Acts 22:2

‘And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they were the more quiet. And he says,'

When they heard that he was speaking in ‘the Hebrew language' they maintained their silence. It is debated as to whether ‘The Hebrew language/dialect' here means that he spoke in Hebrew or Aramaic. In the New Testament ‘Hebrew' regularly means Aramaic. For example the superscription above Jesus on the cross was said to be in Greek, Latin and ‘Hebrew' (Luke 23:38). But we can probably say one thing with near certainty, in an Aramaic speaking country Pilate would not have failed to put it in Aramaic. Thus there ‘Hebrew' means Aramaic. Of course Hebrew lettering and Aramaic lettering are the same so that only one who knew both Hebrew and Aramaic very well would be able to tell the difference by reading it, and to outsiders it was in ‘Hebrew', that is, the language that the Hebrews use. All Palestinian Jews tended to speak Aramaic. Hebrew was reserved for religious usage. On the other hand it could be argued that if he spoke in Hebrew it would gain special respect and emphasise that he was a true Jew. It would even help to explain why they were ‘the more quiet'.

The basis of his defence is that all through his life to this point he had acted as a true Jew, in obedience to the God of the Jews. We must remember that he is not answering a specific charge, indeed many of the crowd probably did not know what the specific charge was. What he is doing is seek to win the decent Jews onto his side by showing that all that he has done has been reasonable from a Jewish viewpoint. Then they will recognise the folly of all charges against him.

The speech is in the form of a clear chiasmus, as follows:

a Paul's Jewish credentials are laid down (Acts 22:3).

b His severe persecution of the Way is described (Acts 22:4).

c The voice of the Lord speaks to him and he sees His light (Acts 22:6).

d He is told to arise and go into Damascus where he will be told what to do (Acts 22:10).

e Ananias comes to him and he receives his sight (Acts 22:12).

f He is told that he has been appointed to know God's will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the voice from His mouth. He is thus to be the means of the revelation of the resurrection and enthronement of Christ, compare Galatians 1:16 (Acts 22:14).

e He is to be a witness of what he has  seen  and heard (Acts 22:15).

d He is told to arise and be baptised, and to wash away his sins calling on the name of the Lord (Acts 22:16).

c The voice of the Lord speaks to him in the Temple and tells him he is to leave Jerusalem because they will not hear him (they will not see His light) (Acts 22:17).

b He describes to God his severe persecution of believers (Acts 22:19).

a He is told to depart and go far hence to the Gentiles (Acts 22:21).

In ‘a' we have the stark contrast of the complete Jew, who in the parallel is sent to the Gentiles (salvation is of the Jews - John 4:22 - but is to be made available to all true worshippers - John 4:23). In ‘b' the parallel is clear. In ‘c' the voice of the Lord speaks to him and he sees the divine light, and in the parallel the voice of the Lord speaks to him and tells him that Jerusalem will remain in darkness, it will not hear him. In ‘d' he arises so as to enter Damascus and learn what he must do, and in the parallel he must arise and be baptised, and wash away his sins calling on the name of the Lord, which is the first thing he must do. In ‘e' his eyes are opened that he might see, and in the parallel he must be a witness to what he has  seen  and heard. In ‘f' comes the central point of the whole, his call and appointment to know God's will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear His voice, so that he may be the means of revealing to the world the resurrection and enthronement of Christ Jesus.

This revelation of the resurrection of the dead now takes central place, for having described the appearance of the risen Jesus to Paul in what follows the central part of this section of Acts is built around the proclamation of the hope of the resurrection. It is found in Acts 23:6; Acts 24:15; Acts 26:6 (in the introductory analysis ‘h', ‘l', and ‘h'). It is then followed by a further description of the risen Jesus to Paul in Acts 26:12. So from here to chapter 26 the resurrection from the dead is continually emphasised.