 |  |
to another passed the words "The people!" "The Law!" "The Holy Place!" "Here is the
hated renegade!" Having seen Paul walking in the streets with the Gentile Trophimus,
these fanatical Jews jumped to the conclusion that Paul had taken him into the Temple.
"To defile the Temple was what every enemy of the Jews tried to do. Antiochus,
Heliodorus, Pompey, had profaned it, and very recently the Samaritans had been charged
with deliberately polluting it by scattering dead men's bones over the precincts. Instantly
the rumour flew from lip to lip that this was Saul, of whom they had heard--Paul the
mesith--Paul, one of the Galilean Minim--one of the believers in "the Hung"--Paul, the
renegade Rabbi, who taught and wrote that Gentiles were as good as Jews--the man that
blasphemed the Thorah--the man whom the synagogues had scourged in vain--the man
who went from place to place getting into trouble with the Romans; and that he had been
caught taking with him into the Temple a Gentile dog, an uncircumcised ger. The
punishment for that crime was death--death by the full permission of the Romans
themselves; death even against a Roman who should dare to set foot beyond the chel"
(Farrar).
The Talmudic writers themselves have said that the cause of the destruction of the
second Temple was "groundless hatred" (Joma, f 9.2).
Had not the sanctity of the Temple disallowed the shedding of blood within its
precincts, Paul would have been killed on the spot. To avoid profanation therefore the
Jews dragged him down the steps into the outer court, through the "Beautiful Gate",
which the Temple police shut behind the surging throng. This momentary delay was
providential. A Roman soldier was always stationed at the western cloister during
festivals, and he gave immediate warning of the tumult. Lysias, the Chief Captain, then
appeared with centurions and soldiers, and the Jews, now faced by disciplined soldiers,
"left beating Paul" and, as the first hand of a Roman soldier was laid upon the prostrate
Paul, he became "the prisoner of Jesus Christ", prophetic warnings of what awaited him
at Jerusalem were verified, and the first steps that were to eventuate both in Roman
imprisonment and wondrous revelation were taken.
At this point we will pause and set out the structure of the section before us.
Acts 21: 27-40.
M | 27. Jews of Asia.
N | 27. Stirred up the people.
O | 28. Charge. He brought Greeks.
P | 29. Supposition. Paul and Trophimus.
Q | 30, 31. Paul. Drawn out . . . . . about to be killed.
R | 32. Chief Captain and soldiers.
Q | 32. Paul. They left beating him.
R | 33-36. Chief Captain. Borne of the soldiers.
O | 37. Question. Canst thou speak Greek?
P | 38. Supposition. Art thou that Egyptian?
M | 39. Jew of Tarsus.
N | 40. A great silence.