Acts 16:22-24 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And the multitude rose up against them Excited and inflamed by these accusations; and the magistrates Or the pretors; rent off their clothes That is, the clothes of Paul and Silas; for such was the Roman method of proceeding in such cases. Their magistrates were wont to command the lictors to rend open the clothes of the criminals, and to beat their bodies with rods; as Grotius here observes. And when they had laid many stripes upon them Had severely scourged them; (either they did not immediately say they were Romans, or in the tumult it was not regarded;) they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely Lest, among their numerous friends, a rescue should be attempted; who, having received such a charge A charge so strict, and from persons of such great rank; thrust them into the inner prison Where he thought them perfectly secure; especially as he also made their feet fast in the stocks These were probably those large pieces of wood, in use among the Romans, which not only loaded the legs of the prisoner, but kept them extended in a very painful manner. So that it is highly probable the situation of Paul and Silas here was much more painful than that of an offender sitting in the stocks among us, especially if they lay, as it is very possible they did, with their backs, so lately scourged, on the damp and dirty ground. These multiplied injuries, however, these servants of God, conscious of their integrity, and enjoying a sense of the divine favour, bore not only with entire resignation, but with great joy.