the Lord arranges for the commander of the Roman cohort to hear about it. He acts resolutely. He knows the highly inflammable Jews and certainly because of the hustle and bustle of the feast he will have put his soldiers in the highest state of readiness to intervene as soon as there would be an uproar. In the Antonia Fortress there was always a garrison of soldiers ready to act. From the fortress they had a good view over the temple square.

The commander takes a department of soldiers with him and goes to the place where the lynching is in full swing. When those who attack Paul see the commander and the soldiers, they stop beating Paul. Surely he must have had a lot of fists and kicks by then. The commander frees Paul, but not to release him. He gives the order to handcuff Paul with two chains. Someone who incurs the folk anger in this way must have had a lot on his conscience, he must have thought. He immediately saw that it was not an ordinary quarrel. He asks the crowd about the person of Paul and about the crime he must have committed. As so often, the crowd is not unanimous because many have become involved in this uproar without knowing what it is all about.

The commander does not learn anything from the crowd and orders that Paul be brought into the barracks of the Antonia Fortress in order to interrogate him there. This is done via the steps leading from the courtyard of the Gentiles to the fortress. These steps become the grandstand for Paul’s speech to the people. It is symbolic that he speaks to the people gathered here in the court of the Gentiles. By the way, the court of the Gentiles was made in response to the word that the house of God would be a house of prayer for all nations (Isa 56:7).

Paul may have been freed and captured by the commander and the soldiers, but that does not mean that the bloodlust of the crowd is stilled. They see their prey escape and try to get their hands on him again. The soldiers must protect him from the violence of the crowd by taking him in their midst and carrying him. While their prey escapes their hands, they shout: “Away with him!” This cry also sounded against the Lord Jesus (Lk 23:18). In this Paul experiences the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ (Phil 3:10).