Paul Speaks to the People
This first section was actually partly in Acts 21 but it was in both chapter, I guess I'll put it here.
Paul asks to speak to the people, the tribunal asks if he can speak Greek but he speaks in Hebrew.
I don't really know why the language matters, but it was pointed out and it seemed like it might be important. Anyone have any insight here?
Paul tells about how he used to imprison followers of Christ until he converted. He told the story of being blinded and such. Then God tells him that he needs to leave the people that he spent so much time persecuting and that is why he is where he is.
This is a good demonstration of something I found in the bible that I wasn't expecting. There seems to be a lot of retelling of the same stories over and over. In Acts 9 we saw the story of Saul converting, and now here is Acts 22 Saul tells the story to someone else. I guess you get a slightly different perspective on it, but to me it winds up just making things a little bit boring. It also seems to open things up to a lot of potential contradictions. I'm not really sure I have a specific point here, I just find it surprising and strange.
Paul and the Roman Tribune
After the tribune listened to him they said he should not be allowed to live and they bound him. He asked the centurion if it was lawful to flog a roman citizen who isn't condemned. Once everyone found out he was a Roman citizen they decided they shouldn't do what they were about to do. Also, he said he bought the citizenship and he was also a citizen by birth.
Not really sure what to make of this. I don't understand the significance of the Roman citizenship. I also don't understand the significance of purchasing the citizenship and why he would do that if he was also a citizen by birth. Anyone know what is going on here? I'm just confused.
Indeed, in Paul's retelling of his story from chapter 9, there is a contradiction. In Acts 9:7 "The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one." Here, in 22:9 "Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me." So, basically, the first time, they didn't see anyone, but in the second retelling, they did.
ReplyDeleteInteresting on pointing out the born as a citizen and purchasing his citizenship. From what I understand, Roman citizenship was a really big deal. They had a lot more rights than the other people. You had to be born into it. It was very hard to "earn" your citizenship. You could do military service for example. I don't really have any references to that, but I did watch a National Geographic series on Rome where that was discussed. Here is a link to the first part. It's a fascinating series, albeit a couple of hours. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPsMryt82Ks
Thanks for pointing out the specifics of the contradiction. Also the info on the citizenship is interesting :)
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