37 As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the
barracks, he asked the commander, “May I say something to you?”
“Do you speak Greek?” he
replied. 38 “Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a
revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time
ago?”
39 Paul answered, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in
Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Please let me speak to the
people.”
Because Paul speaks to the commander in Greek, and since the
public is trying to kill him, he starts reasoning that Paul might be associated
with the worst crime that they have, which is a group of assassins (“dagger
men” sicarii) that covertly kill people who are leaders in society for money in order to create chaos. They
are Hebrew zealots. (According to first-century
historian Flavius Josephus.)
The point here is that the commander believed that Paul must
be associated with the worst criminal they knew for the city to be in such a violent uproar as it was
and for him to be wanted to be killed by the people. But when Paul spoke to him in Greek he
immediately knew that Paul wasn’t that criminal.
The allowance that the commander gives Paul here is significant. He obviously believes Paul and is willing to let him speak if it'll settle down the disruption in the city.
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