22:24 {3} The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.
(3) The wisdom of the flesh does not consider what is just, but what is profitable, and in addition takes into account the profit that can be gained, according as it presently appears.
22:24 Bade that he should be examined by scourging. Probably ignorant of the Hebrew tongue, unable to understand what had caused the fury of the people, thinking that it might be due to the commission of some horrible crime by the speaker, the chief captain, drawing him into the castle, ordered that he be put to the torture to compel him to make a confession. Until recent times, it was common to torture prisoners under the belief that thus they could be compelled to speak the truth. Scourging was the usual method of torture among the Romans. The prisoner's back was bared, he was bound, and the rods borne by the lictors were usually employed.
22:22-30 The Jews listened to Paul's account of his conversion, but the mention of his being sent to the Gentiles, was so contrary to all their national prejudices, that they would hear no more. Their frantic conduct astonished the Roman officer, who supposed that Paul must have committed some great crime. Paul pleaded his privilege as a Roman citizen, by which he was exempted from all trials and punishments which might force him to confess himself guilty. The manner of his speaking plainly shows what holy security and serenity of mind he enjoyed. As Paul was a Jew, in low circumstances, the Roman officer questioned how he obtained so valuable a distinction; but the apostle told him he was free born. Let us value that freedom to which all the children of God are born; which no sum of money, however large, can purchase for those who remain unregenerate. This at once put a stop to his trouble. Thus many are kept from evil practices by the fear of man, who would not be held back from them by the fear of God. The apostle asks, simply, Is it lawful? He knew that the God whom he served would support him under all sufferings for his name's sake. But if it were not lawful, the apostle's religion directed him, if possible, to avoid it. He never shrunk from a cross which his Divine Master laid upon his onward road; and he never stept aside out of that road to take one up.
