“This is the reason why I entreated you to see and to speak with me, for because of the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain.”
And it was the reason why he had called them together to see him and speak to him. Because he wanted them to know that he was not an apostate. It was for the hope of Israel that he was bound within this chain that they saw on him. As we have already seen the hope of Israel was a twin hope, the coming of the Messiah and the resurrection of the body.