THE BOOK OF ACTS | CHAPTER 21b
OUTLINE AND COMMENTARY - MARK DUNAGAN
I. OUTLINE OF CHAPTER 21:27-40
Observations
In the end the plan (21:22-26) does not work. It appears that this plan is simply the product of human reasoning (this does not mean that the plan was wrong) but simply that the intended result was not achieved.
The following mob action will reveal the intense hatred that existed towards Paul. He was respecting the Jewish customs and yet people still hated him or assumed the worst about him.
The above plan is probably an example of Paul seeking to accommodate himself to different cultures (1 Corinthians 9:19ff).
In applying the principles behind this section of Scripture the reader needs to exercise caution. The above verses do not mean that Gentiles could in like manner frequent idol temples (1 Corinthians 8), or engage in idolatrous sacrifices (1 Corinthians 10:21). Remember, idolatry, paganism and for that matter denominationalism is and has always been unauthorized religion and worship. Judaism was an authorized religion, and therefore it's practices were not inherently sinful, and thus could be engaged in as a matter of custom or national identity without any connection to salvation or worship.
21:27 "When the seven days were almost over" "The seven days between the notification and the actual acts of purification. Acts 24:18 suggests he was actually in the process of offering the sacrifices. We may suppose that the whole week has passed without incident, and that it seemed for a time that the plan of the elders would succeed" (Reese p. 800). "The Jews from Asia" These Jews were probably from Ephesus, for they recognized both Paul and Trophimus a Christian from Ephesus (21:29). "Doubtless some of these same Jews had been the moving force behind the plots that Paul had to face during his Ephesian ministry (Acts 20:19; 19:39)" (Reese p. 800). "Upon seeing him in the temple" Paul had preached for an extended period of time in Ephesus, so he was well known to the Jews in Asia (Acts 19:10). "Began to stir up all the multitude and laid hands on him" They immediately grab Paul incite the people in the temple area against him.
21:28 "Men of Israel, come to our aid" The inference is that all men of Israel need to unite against this invader. "This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people" Compare to the accusations made against Stephen (Acts 6:11-13). Anyone who has read Romans 9:1-6 can see that this accusation is false. Paul dearly loved the nation of Israel. "And the Law" Paul did not preach against the Law, rather he gave the Law its proper glory and place in God's plan (Galatians 3:19ff; Romans 7:12). "Besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place" That is, the charge is that Paul had actually brought Gentiles into the temple area that was reserved for Jews. "Around the court of Israel was a wall beyond which Gentiles (even proselytes) were not to go" (Reese p. 801). Inscriptions were posted which declared that any non-Jewish person who entered this court would be put to death if caught. Josephus claims that even though the Romans had taken away from the Jews the right to exercise the death penalty, violation of the temple was one area where they permitted the death sentence even when it was passed against a Roman citizen (Josephus, Wars, VI.2.4). "Has defiled" Of course, what really had defiled the temple was the fact that so many in the Jewish nation had rejected Jesus.
21:29 "For" Here is why they believed that Paul had brought Gentiles in the court of Israel. "They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple" Sadly, the only exercise that some people get is when they jump to unwarranted conclusions. "Evil minds and wicked hearts possess fertile imaginations and easily draw circumstantial conclusions" (Reese p. 802). A lot of problems and misunderstandings can be avoided if we simply stick to the facts. They had not actually seen Trophimus with Paul in the temple! But when evil men really want to believe something they find all the evidence that they need.
21:30 "And all the city was aroused" The whole city is in an uproar, compare with the mob scene in Acts 19:29. "They dragged him out of the temple" They treat Paul as they would an intruding Gentile and quickly get him out of the temple. "And immediately the doors were shut" The gates leading from the outer courts to the court of Israel were closed.
21:31 "While they were seeking to kill him" Which means that they were fully intent on killing him. "They were already pummeling him. Once they have come out into the court of the Gentiles, their furious activity can be seen from the tower of Antonia" (Reese p. 802). "A report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion" A fortress existed at the NW corner of the temple enclosure, on a rock side that is about 20 feet higher than the level of the floor of the temple area. This fortress had been rebuilt by Herod the Great, and was named Antonia in honor of his friend, Mark Antony. Two flights of stairs connected this fortress to the temple area. "During the feasts a garrison of soldiers in the fortress was kept under arms in constant readiness to suppress any tumults that might arise. Watchmen on the towers would be quick to notice the report the swift spreading tumult that swirled around Paul" (Reese p. 803). "Commander of the Roman cohort" The word commander here denotes one who commanded a thousand men, plus 120 horsemen, that is, one-sixth of a legion. This man's name will be given in 23:26.
21:32 "At once" A quick thinking man. "Some soldiers and centurions" Seeing that a centurion was over 100 men, this force may have included a couple of hundred soldiers. "Ran down to them" The soldiers came down the stairways from the fortress into the temple area. "They stopped beating Paul" The sight of several hundred Roman soldiers running into the temple area stopped the mob for a moment. They might have been more concerned at the moment of defending themselves than inflicting any more blows upon Paul.
21:33 Paul is immediately arrested and bound with chains. "At least, the arrest of the central figure would be the quickest way to stop the uproar" (Reese p. 804). Remember, the commander in charge does not know who Paul is and assumes that in order to be in the middle of such a riot he must have done something wrong.
21:34 When the commander seeks information from the crowd on who Paul is and what he had done, all he receives back is confusion and contradiction. Compare with Acts 19:32. "Lysias could make little sense out of what the mob was shouting" (Reese p. 804). "He ordered him brought into the barracks" He was taken to the fortress of Antonia.
21:35-36 "Luke indicates the situation was indeed perilous at this moment. The Jews make an increasingly violent effort to get at the prisoner, and the soldiers pick him up bodily (with others defending those who carried the prisoner by forming a protective shield about them) and begin to move up the stairs into the fortress" (Reese p. 805). "Away with him" Compare with Luke 23:18 and John 19:15.
21:37 "Do you know Greek?" The commander is surprised that Paul speaks to him in the Greek language. The next verse explains this surprise. 21:38 "Then you are not the Egyptian" The commander had jumped to the conclusion that his prisoner was an Egyptian revolutionary, who about three or four years earlier had deceived people by claiming to be a prophet. Josephus writes that this man had around 30,000 followers. He had assembled many of his followers on the Mount of Olives, and claimed that when he gave the command the walls would fall down (like ancient Jericho) and they would then march in and defeat the Roman garrison in the city. Felix had sent out a body of troops, and they killed 400 and wounded another 200. This followers were scattered, while the Egyptian had escaped. "The feelings of those who had been made fools of by this Egyptian would not be friendly" (Reese p. 806). "Led the four hundred Assassins out into the wilderness" The word assassins means "dagger-men" and were a powerful force in the early years of the governorship of Felix (52-60 A.D.). "They were terrorists who were bitter enemies of the Romans and the Roman sympathizers in Palestine. They would mingle with the crowds at the feasts, for example, pull their daggers from beneath their robes and stab a man, return the dagger into its hiding place, and then join in the outcry against such violence that the bystanders would raise" (Reese p. 806).
21:39 "I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia" This informs the commander that Paul was not an Egyptian nor a Gentile, rather he was a Jew. "A citizen of no insignificant city" At this point the commander does not know that Paul is a Roman citizen (see Acts 22:27). The city of Tarsus was not some back-wood hick town, rather it was a very important city and "citizenship in Tarsus was limited to a select few inhabitants who had rank fortune" (Reese p. 806). "Allow me to speak to the people" Paul wasted no time to seeking to clear things us, in addition, Paul always was looking for one more opportunity to preach the gospel. Yes, the mob hated him, but at the same time, the mob was a captive audience as well.
21:40 Paul might have been given permission because the commander reasoned that a man with such a background could be trusted. "Why should Paul want to talk to these persecutors? The content of his message answers that. He loved these people. They were his people, people such as he had once been, with a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge (Romans 10:1). How he longed to win them to Christ! There is nothing strange or incongruent in the fact that Lysias granted Paul's request to address the crowd. It would give him opportunity to learn more about this prisoner he now had on his hands" (Reese p. 807).
21:40 "There was a great hush" Part of this great hush has to do to an excitement concerning what Paul might say and the fact that he addressed the audience in the Hebrew language (22:2). "By speaking Hebrew, Paul would cause them to be more quiet and to listen more carefully to what he was saying" (Reese p. 807). In addition, the mob might have been completely unprepared for the fact that Paul would turn and be allowed to address them.