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The tribune calls upon the Jewish court (Sanhedrin) to determine the facts in the case (22:30). Ananias was a notoriously unscrupulous and rapacious politician who had been deposed by Rome in a.d. 52, then acquitted and restored as high priest. His unlawful action (23:2) is in keeping with his character. Paul had begun his hearing with an attestation of his Jewish orthodoxy (23:1), but when he realized he had unknowingly alienated the president of the Sanhedrin and could never receive a fair hearing, he plays to the Pharisees of the Sanhedrin (v.6), hoping to split the house since the Pharisees and Sadducees had radically different views. He succeeds admirably, bringing the Sanhedrin to such violent contention that the tribune had to whisk Paul back to the citadel for safety (vv.7-10).