5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. 7 Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.” 8 And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. 9 So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
Commentary
Vs. 5 “But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.”
Now those Jews who heard Paul, but had not been persuaded, when they saw how many people believed, and thus left their Synagogue to follow Paul and Silas became envious of them. And so, they went to the marketplace and recruited evil men (thugs and hoodlum’s) from there, and gathering a mob together, and stirring them all up into an angry uproar against the Apostle Paul, they set out for the house of Jason, where Paul and Silas were staying so as to bring him out to the people who had now assembled against them.
Vs. 6-7 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. 7 Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.”
However, when the angry mob did not find the Apostle Paul there, they dragged Jason and some brethren with him to the rulers of the city, saying, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” Though meant to be a charge against Paul and Silas it is in fact true in that the Lord Jesus Christ did not come to bring peace to this Godless world, but to radically change it, by radically transforming the people within it. Turning people away from Satan’s power, domain, and agenda, to God’s (consider Acts 26:12-18). Having then charged the Apostle Paul and Silas as being “enemies of the state”, (thus falsely charging them as dangerous and hostile towards their way of life), they now charge Jason with harboring them, falsely charging Paul and those with him as now all acting contrary to the laws of Caesar, which never was, nor ever will be the case, since all Christians everywhere are always bound to obey whatever civil laws and authorities, we find ourselves under (see Rom 13). Having then made the Apostle Paul and Silas out to be some kind of “threat” to their way of life, they now hit them with the most serious charge of all saying that they were declaring another King Jesus, and thus by doing so were trying to overthrow Caesar. Again, we Christians have but one King who is Jesus Christ the Lord and Him we preach and teach, but in saying that, we have no desire nor inclination to overthrow any government or regime, we simply want to serve and worship our King in peace, wherever we may find ourselves dwelling.
Vs. 8-9 8 And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. 9 So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.
Now both the crowd and the rulers of the city became very troubled when they heard these things spoken by the Jews against the Apostle Paul and Silas. The magistrates then took security from Jason and those arrested with him, before they released them. Now some commentaries hold that this was done so that Jason would lose this security if the Apostle Paul and Silas remained with him.
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.
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