<p>28:17 <i>And it came to pass, that after three days he called together those that were the leaders of the Jews; and when they came together, he said to them<em>- </em></i>One can only be impressed by the way that within only three days of arriving in Rome after an awesome journey, Paul began preaching by inviting the local Jews to come to him. He would have had so much else to attend to surely, quite apart from getting over the trauma of the journey. However, the speed with which he invites the Jews to him could also be judged to be reflective of the unhealthy obsession he had been nursing for some years to preach to the Jews in Rome. See on :20.</p><p><i>Brothers, though I had done nothing against the people, or the customs of our fathers</i>- This appears to be presenting things in a way in which the Jews might be impressed. The fact is, Paul had taught against the customs Gk. <em>ethos</em> of the fathers. And that was why the Jews were mad with him. But Paul appears to come over wide eyed and innocent... and he may have overstated his case. Because circumcision was after the <em>ethos</em> of Moses and Paul taught this was not required for Gentile converts (Acts 15:1); the Jerusalem Jews had specifically complained that Paul taught Jews not to 'walk after the customs' (Acts 21:21).</p><p><i>I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans</i>- We have to read in an ellipsis here; from the hands of Jerusalem i.e. the Jerusalem, temple leadership into the hands of the Romans.</p>