Paul complied with the elders’ suggestion
to follow the purification process of the four men in their Nazarite vow. When
the seven days were almost over, he was spotted in the temple by some Jews from
Asia (more precisely from Ephesus). Being antagonistic against Paul, they
incited the crowd against him. So we see the accusations brought against Paul
in verses 28-29. They claimed that Paul spoke against the Jewish people, the
law and the temple. Here they exaggerated the one about temple violation, accusing
him of bringing Gentiles beyond their off limit zone. Everyone was allowed to enter
the court of the Gentiles but the inner precinct of the temple was only opened
to Jews. Using Trophimus from Ephesus, who was seen with Paul there before,
they presumed that the latter had brought him into the temple. Trophimus was
one of the delegates helping in the collection for the needs in Jerusalem.
Being incited, the whole city of Jerusalem
was provoked against Paul. This is not an exaggeration. The whole court of the
Gentiles was a large area and a whole crowd of people were gathered there since
this was the Passover season. Just imagine all of them came together, rushed
and dragged Paul out of the temple, and then shut the door immediately.
What a mayhem it must have been with
all the confusion, shouting and crowd rushing at Paul! They were seeking to
kill him. And just as they were attempting to get rid of him, a report reached
the commander of the Roman cohort, saying that Jerusalem was in confusion. The
commander was later revealed as Claudius Lysias in Acts 23:26, who lost no time
in dealing with the riot. He took some soldiers and centurions and approached
the unruly mass. And when the mob saw Lysias, they stopped beating Paul.
Immediately Paul was arrested and
ordered to be bound with two chains as predicted by the Prophet Agabus. The
commander then interrogated Paul asking who he was and what he had done.
Meanwhile the crowd remained disorderly, making it difficult for Lysias to
ascertain the facts of the case. With that he ordered Paul to be brought into
the barrack. But when they reached the stairs, the soldier had to carry him
because of the violent and unruly crowd that followed closely, shouting, “Away
with him!”
Before he was taken into the barrack for
questioning, Paul requested to have a word with Lysias. He asked the commander
if he understood Greek, probably speaking in cultured Greek. At this point, the
commander revealed that he suspected Paul to be the Egyptian terrorist who
stirred up a revolt and had led 4,000 men into the wilderness. Paul responded
by telling him that he was a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia. This would help to
explain his ability with Greek. He proceeded to seek permission to speak to the
Jews. When the permission was granted, Paul stood up on his chair and
gesticulated with his hands. Immediately there was great silence. And he spoke
to them in Aramaic.
From Paul’s experience we must learn
to be alert when making decision in the moment of our highest spiritual
motivation. We must guard against being induced into doing something that may
jeopardize our God-given mission. However, we can rest assured that God can
intervene and override our sincere mistake, when our motivation is truly to
serve Him. Let’s be courageous and serve God sincerely!
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