Then the commander came near and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and he asked who he was and what he had done. Acts 21:33

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More precisely, the Greek reads, “Then, having drawn near, the commander seized him and commanded to be bound with two chains, and inquired who he might be and what he had done” (CG).

In the previous verse, the commander took soldiers and centurions and ran down to the unruly mob beating Paul. When they saw these Romans coming, the mob stopped beating him. Now, the action continues, saying, “Then, having drawn near.”

With the power and authority of Rome, they came through the unruly mob and approached Paul. Once there, it says, “the commander seized him.”

It is a bold move showing the caliber of the man. This chiliarch, taking full command of the situation, simply came forward and personally seized Paul from their grasp. Being the commander of a thousand men, he could have delegated this to anyone below him. But one can see the air of authority in him through this action. He personally seized him “and commanded to be bound with two chains.”

These words are the fulfillment of the prophecy by Agabus in Acts 21:11 –

“When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, ‘Thus says the Holy Spirit, “So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.”’”

As he prophesied, so it came to pass. However, the Jews only passively bound him through their actions. The Romans formally bound him. The two chains, if to be taken literally from the words of Agabus, were placed with one chain on his hands and the other on his feet.

Luke’s specificity in these details concerning “two chains” is probably to indicate this. Being bound in this way would imply that they thought he was a hardened criminal, and this appears to be the sense as indicated in the coming words of verse 38. For now, it next says, “and inquired who he might be and what he had done.”

It is an obvious thing to do, even if the responses he received may not be the truth of the matter, the commander had to begin somewhere. As will be seen, the confusion of the situation will not be determined until later.’

Life application: The boldness of the commander walking into the midst of the fray and seizing Paul reveals a person confident in his position and authority. One can even imagine the Jews around Paul dividing and stepping back as he approached. He is the one who wielded the power, and he was unconcerned about what anyone around him may do.

This is a confident act, but it could have ended badly for him. One in the crowd, or even Paul himself, may have had a knife and struck out at him. But he was confident enough that such an occurrence was unlikely. This man was not a believer in Christ, and yet he didn’t fear the situation around him. He was a man with hope only in this life, but he was confident in his actions.

Unlike him, we have a hope that goes beyond this earthly life. Despite this, how willing are we to simply step forward and act? People are going to be separated from God for all eternity, and yet we act peevishly in our sharing of the gospel. We worry we might offend. We worry that we will look silly. We fret over not being able to properly convey what needs to be said.

One thing is for sure, if we don’t try, we won’t convey anything at all. Let us be bold and confident that our words and actions can have an effect on those we meet. Go forward and speak! People need Jesus. Let us be bold in our desire to share the wonderful message of Jesus Christ.

Heavenly Father, be with us and direct us according to Your wisdom. Help us as we go out into the world each day and boldly find others that we can talk to about what You have done through the giving of Your Son for us. May we not fail to speak! Help us in this, O God. Amen.