Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to test your knowledge of God's word.
This week's question:

Paul returned from Jerusalem where the brethren received him gladly and began to relate to him one by one the things that God had done for them and they began glorifying God and said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed," (Acts 21:20). But, soon after this, Jews came down from Asia and upon seeing Paul in the temple, they began stirring up the multitudes.

That brings us to our question: "Who saved Paul from the mob?" The Jews stirred up the crowd by saying, "Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people, and the Law, and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiles this holy place." (Acts 21:28). That did arouse the city and they immediately rushed together, taking hold of Paul and drug him into the temple, shutting the door behind them, "And while they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. And at once he took along some soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and soldiers, they stopped beating Paul." (Acts 21:31-32).

After he had Paul put in chains, the commander could not get the facts straight from the mob. The soldiers then carried him to the barracks where Paul asked the commander in Greek if he could speak to the crowd (the commander supposed he was an Egyptian assassin who led four thousand assassins into the wilderness), and was given permission, so Paul motioned with hand and a hush fell over the crowd, and he began speaking in the Hebrew dialect, which quieted them even more and began by saying, "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the Law of our fathers, being zealous for God, just as you are today. And I persecuted the Way to the death, binding them and putting both men and women into prisons, as also the high priest and all the council of the elders can testify. From them I received letters to the brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished." (Acts 22:3-5). But Paul's life was turned upside down as Jesus met him on his way and he was told to go into Damascus where he would meet a devout man called Ananias, and then he would be told what he must do.

So he did so and Ananias told him, "The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, and to hear an utterance from His mouth. For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why do you delay? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling upon His name." (Acts 22:14-16). But then he related what Jesus told him while he was in a trance that they would not accept his testimony, "And then He said to me, 'Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' And they listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, 'Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!' And they were crying out and throwing their cloaks and tossing dust in the air, the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, stating that he should be examined by scourging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way." (Acts 22:21-24).

When they stretched him out to be scourged, Paul asked the centurion if it was right to do this to an uncondemned Roman citizen. The centurion stopped and went to tell his commander that he was a roman citizen, and when the commander told him he had acquired his Roman citizenship with money, Paul said to him, "...But I was actually born a citizen." (Acts 22:28). And the commander immediately released Paul with fear as he had wrongly chained him.

But to find our answer find Paul, shortly after that, brought before the governor, Felix, and the high priest along with his attorney, Tertullus who says to Felix, "For we have found this man to be a real pest and a fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. And even tried to desecrate the temple; and then we arrested him. And we wanted to judge him according to our own Law. But Lysias the commander came along, and with much violence took him out of our hands. (Acts 24:5-7).

So there we have the answer to our question, as the one who saved Paul from the mob was a commander of the Roman army named Lysias!

May we be as noble as Lysias in holding up to our responsibility in times of trouble and as he dealt with a difficult situation and held fast his ground to keep Paul from being torn to pieces (Acts 23:10).