Acts chapter 21

vs 31

That is, in the middle of trying to kill Paul, news just happened to get to the Roman commander that a riot was taking place in his city.

vs 32

They were BEATING PAUL TO DEATH. Don't forget that. And they only stopped because Roman soldiers turned up.

vs 33

The assumption, of course, being that this mob justice was valid, and that Paul actually was a criminal.

Do you know why it would be easier to blame Paul for all these riots at every city he goes to? Because it's easier to blame one person than the entire group of Jews that constantly causes the riots.

vs 34

Finally we have some sense. You might almost think that the commander is putting Paul into protective custody. I'm not sure if that's something that was done back then. Probably not formally, although I'm sure that with Paul in chains it would calm the city down a bit, and that is good for the Romans.

vs 35

Didn't quite work that way though. Perhaps it was a sense that justice should be done, and people should actually be found guilty before they're beaten to death in the streets.

vs 36

Shouting wasn't all they were doing, apparently.

vs 37

Paul, now that he's got some soldiers protecting him, is bold enough to speak to the commander. The commander questions him, firstly about his language.

vs 38

He then asks him if he's a certain criminal. An Egyptian of some sort. Obviously this isn't anything close to Paul.

vs 39

Paul's reply is that he's a Jew, not an Egyptian. He might also be suggesting his Roman citizenship, although he might as easily be suggesting he's a citizen of heaven. He then asks if he can address the crowd. Remember - this is a person who was being beaten to death, asking if he can give a speech to the crowd that was rioting to kill him. That is a risk.

vs 40

But a risk that is granted.

Paul does the big sweeping arm thing I guess to shut everyone up. Perhaps there's some sort of Rabbinical sign you can do to make people quiet. And then he addresses them in Aramaic - either the street language being used at the time, so Paul is wanting maximum coverage, or a respected language to show that he's a Jew and he knows the Jerusalem scene.