Acts 21:31-36 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And as they went about to kill him It was a rule among the Jews, that any uncircumcised person who came within the separating wall, mentioned above, might be stoned to death without any further process. And they seemed to think Paul, who, as they supposed, had brought such in thither, deserved no better treatment. Tidings came unto the chief captain of the band Greek, τω χιλιαρχω της σπειρης, to the tribune of the cohort, called Lysias. A cohort, or detachment of soldiers, belonging to the Roman legion which lodged in the adjacent castle of Antonia, were stationed on feast days near the temple, to prevent disorders. It is evident Lysias himself was not present when the tumult began. Probably he was the oldest Roman tribune then at Jerusalem, and, as such, was the commanding officer of the legion quartered at the castle. Who immediately took soldiers, &c. And ran down unto them, namely, to suppress the riot, knowing how much it was his concern to check such proceedings. And when they saw the chief captain and soldiers, they left beating of Paul Which it appears they had begun to do in such a manner, that, had he not been thus seasonably rescued in this critical moment, his life must soon have fallen a sacrifice to their rage. Then the chief captain Having made his way through the multitude, came near and took him Into his custody. And how many great ends of Providence were answered by this imprisonment! It was not only a means of preserving his life, (after he had suffered severely for worldly prudence,) but it gave him an opportunity of preaching the gospel safely, in spite of all tumult, Acts 22:22; yea, and that in those places to which otherwise he could have had no access, Acts 21:40. And commanded him to be bound with two chains Taking it for granted he was some notorious offender. And thus the prophecy of Agabus was fulfilled, though by the hands of a Roman. And demanded Of those that seemed most enraged against him; who he was Against whom such a general outcry was raised; and what he had done To deserve it. And some cried one thing and some another So great was the confusion of this riotous assembly, who neither knew one another's mind, nor their own; though every one pretended to give the sense of the whole body. And when he could not know the certainty for the tumult For the noise, clamour, and contradictory speeches that were uttered; he commanded him to be carried into the castle The tower of Antonia, where the Roman soldiers kept garrison. And when he came upon the stairs Leading to the castle. It was situated on a rock, fifty cubits high, at that corner of the outward temple where the western and northern porticoes joined, to each of which there were stairs descending from it. So it was that he was borne of the soldiers Up from the ground; for the violence of the people Who, if they could, would have pulled him limb from limb. And, when they could not reach him with their hands, they pursued him with their clamorous invectives: crying, Away with him Observe, reader, how the most excellent persons and things are often run down by a popular clamour: Christ himself was so treated, while they cried, Crucify him, crucify him, though they could not mention any evil he had done.