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At this point we will pause and set out the structure of the section before us:
M Acts 21:27. Jews of Asia.
N Acts 21:27. Stirred up the people.
O Acts 21:28. Charge. He brought Greeks.
P
Acts 21:29. Supposition. Paul and Trophimus.
Q Acts 21:30,31. Paul. Drawn out ... about to be killed.
R Acts 21:32.
Chief Captain and soldiers.
Q Acts 21:32.
Paul. They left beating him.
R
Acts 21:33-36. Chief Captain. Borne of the soldiers.
O Acts 21:37. Question. Canst thou speak Greek?
P Acts 21:38.
Supposition. Art thou that Egyptian?
M Acts 21:39. Jew of Tarsus.
N Acts 21:40 A great silence.
The Chief Captain having secured the apostle, binding him by two chains, demanded `who the man might be,
and what he had done?' receiving however but a confused and contradictory reply. Probably afraid that they were to
be cheated of their prey, the mob cried out `Away with him!' (Aire auton), using the identical words of the yelling
crowds who demanded the crucifixion of Christ, as recorded in Luke 23:18. The Chief Captain had ordered Paul to
be taken to the barracks, but the surging mob carried the fettered apostle off his feet, and he was only saved from
being torn limb from limb by the presence of the soldiery. In the midst of all this tumult, one man remained calm -
the poor battered prisoner !
`May I speak a word to you?' said a voice speaking in Greek. Lysias had evidently assumed that he had at last
laid hands on the false Messiah already mentioned and who had eluded pursuit since Passover, but he knew that this
Egyptian impostor could not speak Greek like that which he now heard. `I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a
city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people' (Acts 21:39). The
request was strange, and in all probability would have been refused, had not some dignity and authority made
themselves manifest beneath the battered appearance of the prisoner. To gain attention and command respect the
apostle had given at length the fact of his citizenship of Tarsus, adding, as further weight, the comment as to the
importance of the city. Moreover, the Romans, if brutal, were also brave, and the fact that a prisoner, and a Jew, just
snatched from a violent death, should request leave to turn and face his persecutors would impress them in his
favour.
Lysias apparently ordering one of Paul's hands to be unchained, the prisoner, standing on the stairs, with arm
uplifted, made signs that he wished to speak. His voice fell upon their ears with quieting effect, for the `Hebrew
tongue', in which Paul spoke (te Hebraidi dialekto) was the Syro-Chaldaic, the language of the native population of
Palestine. Had the apostle spoken in Greek the majority would have misunderstood him, but hearing what to them,
would be `the holy tongue', a stillness fell upon them all.
Here we must stay. The address which the apostle gave and its sequel, constitutes the opening of the last great
section of the Acts, which closes in Rome, with the imprisoned apostle `teaching those things which concern the
Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him'. With this closing section of the Acts is bound up
that ministry with which, through electing grace, all our hopes are associated.