Trying to Kill Paul

Acts 21:30-31 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar.
 
WHAT had Paul done? It didn’t’ seem to matter to the Jews. The phrase while they were trying to kill him tells us violence had replaced reason. It seems the ruling Jews – and then the crowd – could not forgive Paul for becoming a leader of The Way. There seemed to be no plan to arrest Paul and place him on trial as written in Deuteronomy 19 and elsewhere. Crowds came from all directions with a mob’s mindset to kill Paul.
   The Romans, though, attempt to stop the mob. The title commander of the Roman troops indicates the man had 1,000 highly-trained soldiers under his authority in Jerusalem. Scholars estimate there were about 200 soldiers to stop the riot.
 
Acts 21:32-35 The Commander at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then the commander asked Paul who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.
 
THE mob wanted Paul dead. Some of you reading this have faced threats because of the lies against your faith. Hopefully none of you have experienced such a horrible physical attack. The Jews accused Paul of teaching against “our law”.  But they obeyed only the laws of hatred and murder.
   Once again God used a pagan ruler to rescue Paul from a mob. The Roman commander and his soldiers stopped the beating. Assuming Paul’s guilt, he chained Paul to one soldier on his left and one on his right as they did to a criminal. You can almost hear the shouting crowd accusing Paul. The commander and his soldiers must have been very concerned for their lives. It was time to get to a safe place, so they could learn the truth. The crowd, though, continued to press against Paul and the soldiers with increasing anger. Satan seemed to be having his way: Proverbs 10:11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked. 
   The world is full of noise and accusations that want to kill your faith. Be purposeful to often move into a quiet place to allow God’s truth to silence the lies.