Hechos 28:16

16 Cuando entramos en Roma, el centurión entregó los presos al prefecto militar, pero a Pablo se le permitió vivir aparte, con el soldado que lo custodiaba.

Hechos 28:16 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 28:16

And when we came to Rome
To the city itself:

the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard;
or general of the army; or, as some think, the governor of the "praetorian" band of soldiers, who attended the emperor as his guards: his name is thought to have been Burrhus Afranius; to him Julius the centurion delivered all the prisoners he brought from Caesarea, excepting Paul, to be disposed of by him, in the several prisons, or jails, to whom it belonged to take care of such persons: this clause is wanting in the Alexandrian copy, and in the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions:

but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept
him:
this was owing, either to the letter which Festus sent to Rome concerning him, and his case; by which it appeared, that he was no malefactor, and therefore to be used in a different manner from the rest of the prisoners; or rather to the intercession of the centurion, who had all along used him in a very civil and courteous manner; who requesting this favour had it granted, that Paul should not be put into the common prison with the rest, but should dwell in an apartment by himself; or, as the Ethiopic version renders it, "at his own will"; where he himself pleased, for he dwelt in his own hired house, ( Acts 28:30 ) ; only he was under the care and custody of a soldier, who constantly attended him wherever he went; and which could not be otherwise, seeing he was chained, as in ( Acts 28:20 ) and his chain was put on his right hand, and fastened to the left hand of the soldier, that had him under his keeping; so that wherever he was or went, the soldier must be likewise: hence that passage in Seneca ^F24,

``as the same chain joins together the prisoner and the soldier, so those things which are unlike go together; fear follows hope.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 Epist. 5.

Hechos 28:16 In-Context

14 Allí encontramos algunos hermanos, que nos invitaron a permanecer con ellos por siete días. Y así llegamos a Roma.

15 Cuando los hermanos tuvieron noticia de nuestra llegada, vinieron desde allá a recibirnos hasta el Foro de Apio y Las Tres Tabernas; y cuando Pablo los vio, dio gracias a Dios y cobró ánimo.

16 Cuando entramos en Roma, el centurión entregó los presos al prefecto militar, pero a Pablo se le permitió vivir aparte, con el soldado que lo custodiaba.

17 Y aconteció que tres días después convocó a los principales de los judíos, y cuando se reunieron, les dijo: Hermanos, sin haber hecho yo nada contra nuestro pueblo ni contra las tradiciones de nuestros padres, desde Jerusalén fui entregado preso en manos de los romanos,

18 los cuales, cuando me interrogaron, quisieron ponerme en libertad, pues no encontraron causa para condenarme a muerte.