Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 23:10

"And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should be torn in pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the castle." — Acts 23:10 (ASV)

The chief captain, fearing . . .—We may well believe that the priest who had been rebuked as a “whited wall” would not willingly forgo his revenge. He, and the Sadducees generally, would now be able to assume the position of being more devoted defenders of the Law and of the Temple than the Pharisees themselves. The fear of the chiliarch was naturally heightened by his knowledge that he was responsible for the life of a Roman citizen. In the barracks of the fortress, as before, probably in the very same guardroom that had witnessed our Lord’s sufferings at the hands of Pilate’s soldiers, the prisoner would at least be in safety.