seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Acts 21:27 When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 28 shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.” 29 (They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.)
30 The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut. 31 While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
33 The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. 35 When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers. 36 The crowd that followed kept shouting, “Get rid of him!”
Back in the Old Testament, Numbers 16, there is a story of what will happen if the clergy goes haywire. In this case, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were priests who figured they knew more than Moses. So, they started stealing from the offerings. Those three were standing at the opening of their tents with their wives and children.... and God opened the ground and it swallowed them whole! That's what I think of when I read these verses.The priests at the Jewish Temple didn't like what Paul was teaching. Paul said people didn't have to be circumcised. Paul said people didn't have to drag a bull to the Temple to have it slain. Paul said people could just talk to God, like that guy Jesus did. Paul was teaching the queerest thing those people had heard! Paul, in their eyes, was extremely dangerous. Why if he had his way, according to the people, everyone would be washing in the river and then claiming to be "saved" from having to do all that stuff Moses so carefully laid out. He had to go. God was going to swallow him whole, just like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Step away from the deviant.... Paul had to go.
Now look at verse 28. Paul was accused of bringing a Gentile into the Temple. This is from the commentary.
Trophimus the Ephesian… whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple: It was absolutely prohibited for Gentiles to go beyond the designated “Court of the Gentiles” in the temple grounds. Signs were posted which read (in both Greek and Latin): “No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the temple and enclosure. Any one who is caught trespassing will bear personal responsibility for his ensuing death.” The Romans were so sensitive to this that they authorized the Jews to execute anyone that offended in this way, even if the offender was a Roman citizen.
Yesterday, in the Bible Study, a guy named Agabus, predicted this arrest. I wonder if Paul thought about Stephen while he was being beaten. I wonder if he looked up and saw someone holding the coats of those who were hurling angry fists and slurs.
Those Jews in Jerusalem were sure Paul was of Satan. He was teaching things that were contrary to the Jewish Traditions laid out by Moses after he had been to the mountain and talked with God. He had to go.
So, Paul was arrested and carried off to jail. He was handcuffed to two Roman Soldiers.
Things were not looking good for Paul.
He might as well have been preaching that God is queer.
