"all the city was moved;" [134:2] the
people ran together; and Paul was seized and dragged out of the temple.
[134:3] The apostle would have fallen a victim to popular fury had it
not been for the prompt interference of the officer who had the command
of the Roman garrison in the tower of Antonia. This stronghold
overlooked the courts of the sanctuary; and, no doubt, some of the
sentinels on duty immediately gave notice of the commotion. The chief
captain, whose name was Claudius Lysias, [134:4] at once "took soldiers
and centurions," and running down to the rioters, arrived in time to
prevent a fatal termination of the affray; for, as soon as the military
made their appearance, the assailants "left beating of Paul." [134:5]
"Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be
bound with two chains, and demanded who he was, and what he had done.
And some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude, and when he
could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be
carried into the castle." [134:6] In proceeding thus, the commanding
officer acted illegally; for, as Paul was a Roman citizen, he should
not, without a trial, have been deprived of his liberty, and put in
irons. But Lysias, in the hurry and confusion of the moment, had been
deceived by false information; as he had been led to believe that his
prisoner was an Egyptian, a notorious outlaw, who, "before these days,"
had created much alarm by leading "out into the wilderness four thousand
men that were murderers." [135:1] He was quite astonished to find that
the individual whom he had rescued from such imminent danger was a
citizen of Tarsus in Cilicia who could speak Greek; and as it was now
evident that there existed much misapprehension, the apostle was
permitted to stand on the stairs of the fortress, and address the
multitude. When they saw him preparing to make some statement, the noise
subsided; and, "when they heard that he spake to them in the Hebrew
tongue," that is, in the Aramaic, the current language of the country,
"they kept the more silence." [135:2] Paul accordingly proceeded to give
an account of his early life, of the remarkable circumstances of his
conversion, and of his subsequent career; but, when he mentioned his
mission to the Gentiles, it was at once apparent that the topic was most
unpopular, for his auditors lost all patience. "They gave him audience
unto this word, and then lifted up their voices