<p>16:22 <i>A</i><i>nd the crowd rose up together against them; and the<em> magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten</em></i>- The obvious question is why Paul didn't reveal his Roman citizenship at this stage in order to avoid the flogging. He does reveal if afterwards, but seeing flogging could be fatal, there must have been a major reason why Paul went through with it when he didn't need to. One can only speculate: he wanted to show solidarity with Silas; he wanted to put the authorities in a position where they were in his debt and would allow the fledgling ecclesia to meet unhindered; he was simply stubborn and angry and wished to embarrass his enemies.</p>