| Geneva Study Bible {14} And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. (14) An example of evil magistrates, to obey the fury and rage of the people. People's New Testament 16:22 The multitude rose up together against them. Inflamed with prejudice. The magistrates. Without inquiry, influenced by the outcries of the throng. Rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. They ordered them at once to be scourged. The lictors, the executioners, were at hand. The Roman custom was to lay bare the body and to beat it with the rods borne by the lictors. Paul says, Thrice was I beaten with rods (2Co 11:25). Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 22. the multitude rose up together against them-so Ac 19:28, 34; 21:30; Lu 23:18. the magistrates rent off their-Paul's and Silas' clothes-that is, ordered the lictors, or rod-bearers, to tear them off, so as to expose their naked bodies (see on [2035]Ac 16:37). The word expresses the roughness with which this was done to prisoners preparatory to whipping. and commanded to beat them-without any trial (Ac 16:37), to appease the popular rage. Thrice, it seems, Paul endured this indignity (2Co 11:25). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 16:16-24 Satan, though the father of lies, will declare the most important truths, when he can thereby serve his purposes. But much mischief is done to the real servants of Christ, by unholy and false preachers of the gospel, who are confounded with them by careless observers. Those who do good by drawing men from sin, may expect to be reviled as troublers of the city. While they teach men to fear God, to believe in Christ, to forsake sin, and to live godly lives, they will be accused of teaching bad customs. | 
