Co – Paul’s Arrest in Jerusalem 21: 27-36

Paul’s Arrest in Jerusalem
21: 27-36

57 AD

Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem DIG: Paul spent more time in Asia than anywhere else (19:8-10). Why might these men be especially upset when they see Paul? Gentiles were forbidden beyond the middle wall of separation under penalty of death. Were these accusations against Paul true? Compare the reaction against Paul in verses 30-31 with that against Stephen in 6:11-13 twenty-five years earlier. What does this tell you about the relationship between Messianic Jews and unbelieving Jews during this period? What memories of lynch mobs does Paul have (see 20:23 and 21:13)?

REFLECT: How consistently do you keep up with the persecution of fellow believers in nations around the world? Why is it important to pray for them? What difference does it make? Which groups or cults do you think are the most critical of believers today? What could be done to lessen the animosity? What can you do to help? Have you stopped to ponder how you would react under life-threatening conditions, when one word of renouncement in Yeshua Messiah would get you off the hook? What makes endurance possible? What would you die for?

This marks a major turning point in the life and ministry of Paul. Since his conversion on the road to Damascus (to see link click Bc – Sha’ul Turns from Murder to Messiah), he had ministered freely (except for brief imprisonments such as in Philippi). But from this point forward in Acts, Paul will be a prisoner. The prophecy of Agabus would come true (see Ck – Paul Went on to Jerusalem Despite Warnings). The turn of events, however, did not end his ministry. No longer free to travel, he became an ambassador in chains (Ephesians 6:20) for Yeshua Messiah. As a free man, he preached the gospel to throughout the Roman world. As a prisoner, he preached the gospel to Roman officials – possibly including the emperor himself. And like John Bunyan, who wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress while in the Bedford jail, Paul wrote four New Covenant books (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon) during his imprisonment at Rome.⁵⁰⁹

The attack of the mob: The seven-day purification process required a cleansing on the third and seventh days (Numbers 19:2). Likely, it was on the prescribed seventh day that Paul returned to the Temple with the four Jewish men to complete the ritual. But Jacob’s plan for reinforcing Paul’s as a loyal Jew backfired (see Cn – Paul’s Advice from Jacob and the Elders at Jerusalem). There, he encountered some old enemies, the unbelieving Jewish leaders from Asia who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate Shavu’ot. They were likely from Ephesus, since they recognized Trophimus, who was a resident of that city (see verse 29 below). Since Paul had ministered in Ephesus for three years so they had no trouble recognizing him. They^, saw Paul in the Temple compound and began stirring up the whole crowd. They grabbed him, shouting, “Men of Isra’el, help (21:27)! They made it appear that Paul had committed an act of blasphemy, and called for help in dealing with it. To stir up the crowd against Paul, they made three false accusations similar to the ones made against Stephen (see Aw – Stephen’s Testimony to the Sanhedrin).

First, they said that Stephen was an enemy of Moshe (7:17-37) and their religion. In the same way, they said that Paul taught all men everywhere to be against our people (21:28a). But the truth was what Paul taught was that being a Jew by itself would not save. Obviously, Paul was no enemy of the Jewish people, as Romans 9:1-5 and 10:1 make clear. Nowhere did Paul teach Jewish believers to forsake their customs – merely that Gentiles not be pressured to observe them.

Secondly, they accused Paul of false teaching against the Torah (21:28b), like they had accused Stephen (6:13b and 7:38-43). That was an especially serious accusation at that time, since many tens-of-thousands of Jewish believers in Jerusalem were zealous for the Torah (21:20b). Originally a celebration of the first-fruits of the harvest, in Paul’s day Shavu’ot had come to be a celebration of the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. Charging Paul at that time with teaching against the Torah was sure to infuriate the crowd. But the truth was that Paul taught that the 613 commandments of Moshe were no longer binding on believing Jews or Gentiles.

Thirdly, they said that Stephen taught against the Temple (6:13a and 7:44-50), and in the same way, they accused Paul of speaking against this place (21:28c). Because the Jewish people revered the Temple, an accusation of blaspheming or defiling it was also a very serious matter. Yeshua was also accused in the same way (Mark 14:57-58), which helped lead to His death. Paul’s accusers undoubtedly hoped for a similar result in his case. The truth, however, was that Paul taught that the Temple was not the only place to worship ADONAI, and moreover, Paul himself honored the Temple as he was worshiping there before their eyes. These charges couldn’t have been more serious.

To substantiate these general accusations, Paul’s accusers came up with a specific one, crying out to the crowd, “Besides, he has even brought Greeks past the middle wall of separation in the Temple (see Cn – Paul’s Advice from Jacob and the Elders at Jerusalem) and defiled this holy place” (21:28d)! False or not, the accusations spread like wildfire This, however, was not a surprise to Paul because the Ruach ha-Kodesh warned him earlier that bondage and afflictions awaited him in Jerusalem (20:22). 

The charges were unfounded, and Luke makes that clear. For the unbelieving Jews had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city streets with him, and they assumed that Paul had brought him into the Temple. But that was not true, in fact they never actually saw Trophimus in the Temple compound. They made the assumption that since Paul was with Trophimus, a Gentile, publicly in the streets of Jerusalem, he would not hesitate to bring him past the middle wall of separation in the Temple compound.⁵¹⁰

The uproar quickly spread. However, Rome demanded civil order in its provinces. A riot was a serious breach of the Pax Romana (Roman peace) carrying serious consequences. The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together in the vicinity of the Temple. Their intent was to drag Paul to a place where he could be stoned as they had done with Stephen (see Ax – The Stoning of Stephen), so they grabbed Paul and drug him out past the middle wall of separation, to the outer court of the Gentiles. At that point the chief of the Temple guard shut the Beautiful Gate  to prevent any human blood being spilled in the Court of the Women, and thus defile the holy Place (21:29-30).⁵¹¹ The mob would have succeeded in dragging Paul out of the Temple compound and stoning him to death, but ADONAI providentially intervened to protect His servant. Help arrived in the form of Roman soldiers!

It is important to stress that at the beginning of this legal process Paul was arrested by the Romans, and not by the Temple guard. Had the latter happened, he would have been tried and sentenced by the Sanhedrin. But Paul had no intention of leaving Roman jurisdiction; he would fight any attempt by the Sanhedrin to have him extradited. Even if he had to appeal to Caesar, he would not accept “justice” at the hands of his fellow Jews. He knew very well what had happened to Yeshua, and even more to the point he knew what had recently happened to Stephen, and probably the killing of Jacob the brother of John as well (12:2). ⁵¹²

The arrest of the Romans: The headquarters of the Roman occupation forces was Fortress Antonia, located on a precipice overlooking the Temple grounds. As they were trying to kill him, the news came to the commander of the cohort of Roman soldiers that all Jerusalem was in chaos (21:31). In Acts 23:26, Luke gives his name as Claudius (a Latin name because it was from Emperor Claudius that his citizenship was purchased) Lysias (his Greek name after he purchased Roman citizenship). Once again, Luke artfully introduces a character that will play a major role in the next two chapters. Lysias was the ranking Roman official in Jerusalem when the governor (whose official residence was in Caesarea) was not in the City. He was therefore the Roman official most concerned with maintaining order in Yerushalayim. During major religious holidays, such a Shavu’ot, the Romans were especially watchful. Thus, it didn’t take the alert sentries long to spot the riot breaking out below them, and they had easy access right into the court of the Gentiles where Paul was being beaten.

Having received the report, Lysias wasted no time in exercising his responsibility to maintain order and hurried straight down to the Court of the Gentiles. Immediately he took a cohort of 500 Roman soldiers and centurions and immediately rushed down to them. This was the same number of Roman soldiers that arrested Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Le – Jesus Betrayed, Arrested and Deserted). The massive show of force broke up the riot. Upon seeing the commander and the soldiers, the Jews suddenly stopped beating Paul. Then the commander came up and arrested Paul, incorrectly assuming that Paul was an Egyptian terrorist (see Cp – Paul’s Testimony on the Temple Steps). Then Lysias ordered him to be bound with two chains (meaning Paul was handcuffed to a soldier on either side), thus the prophecy of Agabus in 21:11 was fulfilled. And they immediately began investigating what he had done. Some in the mob shouted one thing, and some another, being confused as to why they were there. As Lysias could not determine the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into headquarters in Fortress Antonia (21:32-34). There he intended to question the apostle in private, and if necessary, use torture to extract a confession.

The soldiers began escorting Paul through the enraged mob however, renewed their rioting and made it impossible for the prisoner to walk safely up the stairway to the barracks. The mood of the scene is much like the riot in Ephesus in 19:1-40. Therefore, Paul had to be carried by the Roman soldiers. In mindless, faceless fury, losing all sense of fear of the soldiers, the mob pushed and shoved, desperately trying to get to Paul. All the while they kept shouting, “Away with him,” that is, “kill him” (21:35-36)!⁵¹³ With those words, the majority of Jerusalem had reacted against Yeshua, Peter, John, Stephen and Paul. For our study in Acts, this is the final, key, rejection of the gospel.⁵¹⁴

Later, in his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul made a reference to wanting the fellowship of sharing in Christ’s sufferings (Philippians 3:10). Paul received Messiah by faith, knew Yeshua by name, but came face-to-face with Jesus through experience. He spoke of Him through prayer. He grew in Him through the Word. However, this particular day, Paul experienced a fellowship in His sufferings unlike any He had ever encountered.

Luke seems to be drawing a deliberate parallel between the sufferings of Messiah and the sufferings of His apostle Paul. Earlier we have seen the similarity between their respective journeys to Jerusalem (see Ck – Paul Went On to Jerusalem Despite Warnings). Now, Luke takes it a bit further, although, of course, Paul’s sufferings were not redemptive like Yeshua’s. Nevertheless, first, both Jesus and Paul were rejected by their own people (Luke 11:14-15; Acts 21:36), and arrested without cause and imprisoned; secondly, they were both unjustly accused and willfully misrepresented by false witnesses; thirdly, both were slapped in the face in court (23:2); fourthly, they were both hapless victims of secret Jewish plots (23:12ff); fifthly, both heard the terrifying noise of a frenzied mob screaming, “Away with him” (21:36); and lastly, both Jesus and Paul were subject to a series of five trials (Jesus by Annas, the Sanhedrin, King Herod Antipas, and twice by Pontus Pilate; Paul by the crowd, the Sanhedrin, King Herod Agrippa II and by the two governors, Felix and Festus).⁵¹⁵

Both Messiah and Paul knew suffering was inevitable. Both Christ and Paul knew they would end up giving their lives – One as Savior of the world, the other as His servant. Both grieved over Jerusalem. Both felt compelled to return to the holy City. Both knew the horror of being swept up by an angry mob. Both experience the newness of every rejection. But no matter how many times it comes, on can hardly prepare for people who want you dead. Paul did not know when it would happen to him, but he did know his Savior. As the apostle fellowshipped in His sufferings, he had never known Him better.

Lord, it encourages my heart to know that just as the sufferings of Messiah overflow into me, so my comfort overflows through Messiah. As I share in the sufferings, so I will share in the comfort (Second Corinthians 1:5 and 7). So, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me: Your rod and Your staff comfort me (Psalm 23:4).⁵¹⁶