---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Acts 22"
description: "CHAPTER 22   :-. PAUL"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/acts/22"
---

CHAPTER 22

. PAUL'S
DEFENSE FROM THE STAIRS
OF THE FORTRESS—THE
RAGE OF THE AUDIENCE
BURSTING FORTH,
THE COMMANDANT HAS
HIM BROUGHT
INTO THE FORT TO BE
EXAMINED BY SCOURGING,
BUT LEARNING THAT
HE IS
A ROMAN, HE
ORDERS HIS
RELEASE AND COMMANDS
THE SAMHEDRIM TO
TRY HIM.

**2. when they heard . . . the Hebrew
tongue**—(See on [Acts 22:2](../../../kjv/acts/22/2)).
**they kept the more
silence**—They could have understood him in *Greek,* and
doubtless fully expected the renegade to address them in that
language, but the sound of their holy mother tongue awed them into
deeper silence.

**3. a Jew of Tarsus, brought up in
this city, at the feet**—(See on ).
**of Gamaliel**—(See on ); a fact of great importance in the apostle's history,
standing in the same relation to his future career as Moses'
education in the Egyptian court to the work for which he was
destined.
**the perfect manner of the law
of the fathers**—the strictest form of traditional Judaism.
**zealous**—"a
zealot."
**toward God as ye all are this
day**—his own former murderous zeal against the disciples of the
Lord Jesus being merely reflected in their present treatment of
himself.

**4. I persecuted,** c.—(See on [Acts 9:5](../../../kjv/acts/9/5)).

**5. the high priest**—still
alive.
**doth bear me witness, and all
the estate of the elders**—the whole Sanhedrim.

**8. Jesus of Nazareth**—the
Nazarene. See on [Acts 9:5](../../../kjv/acts/9/5).

**9-11. they that were with me**—(See
on [Acts 9:7](../../../kjv/acts/9/7), &c.)

**12. Ananias, a devout man, according
to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt
there**—One would not know from this description of Ananias that
he was a Christian at all, the apostles object being to hold him up
as unexceptionable, even to the most rigid Jews.

**13-15. The God of our fathers hath
chosen thee**—studiously linking the new economy upon the old, as
but the sequel of it; both having one glorious Author.

**14. that thou shouldest . . . see
that**—"the"
**Just One**—compare
[Acts 3:14](../../../kjv/acts/3/14); [Acts 7:52](../../../kjv/acts/7/52).
**hear the voice of his
mouth**—in order to place him on a level with the other apostles,
who had "seen the [risen] Lord."

**13-15. The God of our fathers hath
chosen thee**—studiously linking the new economy upon the old, as
but the sequel of it; both having one glorious Author.

**16. be baptized and wash away thy
sins**—This way of speaking arises from baptism being the visible
seal of remission.
**calling on the name of the
Lord**—rather, "having called," that is, *after*
having done so; referring to the confession of Christ which *preceded*
baptism, as [Acts 8:37](../../../kjv/acts/8/37).

**17-21. it came to pass,** &c.—This
thrilling dialogue between the glorified Redeemer and his chosen
vessel is nowhere else related.
**when I was come again to
Jerusalem**—on the occasion mentioned in .
**while I prayed in the
temple**—He thus calls their attention to the fact that after his
conversion he kept up his connection with the temple as before.

**18. get . . . quickly out of
Jerusalem**—compare [Acts 9:29](../../../kjv/acts/9/29).
**for they will not receive thy
testimony . . . And I said, Lord, they know,** &c.—"Can
it be, Lord, that they will resist the testimony of one whom they
knew so well as among the bitterest of all against Thy disciples, and
whom nothing short of resistless evidence could have turned to Thee?"

**17-21. it came to pass,** &c.—This
thrilling dialogue between the glorified Redeemer and his chosen
vessel is nowhere else related.
**when I was come again to
Jerusalem**—on the occasion mentioned in .
**while I prayed in the
temple**—He thus calls their attention to the fact that after his
conversion he kept up his connection with the temple as before.

**21. depart for I will send thee far
hence unto the Gentiles**—that is, "Enough; thy testimony is
not to be thrown away upon Jerusalem; the Gentiles, afar off, are thy
peculiar sphere."

**22, 23. gave him audience to this
word . . . then . . . Away with such a fellow from the earth,**
&c.—Their national prejudices lashed into fury at the mention
of a mission to the Gentiles, they would speedily have done to him as
they did to Stephen, but for the presence and protection of the Roman
officer.

**24-26. examined by
scourging**—according to the Roman practice.
**that he might know wherefore
they cried so**—Paul's speech being to him in an unknown tongue,
he concluded from the horror which it kindled in the vast audience
that he must have been guilty of some crime.

**25. Paul said to the centurion that
stood by**—to superintend the torture and receive the confession
expected to be wrung from him.
**Is it lawful for you to
scourge a man that is a Roman,** &c.—See on .

**24-26. examined by
scourging**—according to the Roman practice.
**that he might know wherefore
they cried so**—Paul's speech being to him in an unknown tongue,
he concluded from the horror which it kindled in the vast audience
that he must have been guilty of some crime.

**27-29. art thou a Roman?**—showing
that this being of Tarsus, which he had told him before () did not necessarily imply that he was a Roman citizen.

**28. With a great sum obtained I this
freedom**—Roman citizenship was bought and sold in the reign of
Claudius, we know, at a high price: at a subsequent date, for next to
nothing. But to put in a false claim to this privilege was a capital
crime.
**I was*****free*****born**—born to it, by purchase, or in reward of services, on the
part of his father or some ancestor.

**29. chief captain also was afraid,**
&c.—See on [Acts 22:1](../../../kjv/acts/22/1).

**30. commanded the chief priests and
all their council to appear**—that is, the Sanhedrim to be
formally convened. Note here the power to order a Sanhedrim to try
this case, assumed by the Roman officers and acquiesced in on their
part.

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