Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. He at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another. And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, for the mob of the people followed, crying out, “Away with him!”
Comment: This would make very good drama if acted on a movie scene! A few angry, shouting and persistent people, deeply angered by the supposed attempts to desecrate their Holy Place by taking in the forbidden Gentile, soon collected a huge crowd directed in getting Paul out of the temple and stoned to death! As they burst out of the temple slamming the door, the ever-present Romans descended on the scene and rescued Paul. Not for his sake I suspect, but to see the problem solved in an orderly fashion and without great disruption to the peace of the city, which was always on the edge of revolt!
Prayer: Help me to have a perfect mix of wisdom, anger, desire for peace, restraint, courage when I am faced with opposition to truth, O God.
As I read it! 