Acts 21:33Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Why, when he intended to question Paul, did he order him to be bound with two chains? In order to calm the fury of the people.

Since they saw that the followers of the new grace observed the precepts of the law less and performed the temple rites less often, they feared, as it says in the Gospel, that the Romans would come and destroy their place and nation (see Jn 11:48).

The Apostle was seized, and the enraged crowd would have torn him apart if the tribune, Lysias (Acts 23:26), commander of the Jerusalem garrison, had not heard of the popular disturbance and come to the scene with part of the troops entrusted to him. Thinking Paul truly guilty of something, the tribune approached, took him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then, unable to learn what the prisoner was accused of because of the disorderly shouting of the people, he ordered him to be brought into the fortress.

Having taken him into custody, Lysias asked him "who he was and what he had done." In answer, such disorderly cries arose in the crowd that nothing could be understood. Despairing of learning anything definite in such circumstances, Lysias ordered the Apostle to be led into the barracks.

The tribune noticed against whom the disturbance was directed. Approaching Paul, who was being beaten, he freed him from the hands of the crowd and ordered him to be bound with two chains.

He considered him guilty already because the people had risen against him. He also had a vague suspicion that a certain known rebel, the Egyptian, had fallen into the people’s hands; v. 38.

To clarify the matter, he turned to the crowd with questions. Who was this man, and what had he done? He supposed that the agitated people knew against whom they had risen and for what reason.

The tribune had the Apostle Paul led into the fortress in order to protect him from the attack of the crowd. To satisfy the crowd, chains were also put on Paul, especially since his innocence could not be determined at once.

The binding of the supposed criminal could calm even his fiercest enemies. Therefore it may be said that the commander acted prudently. Besides this, he had his own fears, which he later disclosed to Paul; v. 38.

“The fortress into which Paul was ordered to be led, judging by the Greek word παρεμβολή, means that part of the fortress of Antonia where the Roman soldiers’ quarters, or barracks, were located.