Acts 22:1-30 Paul attempts to give his testimony

Acts 22:1-16 Paul related his testimony of having been educated under Gamaliel, and then zealous in persecuting the early Christians. He went on to describe his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus, how Ananias came and prayed for him, and his baptism.

Acts 22:17-21 Paul went on to explain that he came to Jerusalem and prayed in the temple, when The Lord spoke to him that he could not preach the gospel in Jerusalem, and that He would send Paul to the Gentiles in distant lands.

Acts 22:22 The Jews had been listening to what Paul said to this point, but reacted viscerally to his statement that The Lord had sent him to the Gentiles, at which point they began vehemently demanding his death.

          It is a puzzle as to how the Holy Spirit determined what topics to have Paul discuss in this talk. (Luke 12:11-12) But he did not even get to the presentation of the gospel, as he was only partway through his testimony when the mob erupted and cut him short. Perhaps his credentials as a former Pharisee and also a former persecutor of the church could have gained him an audience. But the fundamental issue was that his ministry was to the Gentiles, and that was anathema to the Jews.

Acts 22:23-30 The Roman commander wanted above all to maintain public order, so he took Paul back into the army barracks and wanted to understand what was causing this riot. When he had Paul prepared to be examined by scourging, Paul played his citizenship card. Having been born a Roman citizen gave him a significant status within the Empire, which the army officer immediately realized. So he took a different tactic to find out what was the cause of all this unrest, bringing Paul and the Sanhedrin together for a face-to-face confrontation.

          One has to feel a bit of sympathy for this Roman officer, who had been assigned to pacify one of the most rebellious provinces in the Empire, who fought over trivial matters of religious doctrine, and refused in practice to accept the official tolerance of the Empire for the wide variety of religions in the lands they controlled. We don't know whether he was acquainted with the history of the Jews, the rebellion of the Maccabees against the Greek successors to Alexander, and/or their earlier history under the various other world empires, such as Babylon, Assyria, the Medes and the Persians.