Paul Is Arrested
PAUL IS ARRESTED
ACTS 21:27-39
Paul began the day a free man and ended it a prisoner—but at least he was alive.
There is an indirect element of pathos in today’s passage. Paul was arrested (21:33), and as far as the story in Acts goes, he was never again a free man! 21:27-32 therefore tell of the apostle’s last days of freedom.
21:27-32. Paul’s fulfillment of the vow in company with four Jewish Christians (23-24) was done openly—to serve as a notification of his ancestral loyalty. But he paid a heavy price for such notoriety. Certain Asian Jews spotted Trophimus, a Gentile from Ephesus, in his company, and drew the conclusion that Paul had taken him into the most sacred and restricted part of the temple. This was a serious breach, hence the outcry (21:28). The gates were shut (by the temple police chief presumably, 21:30c: he is referred to at 4:1) to prevent further trouble and the Roman tribune took Paul into protective custody (21:32-33).
21:33-39. The fury of the crowd is seen both in their uncontrolled demonstration (21:34) and their determination to get at Paul, who was carried into the safety of the barracks on the backs of Roman soldiers (21:35).
Claudius Lysias (23:26) was the tribune’s name. He thought that he had carried off a notable prisoner (21:38) and before the incident closed, Paul was given a chance to speak to the angry mob. But to no avail (22:22-23).
Notes 21:27: the seven days of the Nazirite vow (Numbers 6:9f.) are meant. 21:28: the Romans honored Jewish scruples about the sanctity of the temple; a “middle wall of partition” (Ephesians 2:14) separated the Court of the Gentiles from the Court of Women and the Inner Court to which no Gentile could come. The penalty was death. Asian Jews had already proved (20:19) that they meant business in their enmity to the apostle of the Gentiles. 21:38: “the Egyptian” was evidently a man with a police record and wanted for his part in a Jerusalem uprising, quelled by Roman soldiers in AD 54 (Josephus tells us the story, and Klausner identified him with a false prophet named Ben Stada). He led the “Assassins” (lit. dagger-men). 21:39: Paul speaks up, giving his identity.