Paul and Silas Seized and Dragged to the MagistratesBible World
16:20Acts 16:20
And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
This cry for help at Troas on the borders of the Mediterranean Sea prepared the way for the proclamation of the gospel beyond the confines of Asia Minor into Europe. After the night vision of the man of Macedonia calling for help, Paul and Silas and Timothy with Luke left Troas at once by way of Samothracia and Neapolis to Philippi, the chief city and colony of that part of Macedonia. At Philippi, after Paul in the name of Jesus Christ commanded the spirit of divination to come out of a woman and freed her, the owners who had profited from her divination and fortune-telling and from Satanic deceptions brought Paul and Silas before the magistrates, because their income was ended and their hope of gain was gone. Their charge was that these men, being Jews, did exceedingly trouble and disturb the city, portraying them as Jewish outsiders causing civic disorder and turning hostility against them into a civic complaint. The accusation also presented the apostles as introducing customs that Romans should not accept.
The public charge of civic trouble was a pretext that concealed the accusers' financial motive and anger at lost gain and their desire to stop the work. It stirred an uproar in which the multitude rose against the disciples, and the mob frenzy was accepted and enforced by the authorities, who had Paul and Silas beaten and put in prison with feet in the stocks. Though it looked like failure, angels were with them as they sang praises to God in prison, and God answered with a great earthquake that shook the prison and loosed the bands, leading to the conversion and baptism of the jailer and all his house. Holding fast to the living principles of truth and rebuking sophistry and evil will bring consequences, yet such faithfulness is not failure.
This cry for help at Troas on the borders of the Mediterranean Sea prepared the way for the proclamation of the gospel beyond the confines of Asia Minor into Europe. After the night vision of the man of Macedonia calling for help, Paul and Silas and Timothy with Luke left Troas at once by way of Samothracia and Neapolis to Philippi, the chief city and colony of that part of Macedonia. At Philippi, after Paul in the name of Jesus Christ commanded the spirit of divination to come out of a woman and freed her, the owners who had profited from her divination and fortune-telling and from Satanic deceptions brought Paul and Silas before the magistrates, because their income was ended and their hope of gain was gone. Their charge was that these men, being Jews, did exceedingly trouble and disturb the city, portraying them as Jewish outsiders causing civic disorder and turning hostility against them into a civic complaint. The accusation also presented the apostles as introducing customs that Romans should not accept.
The public charge of civic trouble was a pretext that concealed the accusers' financial motive and anger at lost gain and their desire to stop the work. It stirred an uproar in which the multitude rose against the disciples, and the mob frenzy was accepted and enforced by the authorities, who had Paul and Silas beaten and put in prison with feet in the stocks. Though it looked like failure, angels were with them as they sang praises to God in prison, and God answered with a great earthquake that shook the prison and loosed the bands, leading to the conversion and baptism of the jailer and all his house. Holding fast to the living principles of truth and rebuking sophistry and evil will bring consequences, yet such faithfulness is not failure.