“Acts 21:27-40”

Thursday, February 11, 2016

“When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, ‘Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.’ For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. While they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. At once he took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done. But among the crowd some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. When he got to the stairs, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob; for the multitude of the people kept following them, shouting, ‘Away with him!’ As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, ‘May I say something to you?’ And he said, ‘Do you know Greek? Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?’ But Paul said, ‘I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.’ When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand; and when there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect, saying...”
---End of Scripture verses---

After Paul had visited the temple for a few day assisting the four men that had recently taken a vow (verses 24-26), some Jews who were visiting from Asia recognized him and started an uproar. They had previously seen Paul and Trophimus (a Gentile convert) in the city together and “supposed” that Paul had brought him into the temple with him (verses 28-29). These Asian instigators likely lived in the city of Ephesus, where Trophimus was from, and where Paul had recently been at the center of significant controversy (Acts chapter 19). It is obvious that these troublemakers had an ulterior motive for attacking Paul, but we should learn the lesson from them that we shouldn’t “suppose” or “assume” things without knowing the facts of a matter.

I see this a lot in the facility I work in. People will see a male and female coworker walking or talking together and they will just automatically assume that they are romantically involved with one another. Worse still, they will tell other people what they think is going on and before you know it the “news” is all over the plant and significant damage can be done to two people and also the lives of their families. In our text today, because some people assumed some things, and because they talked about it and others believed their assumptions, an apostle of Jesus Christ was beaten and falsely arrested. Let’s try not to assume things just on outward appearances. And if we do happen to make an assumption, let’s try to keep it to ourselves so we do not cause unnecessary and undeserved harm to others. And finally, let’s try to give people the benefit of the doubt and not automatically believe an accusation made against them without a full discovery of the facts.

During the uproar incited in the temple by the Jews from Asia, Paul was “rescued” by a Roman army commander (verses 31-33). The “Roman Cohort” was a group of soldiers stationed in the castle Antonia located on the north side of the temple complex. This structure was originally built by a high priest named John Hyrcanus, and later refurbished by Herod the Great, who named it Antonia in honor of his friend Mark Antony. Josephus describes this castle as consisting of four towers, one of which ascended over 100 feet into the air and overlooked the temple. Roman soldiers were regularly stationed there to secure the temple and to keep the peace.

The Roman commander had himself obviously made some assumptions about Paul. He had either assumed, or it had been falsely reported to him that Paul was, “the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness” (verse 38). This was an event that has been recorded for us in the annals of history. Josephus also reports the following about this Egyptian and the assassins that he led:

“At this time there came out of Egypt to Jerusalem a man who said he was a prophet, and advised the multitude of the common people to go along with him to the mountain called the Mount of Olives, which lay a distance of five furlongs from the city. He said that he would show them that at his command the walls of Jerusalem would fall down, through which he promised that he would procure them an entrance into the city. Now when Felix was informed of this he ordered his soldiers to take up their weapons, and with a great number of horsemen and footmen from Jerusalem he attacked the Egyptian and the people that were with him. He slew four hundred of them and took two hundred alive. But the Egyptian himself escaped from the fight and did not appear any more.” (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities)

So Paul was falsely accused by some out-of-towners, beaten by a mob that believed their untrue allegations and “bound with chains” (verse 33) by an officer who thought he was an Egyptian assassin. Friends, Paul was having a bad day! And all this for doing nothing more than the good things that the Lord wanted him to do! So how would you have reacted if you had been in Paul’s shoes? Let’s learn from Paul’s good example how to treat people who have their hearts set on mistreating us. Paul kindly and calmly reasoned with his captor (verse 39), and he addressed his abusers with care and courteousness (Acts 22:1). In spite of all the ways that Paul had been mistreated, he still cared about the souls of the people who had wronged him and he tried his very best to help them. He knew that they were destined for an eternity of damnation if they remained in their hardened, sinful condition. And he also knew, as long as he loved and served the Lord, that nothing people could do to him could really harm him.

Oh to have a heart and a faith like that! I’ve got lots of work to do!

Please read Acts 22:1-16 for tomorrow.

Have a blessed day!

-Louie Taylor

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