Acts 16:23-24

Acts 16:23-24

[23] And  when they had laid  many  stripes  upon them,  they cast  them into  prison,  charging  the jailor  to keep  them  safely:  [24] Who,  having received  such  a charge,  thrust  them  into  the inner  prison,  and  their  feet  fast  in  the stocks. 

What does Acts 16:23-24 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

The jailer treated his prisoners as dangerous criminals. His treatment may have reflected his own attitude more than the seriousness of their alleged crimes.
"Jailers commonly were retired army veterans, who could be expected to follow orders and use their military skills as required." [1]
"He was no mere turn-key, but the governor of the prison,-probably of the rank of a centurion, like Cornelius at Caesarea, of whose history there is much to remind us here." [2]
"If Lydia came from the top end of the social scale and the slave girl from the bottom, the Roman gaoler was one of the sturdy middle class who made up the Roman civil service; and so in these three the whole gamut of society was complete." [3]