The Acts of the Apostles
Chapter 21
Vs.1 Paul tells of the trip by ship and the ports they stopped at. At Tyre, he stayed a week with the believers. Some of them prophesied to Paul that he should not go to Jerusalem.
Vs. 5 The believers and their families go with Paul to the ship to see him off.
Vs. 7 Paul stopped at another town to visit the believers there.
Vs. 8 Paul and those traveling with him now stop at Caesarea and go to the house of Philip. Philip was chosen as one of 7 men to help the disciples after the church in Jerusalem had just begun. Philip was an evangelist or preacher who traveled like Paul was.
Philip had 4 unmarried daughters. They were godly women and had the gift of prophecy.
As Paul was staying there a man who also had the gift of prophecy came one day to see Paul.
He took Paul’s sash/belt and wrapped it around his own hands and feet and said
That this is what the Jews in Jerusalem will do to Paul.
When the people with Paul heard what this man said they tried to get Paul to not go to Jerusalem. But Paul said, Please don’t cry and be upset. You are making me sad.
I am ready to suffer and be in jail even die at Jerusalem for Jesus.
The people saw that Paul would not change his mind so they said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”
Vs. 15 It was time now to leave Philip’s house and they got carriages and went to Jerusalem. Several people went with Paul.
Vs. 18 Paul and his friends went to see James (James was Jesus’ brother — see Galatians 1:19).
James is the main leader of the disciples and believers in Jerusalem, now. Peter was also a leader, but Peter did travel around. Maybe James did not travel as much.
Vs. 19,20 Paul told of how many people had begun to believe in all the places where he preached. The leaders in Jerusalem were happy to hear about it.
Vs. 21-25 James and the leaders said that many of the Jews in Jerusalem have become believers but they still think that it is right to keep the old laws of Moses.
They thought that Paul was telling the Jews in other places and the Gentiles that they did not need to keep the old laws of Moses.
The Jews in Jerusalem were angry about that and felt that Paul was wrong.
Paul explained that he did tell them that they did not have to be circumcised. That was something that the leaders and Peter had talked about before (see Acts chp. 15).
Before it was decided that new Gentiles believers did not have to be circumcised.
But they told them that they should not eat meat offered to idols, to not eat blood or meat of animals that had not been killed properly with the blood drained, and to do no sexual sins.
Paul said that this is what he taught everywhere he went.
James and the leaders were still worried that the Jews in Jerusalem would not believe Paul. So the leaders thought if Paul could show that he himself followed the Jewish laws that the other Jews would accept and believe him.
The leaders wanted Paul and 4 other men to do the vow/promise of “purification”. To do this, men shaved their head. They took the hair and burned it in the temple as an “offering” to God, praying to be clean and pure and right before God.
The leaders thought if Paul did this that the angry Jews would see that Paul still followed the old Jewish laws and they would not be against him.
So the men went to the temple and shaved their heads, burned the hair, etc.
This “purification” vow was also called the Nazarite Vow. Which meant no drinking of strong drink, no eating any food that was thought to be “unclean” by the old Jewish law, and no shaving or cutting of your hair.
The Nazarite vow was usually taken for 30 days. So we do not know for sure about this talking of 7 days and it would be the end of the vow.
However the time of it was——Paul and the others went to the temple and did what was required. They said publicly when the vow would end.
So when the 7 days were almost done, some Jews from Asia saw Paul in the temple and started talking to the Jews in Jerusalem trying to make trouble for Paul.
They told everyone that Paul did not obey the Jewish laws. They said that he spoke against the temple. And that he brought Gentiles into the temple.
They said that because back in Ephesus they had seen Paul with a Gentile man and they just thought Paul had taken him into the temple,
The people of Jerusalem were upset by hearing these things about Paul. They took Paul and brought him out of the temple and closed the gates of the temple.
They were trying to kill Paul. They were beating him.
One of the Roman army leaders heard what was happening. He and his group of soldiers came to see what was happening. When the Jews saw the soldiers coming, they stopped beating Paul.
The army leader took Paul and put chains on him and asked the crowd what had Paul done.
One person shouted one thing, another person shout another thing. The leader could not understand what Paul had done so he took Paul to the army fort.
When they got to the stairs, the crowd was so angry and were trying to hurt Paul that the soldiers put Paul on their shoulders and carried him.
Vs. 36 The crowd was yelling “Kill him”.
Vs. 37,38 Paul asked to speak to the army leader. The army leader was surprised that Paul could speak Greek. He said to Paul, “I thought you were that Egyptian that was here before who led a group of 4,000 men who were killers and led them into the desert.”
Vs. 39. Paul said, “ I am a Jew of Tarsus, of the city Cilicia which is an important city.
Let me talk to the people.”
Vs. 40. He let Paul speak to the people. When they had all become quiet Paul began to speak to them in Hebrew (the Jewish language.)