Acts 21

Ac 21:1-16.

SAILING FROM

EPHESUS,

THEY

LAND AT

TYRE, AND

THENCE

SAILING TO

PTOLEMAIS,

THEY

PROCEED BY

LAND TO

CÆSAREA AND

JERUSALEM.

1. we were gotten--"torn."

from them--expressing the difficulty and pain of the parting.

with a straight course--running before the wind, as

Ac 16:11.

unto Coos--Cos, an island due south from Miletus, which they would

reach in about six hours, and coming close to the mainland.

the day following unto Rhodes--another island, some fifty miles to the

southeast, of brilliant classic memory and beauty.

thence unto Patara--a town on the magnificent mainland of Lycia, almost

due east from Rhodes. It was the seat of a celebrated oracle of Apollo.

2. And finding a ship--their former one going no farther, probably.

to Phœnica--(See on

Ac 11:19).

went abroad--One would almost think this extracted from a journal of

the voyage, so graphic are its details.

3. when we . . . discovered--"sighted," as the phrase is.

Cyprus, we left it on the left hand--that is, steered southeast of it,

leaving it on the northwest.

sailed into--"unto"

Syria, and landed at Tyre--the celebrated seat of maritime commerce

for East and West. It might be reached from Patara in about two days.

there the ship was to unlade her burden--which gave the apostle time

for what follows.

4-6. finding disciples--finding out the disciples, implying some

search. They would expect such, from what is recorded,

Ac 11:19.

Perhaps they were not many; yet there were gifted ones among them.

who said to Paul . . . that he should not go up to

Jerusalem--(See on

Ac 20:23;

also see on

Ac 21:11-14).

5. they all brought us on our way with wives and children

. . . and we kneeled down on the shore and

prayed--(See on

Ac 20:36).

Observe here that the children of these Tyrian disciples not

only were taken along with their parents, but must have joined in this

act of solemn worship. See on

Eph 6:1.

7. when we had finished our course--completing the voyage

from Tyre, we came--which they would do the same day.

to Ptolemais--anciently called Accho

(Jud 1:31),

now St. Jean d'Acre, or Acre.

and saluted the brethren, and abode, &c.--disciples gathered

probably as at Tyre, on the occasion mentioned

(Ac 11:19).

8-10. next day we that were of Paul's company departed--(The words

"the were of Paul's company" are omitted in the best manuscripts. They

were probably added as the connecting words at the head of some church

lessons).

and came to Cæsarea--a run along the coast, southward, of some thirty

miles.

Philip the evangelist--a term answering apparently very much to our

missionary

[HOWSON],

Ethiopian eunuch had been baptized

(Ac 8:4-40).

one of the seven--deacons, who had "purchased to himself a good

degree"

(1Ti 3:13).

He and Paul now meet for the first time, some twenty-five years after

that time.

9. the same man had four daughters . . . which did

prophesy--fulfilling

Joe 2:28

(see

Ac 2:18).

This is mentioned, it would seem, merely as a high distinction divinely

conferred on so devoted a servant of the Lord Jesus, and probably

indicates the high tone of religion in his family.

10. tarried there many--"a good many"

days--Finding himself in good time for Pentecost at Jerusalem, he would

feel it a refreshing thing to his spirit to hold Christian communion for

a few days with such a family.

there came down from Judea--the news of Paul's arrival having spread.

a certain prophet . . . Agabus--no doubt the same as in

Ac 11:28.

11-14. So shall the Jews bind the man that owneth this girdle,

&c.--For though the Romans did it, it was at the Jews' instigation

(Ac 21:33;

Ac 28:17).

Such dramatic methods of announcing important future events would bring

the old prophets to remembrance. (Compare

Isa 20:2,

&c.; Jer 13:1,

and Eze 5:1,

&c.). This prediction and that at Tyre

(Ac 21:4)

were intended, not to prohibit him from going, but to put his courage

to the test and when he stood the test, to deepen and mature it.

12. we and they at that place--the Cæsarean Christians.

besought him--even with tears,

Ac 21:13.

not to go to Jerusalem.

13. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine

heart--Beautiful union of manly resoluteness and womanly

tenderness, alike removed from mawkishness and stoicism!

I am ready not to be bound only--"If that is all, let it come."

but to die, &c.--It was well he could add this, for he had that

also to do.

15, 16. we took up our carriages--"our baggage."

and went up to Jerusalem--for the fifth time after his

conversion, thus concluding his third missionary tour, which

proved his last, so far as recorded; for though he accomplished

the fourth and last part of the missionary plan sketched out

(Ac 19:21)

--"After I have been at Jerusalem, I must also see Rome"--it was as "a

prisoner of Jesus Christ."

16. went with us . . . and brought with them--rather, "brought us to."

One Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, &c.--not an "aged" disciple,

but probably "a disciple of old standing," perhaps one of the three

thousand converted on the day of Pentecost, or, more likely still, drawn

to the Saviour Himself during His lifetime. He had come, probably, with

the other Cyprians

(Ac 11:20),

to Antioch, "preaching the Lord Jesus unto the Grecians," and now he

appears settled at Jerusalem.

Ac 21:17-40.

PAUL

REPORTS THE

EVENTS OF

HIS

THIRD

MISSIONARY

JOURNEY--IN THE

TEMPLE,

PURIFYING

HIMSELF FROM A

JEWISH

VOW,

HE

IS

SEIZED BY A

MOB AND

BEATEN TO THE

DANGER OF

HIS

LIFE--THE

UPROAR

BECOMING

UNIVERSAL, THE

ROMAN

COMMANDANT

HAS

HIM

BROUGHT IN

CHAINS TO THE

FORTRESS, FROM THE

STAIRS OF

WHICH

HE

IS

PERMITTED TO

ADDRESS THE

PEOPLE.

The apostle was full of anxiety about this visit to Jerusalem, from the

numerous prophetic intimations of danger awaiting him, and having reason

to expect the presence at this feast of the very parties from whose

virulent rage he had once and again narrowly escaped with his life.

Hence we find him asking the Roman Christians to wrestle with him in

prayer, "for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the

Spirit,

that he might be delivered from them that believed not in Judea," as

well as "that his service which he had for Jerusalem (the great

collection for the poor saints there) might be accepted of the saints"

(Ro 15:30, 31).

17-19. the brethren received us gladly--the disciples generally, as

distinguished from the official reception recorded in

Ac 21:18.

18. Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were

present--to "report himself" formally to the acknowledged head of

the church at Jerusalem, and his associates in office. See on

Ac 15:13.

Had any other of the apostles been in Jerusalem on that occasion, it

could hardly fail to have been noted.

19. he declared particularly--in detail.

what God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry--as on previous

occasions

(Ac 14:27;

and see

Ro 15:15);

no doubt referring to the insidious and systematic efforts of the

Judaizing party in a number of places to shrivel the Church of Christ

into a Jewish sect, and his own counter-procedure.

20-25. they glorified the Lord, &c.--constrained to justify his

course, notwithstanding the Jewish complexion of the Christianity of

Jerusalem.

21. they are informed . . . that thou teachest all the Jews which are

among the Gentiles--those residing in heathen countries.

to forsake Moses, &c.--This calumny of the unbelieving Jews would

find easy credence among the Christian zealots for Judaism.

23. we have four men--Christian Jews, no doubt.

which have a vow--perhaps kept ready on purpose.

24. be at charges with them--that is, defray the expense of the

sacrifices legally required of them, along with his own, which was

deemed a mark of Jewish generosity.

25. touching the Gentiles . . . we have written and

concluded that they observe no such things, &c.--This shows that

with all their conciliation to Jewish prejudice, the Church of

Jerusalem was taught to adhere to the decision of the famous council

held there

(Ac 15:19-29).

26. to signify--that is, announce to the priest.

the accomplishment of the days of purification, &c.--(See on

Nu 6:14-21).

27-30. the Jews . . . of Asia--in all likelihood those of

Ephesus (since they recognized Trophimus apparently as a townsman,

Ac 21:29),

embittered by their discomfiture

(Ac 19:9,

&c.).

29. Trophimus--(See on

Ac 20:4).

30. took Paul, and drew him out of the temple; and forthwith the doors

were shut--that the murder they meant to perpetrate might not pollute

that holy place.

31. tidings came--literally, "went up," that is, to the fortress

of Antonia, where the commandant resided. See on

Ac 21:32.

This part of the narrative is particularly graphic.

32. the chief captain--"the chiliarch," or tribune of the Roman cohort,

whose full number was one thousand men.

33. commanded him to be bound with two chains--(See on

Ac 12:6).

34. some cried one thing--The difficulty would be so to state his

crimes as to justify their proceedings to a Roman officer.

to be carried into the castle--rather, perhaps, "the barracks," or

that part of the fortress of Antonia appropriated to the soldiers. The

fort was built by Herod on a high rock at the northwest corner of the

great temple area, and called after Mark Antony.

35, 36. Away with him--as before of his Lord

(Lu 23:18;

Joh 19:15).

37-40. Art not thou that Egyptian, &c.--The form of the question

implies that the answer is to be in the negative, and is matter of some

surprise: "Thou art not then?" &c.

38. madest an uproar, &c.--The narrative is given in JOSEPHUS

[Wars of the Jews, 2.8.6; 13.5], though his two allusions and ours

seem to refer to different periods of the rebellion.

39. a citizen of no mean city--(See on

Ac 16:37).

40. stood on the stairs--"What nobler spectacle than that of Paul at

this moment! There he stood, bound with two chains, ready to make his

defense to the people. The Roman commander sits by, to enforce order by

his presence. An enraged populace look up to him from below. Yet in the

midst of so many dangers, how self-possessed is he, how tranquil!"

[CHRYSOSTOM (or in his name) in

HACKETT].

a great silence--the people awed at the permission given him by the

commandant, and seeing him sitting as a listener.

in the Hebrew tongue--the Syro-Chaldaic, the vernacular tongue of

the Palestine Jews since the captivity.