Chapter XXIII.--ST. PAUL BROUGHT BEFORE THE SANHEDRIM.

When St. Paul said in Greek to the Chief captain, "May I speak unto thee?" he said, in answer, "Canst thou speak Greek? Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers? But Paul said, 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." Claudius Lysias readily granted this request. "And when he had given him licence, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people"; signifying that he had something to say, if they would only be quiet and listen to him. The people were now willing to hear him. "And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying, Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you." It would seem that many of those who had been crying out against St. Paul, had no idea that he was himself a Jew, and able to speak to them in their own beloved language; for "when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence." St. Paul then told the people that he himself was born a Jew, and had been brought up in Jerusalem by their famous teacher Gamaliel, who had taught him the very strictest observance of the Law of Moses; and that he himself had been so zealous for the Law, that he had at one time cruelly persecuted the Christians, as the High Priest and all the elders of the Jews could bear witness. Then he went on to give an account of all that had happened to him on his way to Damascus, and how he had in consequence become himself a believer in Jesus Christ. He also told the people, that when he was afterwards in Jerusalem, the Lord had appeared to him in a vision, and given him a positive command to go and preach to the Gentiles, saying, "Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles." Hitherto, the assembled multitude had listened quietly to what the Apostle said, "they gave him audience unto this word"; but when they heard him plainly declare, that it was the will of God that the Gentiles should share His favour, which they thought belonged only to themselves, they were filled with rage, and would hear no more: they "lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live": and they cast off their upper garments, that they might be ready to stone him, and threw dust up into the air, to show their hatred and contempt.

The Arabs in these days have a custom like this; for when any person, who is speaking in public, says anything they disapprove of, they throw dust into the air, to show that they have no respect for the speaker and do not believe what he is saying. St. Paul was now in great danger of being torn in pieces, if the people, who stood raging and shouting round the stairs on which he stood, could catch hold of him. Claudius Lysias saw that the only hope of stopping the uproar, was to take St. Paul out of sight of the enraged multitude. "And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle." But he was as far as ever from knowing what the Jews accused St. Paul of: he did not understand Hebrew, and therefore he had no idea of what had been said; but he naturally thought, that it must be something very wrong to put the people into such a rage. Seeing therefore, that there was no other chance of learning the truth, he now determined to have St. Paul beaten, according to the custom of the Romans, who treated prisoners in this way, in order to make them confess what crimes they had committed. Claudius Lysias therefore, after having had the Apostle brought into the castle, "bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. And as they bound him with thongs" to a pillar, as was usual in such cases, "Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?" The privileges of a Roman, that is, of a Roman citizen, have been explained. The centurion, who commanded the party of soldiers about to scourge the prisoner, was fully aware of the danger of so treating one, who had in any way obtained the freedom of Rome; and therefore, when he heard such words spoken by his prisoner, he at once "went, and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest; for this man is a Roman." Such a startling piece of intelligence, at once brought Claudius to the spot where the prisoner stood bound with thongs to a pillar, with the soldiers round ready to scourge him. "Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him" by this torture: and not only did the chief captain give up all idea of scourging St. Paul, but he "also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him."

Even binding a Roman citizen was unlawful, and for doing this Claudius Lysias was liable to be punished. Nero, who had become Emperor of Rome about four years before this time, on the death of Claudius, A.D. 54, was a harsh and cruel tyrant; and though he would not have cared whether St. Paul was tortured or not, he would have been very angry if any of the laws concerning the Roman privileges had been broken; and therefore Claudius Lysias had good reason to fear, that if St. Paul complained of the treatment which he, a free-born citizen of Rome, had received, the Emperor would cause him to be punished. If he had known more of the precepts taught by Jesus, he would have felt sure that St. Paul would have no wish to revenge himself in such a manner. The Apostle made use of his rights as a Roman citizen to save himself from a cruel punishment; because, if he had been scourged, it might have led men to think that he must have been guilty of some crime to deserve such a punishment; and it was necessary that the teachers of the holy Word of God should appear blameless before all men.

The chief captain now took other measures for finding out what St. Paul was accused of; and he summoned the Sanhedrim to meet, that they might in a lawful manner examine and judge the prisoner, and so ascertain whether there was any reason for the rage of the people against him. We read, "On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them. And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day."

Now that the Apostle was called upon to defend himself, he rightly wished all men to understand, that he was no criminal deserving of anger or punishment; but a man who had always tried to do what he believed to be his duty in the sight of God: most truly could he say that he had done this; for even when he persecuted the followers of Jesus, it was under the mistaken idea that it was his duty to do so. But the Jews were angry at his saying this, "and the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest? Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people."

The Apostle meant, that if he had known, or looked upon Ananias as the High Priest, he would not have rebuked him in such words; because a ruler of the people must be treated with respect, on account of his office: but Ananias deserved the rebuke, for the Law commanded all who ruled, or judged others, to do no unrighteousness or injustice themselves; and Ananias broke the Law, and was guilty of very great injustice in ordering St. Paul to be smitten in this way, before he had been proved to be guilty of any crime. We must mention here that, in fact, Ananias was _not_ the High Priest at this time. He had been High Priest at the time of the famine, when Barnabas and Saul took help to the poor brethren at Jerusalem; but after that, there had been some disturbance between the Jews and Samaritans, and the Romans, thinking Ananias to blame, deprived him of his sacred office, and sent him as a prisoner to Rome: and though he was afterwards allowed to return to Jerusalem, he was not restored to the office of High Priest, to which another man, named Jonathan, had been appointed. This Jonathan had been killed by the "murderers" hired by Felix the Roman governor, and no other High Priest had as yet been appointed; therefore there was, in fact, _no_ High Priest to be president, or head, of the Sanhedrim. Under these circumstances, Ananias set himself up as chief of the Council, and behaved in the unjust manner related. St. Paul had only been a very few days in Jerusalem, and did not perhaps know that Ananias had taken the office of High Priest upon himself; or if he did know it, what he said would be a just rebuke to him for having done so.

One other matter requires a few words, that is, the "whited wall," to which St. Paul compared Ananias. We shall remember that our Saviour said, "Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are within full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so ye also appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." In the same manner St. Paul applied the comparison of the "whited wall" of a sepulchre to Ananias, who pretended to judge and rebuke another, whilst his own heart was full of all evil passions and iniquity.

Let us remember, that each such passage of Scripture has a lesson for us: all who only think of what men will say, and try to _appear_ good in the eyes of their fellow creatures, without trying to love and serve God with all their heart, and to do His will whatever men may think of them, are no more pleasing in the eyes of our Lord, than were the Pharisees, whom Jesus compared to "whited sepulchres."

Now we must return to the Council of the Sanhedrim, and hear what the Apostle said in his defence. St. Luke says, "But when Paul perceived that the one part (of his hearers) were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question"--meaning that he was persecuted and called to account, because he had taught that the dead would rise again. "And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees: and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess both. And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees' part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God." These scribes spake well: but unhappily they did not speak in sincerity, but only out of contradiction and spite to the Sadducees, whom they hated. They were quite as much opposed to St. Paul's preaching to the Gentiles, as any other class of persons could be; and therefore it was hypocrisy to pretend to believe that an angel had bid him do so. St Paul, moreover, had said nothing of any angel speaking to him; but had plainly declared that Jesus Christ had spoken to him: and this of course the Pharisees could not allow, because they would not acknowledge Jesus Christ to be the Messiah. They were, in fact, fighting against God--the very thing which they pretended to be afraid of doing.

The Sadducees were very angry, and the whole Council became a scene of the greatest confusion and violence; so that Claudius Lysias feared for his prisoner's life; and being answerable for his safety, he sent his soldiers to bring him back into the castle, where he would be out of danger.