As we stayed there some days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming to us and taking Paul’s belt, he bound his own feet and hands, and said, “The Holy Spirit says: ‘So the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt, and will deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ”
When we heard these things, both we and the people of that place begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
When he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The Lord’s will be done.”
After these days we took up our baggage and went up to Jerusalem.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv10, 12, 14, 15 10. A certain prophet. Though Luke doth not plainly…
10. A certain prophet. Though Luke doth not plainly express the same, yet do I conjecture that this Agabus was the same of whom mention is made in the eleventh chapter, (Acts 11:28) who foretold that there should be famine under the reign of Claudius Caesar. And when as Luke calleth him a prophet, as of late he called, the four daughters of Philip, he signifieth that it was not a common but a peculiar gift. Now, we must see to what end the persecution which was at hand was now again showed by Agabus. As concerning Paul, he was sufficiently told already. Therefore, I do not doubt but that this confirmation was added for other men’s sake; because the Lord meant every where to make known the bonds of his servant, partly that they might know that he entered the combat willingly, partly that they might perceive that he was appointed of God to be a champion to fight for the gospel. It was surely a profitable example of invincible constancy, seeing that he offered himself willingly and wittingly to the violence of the adversaries; and no less profitable is it for us at this day, that his apostleship should be confirmed with this voluntary and no less constant giving over of his life.
The man who owneth this girdle. It was an usual thing among the prophets to represent those things which they spake by signs; neither did they confirm their prophecies by using signs, through their own motion, but at the commandment of the Spirit, as when Isaias is commanded to go barefoot, (Isaiah 20:2) Jeremiah to put a yoke upon his neck, to sell the possession and to buy it, (Jeremiah 27:2, and Jeremiah 32:7) and Ezekiel to dig through the wall of his house privily, and in the same night to carry forth burthens, (Ezekiel 12:5). These and such like might seem to the common sort to be toys; but the same Spirit, who did apply signs to his words, did inwardly touch the hearts of the godly, as if they had been brought to the very thing itself. So this spectacle, mentioned by Luke, did no less move Paul’s companions, than if they had seen him bound in deed. The false prophets did afterward essay to delude the simple by this policy, as Satan is in a manner God’s ape, and his ministers do envy the servants of God. Zedekias made himself horns, wherewith he promised Syria should be pushed. Ananias, by breaking Jeremiah’s yoke, put the people in a vain hope of deliverance. God hath suffered the reprobate to be deluded with such delusions, that he might punish their unbelief.
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But, forasmuch as there was in them no force of the Spirit, their vanity did no whit hurt the faithful. This is also worthy to be noted, that Agabus doth not set before their eyes a dumb spectacle, but he coupleth therewith the word, whereby he may show to the faithful the use and end of the ceremony.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v14 The will of God bridleth all affections in them…
The will of God bridleth all affections in them which earnestly seek the glory of God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 13, 14, 15 10 And as we tarried there many days, there…
10 And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.
Ver. 10. A certain prophet] So called a procul fando, as some will have it. These New Testament prophets were next to the apostles in office; and are mentioned together with them in laying the foundation of Christianity, Eph 3:5; Eph 2:20.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv10–15 Of whom mention is made, Act 11:28; of whose…
Of whom mention is made, Act 11:28; of whose prophecy they could not be ignorant, by reason of the great collection which, on that account, was made for the poor at Jerusalem.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv10, 12, 15 Observe here, 1. That during the apostle’s stay at…
Observe here, 1. That during the apostle’s stay at Cesarea, in Philip’s house, a certain prophet named Agabus comes thither, and prophesieth of St. Paul’s bonds at Jerusalem.
Where note, that though Agabus was a prophet, yet by what appeareth of him in scripture, he was always a prophet of evil things, and bad tidings; he foretold the famine before, Act 11:28 and Paul’s bonds now. Such messengers of God. as give warnings of judgments to come, should and ought to be accepted, as well as they that bring us hopes of mercy and deliverance; that message may be true, which yet is displeasing.
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Observe, 2. Agabus useth a sign after the manner of the old prophets, who often prophesied by symbols and significant expressions, that they might the better imprint their predictions on the hearts of men. Thus Isaiah went naked and barefoot, to show what the people of Israel should meet with under the king of Assyria, Isaiah 20. And Ezekiel was to pack up his stuff, and remove, to signify the people’s removal into captivity, Eze 12:1-7.
It pleased God to teach his people by visible signs, as well as by word of mouth; that what was received by both senses, seeing and hearing, might make the deeper impression upon their minds. In like manner here Agabus uses a sign; he takes St. Paul’s girdle, and binds his own hands and feet with it, signifying, that after that manner the Jews at Jerusalem would bind the apostle, and deliver him to the Gentiles; first to the Roman Governor of Judea, and afterwards to Nero the Roman emperor.
From whence we may remark, The great goodness and condescension of God, in giving the apostle of many warnings of his bonds; the Holy Ghost first made it known to him, That bonds and afflictions did betide him. Act 20:23
The disciples at Tyre prophesied the same, Act 21:5 And here Agabus, by a sensible sign, makes it known to him; and all this, that he might thoroughly be prepared for a suffering condition.
God doth not love to take his children unprovided; St. Paul therefore was not surprised, but had warning upon warning of his present danger.
If a sudden and unexpected flood of miseries and calamities break in upon us, for afflictions seldom go single, it is not because we want warning, but because we are not so wise as to take warning. When we are well and at ease, we will not think of death and the cross; and therefore, if we be surprised and unprovided, we may thank our own security. Our apostle here being fore-warned, was fore-armed.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v15 In these verses we have,
In these verses we have,
I. Paul's journey to Jerusalem from Caesarea, and the company that went along with him. 1. They took up their carriages, their bag and baggage, and as it should seem, like poor travellers or soldiers, were their own porters; so little had they of change of raiment. Omnia mea mecum porto - My property is all about me. Some think they had with them the money that was collected in the churches of Macedonia and Achaia for the poor saints at Jerusalem. If they could have persuaded Paul to go some other way, they would gladly have gone along with him; but if, notwithstanding their dissuasive, he will go to Jerusalem, they do no say, "Let him go by himself then;" but as Thomas, in a like case, when Christ would go into danger at Jerusalem, Let us go and die with him, Joh 11:16. Their resolution to cleave to Paul was like that of Ittai to cleave to David (Sa2 15:21): In what place my Lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, there also will thy servant be. Thus Paul's boldness emboldened them. 2. Certain of the disciples of Caesarea went along with them. Whether they designed to go however, and took this opportunity of going with so much good company, or whether they went on purpose to see if they could do Paul any service and if possible prevent his trouble, or at least minister to him in it, does not appear. The less while that Paul is likely to enjoy his liberty the more industrious they are to improve every opportunity of conversation with him. Elisha kept close to Elijah when he knew the time was at hand that he should be taken up. 3. They brought with them an honest old gentleman that had a house of his own at Jerusalem, in which he would gladly entertain Paul and his company, one Mnason of Cyprus (Act 21:16), with whom we should lodge. Such a great concourse of people there was to the feast that it was a hard matter to get lodgings; the public houses would be taken up by those of the better sort, and it was looked upon as a scandalous thing for those that had private houses to let their rooms out at those times, but they must freely accommodate strangers with them. Every one then would choose his friends to be his guests, and Mnason took Paul and his company to be his lodgers; though he had heard what trouble Paul was likely to come into, which might bring those that entertained him into trouble too, yet he shall be welcome to him, whatever comes of it. This Mnason is called an old disciple - a disciple from the beginning; some think, one of the seventy disciples of Christ, or one of the first converts after the pouring out of the Spirit, or one of the first that was converted by the preaching of the gospel in Cyprus, Act 13:4. However it was, it seems he had been long a Christian, and was now in years. Note, It is an honourable thing to be an old disciple of Jesus Christ, to have been enabled by the grace of God to continue long in a course of duty, stedfast in the faith, and growing more and more prudent and experienced to a good old age. And with these old disciples one would choose to lodge; for the multitude of their years will teach wisdom.
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II. Paul's welcome at Jerusalem. 1. Many of the brethren there received him gladly, Act 21:17. As soon as they had notice that he was come to town, they went to his lodgings at Manson's house, and congratulated him on his safe arrival, and told him they were glad to see him, and invited him to their houses, accounting it an honour to be known to one that was such an eminent servant of Christ. Streso observes that the word here used concerning the welcome they gave to the apostles, asmenōs apodechein̂ is used concerning the welcome of the apostles' doctrine, Act 2:41. They gladly received his word. We think if we had Paul among us we should gladly receive him; but it is a question whether we should or no it, having his doctrine, we do not gladly receive that. 2. They paid a visit to James and the elders of the church, at a church-meeting (Act 21:18): "The day following, Paul went unto James, and took us with him, that were his companions, to introduce us into acquaintance with the church at Jerusalem." It should seem that James was now the only apostle that was resident at Jerusalem; the rest had dispersed themselves to preach the gospel in other places. But still they forecasted to have an apostle at Jerusalem, perhaps sometimes one and sometimes another, because there was a great resort thither from all parts. James was now upon the spot, and all the elders or presbyters that were the ordinary pastors of the church, both to preach and govern, were present. Paul saluted them all, paid his respects to them, enquired concerning their welfare, and gave them the right hand of fellowship. He saluted them, that is, he wished them all health and happiness, and prayed to God to bless them. The proper signification of salutation is, wishing salvation to you: salve, or salus tibi sit; like peace be unto you. And such mutual salutations, or good wishes, very well become Christians, in token of their love to each other and joint regard to God.
III. The account they had from him of his ministry among the Gentiles, and their satisfaction in it. 1. He gave them a narrative of the success of the gospel in those countries where he had been employed, knowing it would be very acceptable to them to hear of the enlarging of Christ's kingdom: He declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry, v. 19. Observe how modestly he speaks, not what things he had wrought (he was but the instrument), but what God had wrought by his ministry. It was not I, but the grace of God which was with me. He planted and watered, but God gave the increase. He declared it particularly, that the grace of God might appear the more illustrious in the circumstances of his success. Thus David will tell others what God has done for his soul (Psa 66:16), as Paul here what God has done by his hand, and both that their friends may help them to be thankful. 2. Hence they took occasion to give praise to God (v. 20): When they heart it, they glorified the Lord. Paul ascribed it all to God, and to God they gave the praise of it. They did not break out into high encomiums of Paul, but left it to his Master to say to him, Well done, good and faithful servant; but they gave glory to the grace of God, which was extended to the Gentiles. Note, The conversion of sinners ought to be the matter of our joy and praise as it is of the angels'. God had honoured Paul more than any of them, in making his usefulness more extensive, yet they did not envy him, nor were they jealous of his growing reputation, but, on the contrary, glorified the Lord. And they could not do more to encourage Paul to go on cheerfully in his work than to glorify God for his success in it; for, if God be praised, Paul is pleased.
IV. The request of James and the elders of the church at Jerusalem to Paul, or their advice rather, that he would gratify the believing Jews by showing some compliance with the ceremonial law, and appearing publicly in the temple to offer sacrifice, which was not a thing in itself sinful; for the ceremonial law, though it was by no means to be imposed upon the Gentile converts (as the false teachers would have it, and thereby endeavoured to subvert the gospel), yet it was not become unlawful as yet to those that had been bred up in the observance of it, but were far from expecting justification by it. It was dead, but not buried; dead, but not yet deadly. And, being not sinful, they thought it was a piece of prudence in Paul to conform thus far. Observe the counsel they give to Paul herein, not as having authority over him, but an affection for him.
1. They desired him to take notice of the great numbers there were of the Jewish converts: Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of the Jews there are who believe. They called him brother, for they looked upon him as a joint-commissioner with them in gospel-work. Though they were of the circumcision and he the apostle of the Gentiles, though they were conformists and he a nonconformist, yet they were brethren, and owned the relation. Thou hast been in some of our assemblies, and seest how numerous they are: how many myriads of Jews believe. The word signifies, not thousands, but ten thousands. Even among the Jews, who were most prejudiced against the gospel, yet there were great multitudes that received it; for the grace of God can break down the strongest holds of Satan. The number of the names at first was but one hundred and twenty, yet now many thousands. Let none therefore despise the day of small things; for, though the beginning be small, God can make the latter end greatly to increase. Hereby it appeared that God had not quite cast away his people the Jews, for among them there was a remnant, an election, that obtained (see Rom 11:1, Rom 11:5, Rom 11:7): many thousands that believed. And this account which they could give to Paul of the success of the gospel among the Jews was, no doubt, as grateful to Paul as the account which he gave them of the conversion of the Gentiles was to them; for his heart's desire and prayer to God for the Jews was that they might be saved.
2. They informed him of a prevailing infirmity these believing Jews laboured under, of which they could not yet be cured: They are all zealous of the law. They believe in Christ as the true Messiah, they rest upon his righteousness and submit to his government; but they know the law of Moses was of God, they have found spiritual benefit in their attendance on the institutions of it, and therefore they can by no means think of parting with it, no, nor of growing cold to it. And perhaps they urged Christ's being made under the law, and observing it (which was designed to be our deliverance from the law), as a reason for their continuance under it. This was a great weakness and mistake, to be so fond of the shadows when the substance was come, to keep their necks under a yoke of bondage when Christ had come to make them free. But see, (1.) The power of education and long usage, and especially of a ceremonial law. (2.) The charitable allowance that must be made in consideration of these. These Jews that believed were not therefore disowned and rejected as no Christians because they were for the law, nay, were zealous for it, while it was only in their own practice, and they did not impose it upon others. Their being zealous of the law was capable of a good construction, which charity would put upon it; and it was capable of a good excuse, considering what they were brought up in, and among whom they lived.
3. They gave him to understand that these Jews, who were so zealous of the law, were ill-affected to him, Act 21:21. Paul himself, though as faithful a servant as any Christ ever had, yet could not get the good word of all that belonged to Christ's family: "They are informed of thee (and form their opinion of thee accordingly) that thou not only dost not teach the Gentiles to observe the law, as some would have had thee (we have prevailed with them to drop that), but dost teach all the Jews who are dispersed among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, not to circumcise their children nor to walk after the customs of our nation, which were of divine appointment, so far as they might be observed even among the Gentiles, at a distance from the temple, - not to observe the fasts and feasts of the church, not to wear their phylacteries, nor abstain from unclean meats." Now, (1.) It was true that Paul preached the abrogation of the law of Moses, taught them that it was impossible to be justified by it, and therefore we are not bound up any longer to the observance of it. But, (2.) It was false that he taught them to forsake Moses; for the religion he preached tended not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. He preached Christ (the end of the law for righteousness), and repentance and faith, in the exercise of which we are to make great use of the law. The Jews among the Gentiles whom Paul taught were so far from forsaking Moses that they never understood him better, nor ever embraced him so heartily as now when they were taught to make use of him as a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ. But even the believing Jews, having got this notion of Paul, that he was an enemy to Moses, and perhaps giving too much regard to the unbelieving Jews too, were much exasperated against him. Their ministers, the elders here present, loved and honoured him, and approved of what he did, and called him brother, but the people could hardly be induced to entertain a favourable thought of him; for it is certain the least judicious are the most censorious, the weak-headed are the hot-headed. They could not distinguish upon Paul's doctrine as they ought to have done, and therefore condemned it in the gross, through ignorance.
4. They therefore desired Paul that he would by some public act, now that he had come to Jerusalem, make it to appear that the charge against him was false, and that he did not teach people to forsake Moses and to break the customs of the Jewish church, for he himself retained the use of them.
(1.) They conclude that something of this kind must be done: "What is it therefore? What must be done? The multitude will hear that thou art come to town." This is an inconvenience that attends men of fame, that their coming and going are taken notice of more than other people's, and will be talked of, by some for good-will and by others for ill-will. "When they hear thou art come, they must needs come together, they will expect that we call them together, to advise with them whether we should admit thee to preach among us as a brother or no; or, they will come together of themselves expecting to hear thee." Now something must be done to satisfy them that Paul does not teach the people to forsake Moses, and they think it necessary, [1.] For Paul's sake, that his reputation should be cleared, and that so good a man may not lie under any blemish, nor so useful a man labour under any disadvantage which may obstruct his usefulness. [2.] For the people's sake, that they may not continue prejudiced against so good a man, nor lose the benefit of his ministry by those prejudices. [3.] For their own sake, that since they knew it was their duty to own Paul their doing it might not be turned to their reproach among those that were under their charge.
(2.) They produce a fair opportunity which Paul might take to clear himself: "Do this that we say unto thee, take our advice in this case. We have four men, Jews who believe, of our own churches, and they have a vow on them, a vow of Nazariteship for a certain time; their time has now expired (Act 21:23), and they are to offer their offering according to the law, when they shave the head of their separation, a he-lamb for a burnt-offering, a ewe-lamb for a sin-offering, and a ram for a peace-offering, with other offerings pertinent to them, Num 6:13-20. Many used to do this together, when their vow expired about the same time, either for the greater expedition or for the greater solemnity. Now Paul having so far of late complied with the law as to take upon him the vow of a Nazarite, and to signify the expiration of it by shaving his head at Cenchrea (Act 18:18), according to the custom of those who lived at a distance from the temple, they desire him but to go a little further, and to join with these four in offering the sacrifices of a Nazarite: 'Purify thyself with them according to the law; and be willing not only to take that trouble, but to be at charges with them, in buying sacrifices for this solemn occasion, and to join with them in the sacrifice." This, they think, will effectually stop the mouth of calumny, and every one will be convinced that the report was false, that Paul was not the man he was represented to be, did not teach the Jews to forsake Moses, but that he himself, being originally a Jew, walked orderly, and kept the law; and then all would be well.
5. They enter a protestation that this shall be no infringement at all of the decree lately made in favour of the Gentile converts, nor do they intend by this in the least to derogate from the liberty allowed them (Act 21:25): "As touching the Gentiles who believe, we have written and concluded, and resolve to abide by it, that they observe no such things; we would not have them to be bound up by the ceremonial law by any means, but only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; but let not them be tied to the Jewish sacrifices or purifications, nor any of their rites and ceremonies." They knew how jealous Paul was for the preservation of the liberty of the converted Gentiles, and therefore expressly covenant to abide by that. Thus far is their proposal.
V. Here is Paul's compliance with it. He was willing to gratify them in this matter. Though he would not be persuaded not to go to Jerusalem, yet, when he was there, he was persuaded to do as they there did, Act 21:26. Then Paul took the men, as they advised, and the very next day, purifying himself with them, and not with multitude nor tumult, as he himself pleads (Act 24:18), he entered into the temple, as other devout Jews that came upon such errands did, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification to the priests; desiring the priest would appoint a time when the offering should be offered for every one of them, one for each. Ainsworth, on Num 6:18, quotes out of Maimonides a passage which gives some light to this: If a man say, Upon me behalf the oblations of a Nazarite, or, Upon me be half the shaving of a Nazarite, them he brings half the offerings by what Nazarite he will, and that Nazarite pays his offering out of that which is his. So Paul did here; he contributed what he vowed to the offerings of these Nazarites, and some think bound himself to the law of Nazariteship, and to an attendance at the temple with fastings and prayers for seven days, not designing that the offering should be offered till them, which was what he signified to the priest. Now it has been questioned whether James and the elders did well to give Paul this advice, and whether he did well to take it. 1. Some have blamed this occasional conformity of Paul's, as indulging the Jews too much in their adherence to the ceremonial law, and a discouragement of those who stood fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free. Was it not enough for James and the elders of Jerusalem to connive at this mistake in the Jewish converts themselves, but must they wheedle Paul to countenance them in it? Had it not been better, when they had told Paul how zealous the believing Jews were for the law, if they had desired, whom God had endued with such excellent gifts, to take pains with their people to convince them of their error, and to show them that they were made free from the law by their marriage to Christ? Rom 7:4. To urge him to encourage them in it by his example seems to have more in it of fleshly wisdom than of the grace of God. Surely Paul knew what he had to do better than they could teach him. But, 2. Others think the advice was prudent and good, and Paul's following it was justifiable enough, as the case stood. It was Paul's avowed principle, To the Jews became I as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews, Co1 9:20. He had circumcised Timothy, to please the Jews; though he would not constantly observe the ceremonial law, yet, to gain an opportunity of doing good, and to show how far he could comply, he would occasionally go to the temple and join in the sacrifices there. Those that are weak in the faith are to be borne with, when those that undermine the faith must be opposed. It is true, this compliance of Paul's sped ill to him, for this very thing by which he hoped to pacify the Jews did but provoke them, and bring him into trouble; yet this is not a sufficient ground to go upon in condemning it: Paul might do well, and yet suffer for it. But perhaps the wise God overruled both their advice and Paul's compliance with it to serve a better purpose than was intended; for we have reason to think that when the believing Jews, who had endeavoured by their zeal for the law to recommend themselves to the good opinion of those who believed not, saw how barbarously they used Paul (who endeavoured to oblige them), they were by this more alienated from the ceremonial law than they could have been by the most argumentative or affecting discourses. They saw it was in vain to think of pleasing men that would be pleased with nothing else but the rooting out of Christianity. Integrity and uprightness will be more likely to preserve us than sneaking compliances. And when we consider what a great trouble it must needs be to James and the presbyters, in the reflection upon it, that they had by their advice brought Paul into trouble, it should be a warning to us not to press men to oblige us by doing any thing contrary to their own mind.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv10–15 And as we tarried there many days,.... How many…
And as we tarried there many days,.... How many days is not said, it could not be very many, if the apostle got to Jerusalem by Pentecost, as he desired, Act 20:6
there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus; of whom mention is made in Act 11:28 who is there said to come from Jerusalem, to Antioch, and here from Judea to Caesarea; he had been many years going about from place to place prophesying, for between that and this account must be a space of about sixteen or seventeen years.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv10–15 A certain prophet came - The nearer the event…
A certain prophet came - The nearer the event was, the more expressed were the predictions which prepared Paul for it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv10–15 Verse 10. Agabus.] See Clarke on Ac 11:28.
Verse 10. Agabus.] See Clarke on Ac 11:28.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv10, 15 Act 21:10-14. And as we tarried there many days…
Act 21:10-14. And as we tarried there many days — There being many disciples in that city, the fruit, as appears, of the ministry and miracles of Philip; there came from Judea a prophet named Agabus — Paul, and some part of his company, had become acquainted with this prophet some years before, at Antioch, where he foretold the famine which afterward happened in the days of Claudius Cesar, Act 11:28. And when he was come unto us — Several of the disciples of Cesarea and Paul’s friends being together; he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet — In the manner that malefactors were wont to be bound when apprehended; and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost — By whose inspiration I now speak and act; So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle — Thus Agabus, like the prophets of old, accompanied his prediction with a significant prophetic symbol: and thus the nearer the event was, the more express and impressive were the predictions intended to prepare Paul for it. When we — Of Paul’s company; and they of that place — The brethren of Cesarea; heard these things — And believed if he went to Jerusalem the prediction would be fulfilled; we besought him not to go — In the most pressing manner, and with many tears of sincere and fervent affection, Act 21:13; being ignorant, it appears, that this and the former prediction were intended, not to hinder him from going to Jerusalem, but to make him the more courageous, by signifying to him beforehand what was to befall him, (Act 20:22-23,) and that he would not be put to death at Jerusalem. Then Paul — Sensibly touched with the concern which they expressed on his account, and yet resolutely bent upon following what he apprehended to be the call of duty, whatever sufferings it might expose him to; answered, What mean ye to weep and break my heart? — By these affectionate salutations? Observe, reader, the admirable mixture of tenderness and firmness of spirit manifested in this answer. I am ready, not to be bound only — And cast into prison; but also to die at Jerusalem — Or wherever else I may be called to it; for the name of the Lord Jesus — For he feared neither sufferings nor death in any form, if he might thereby defend the gospel, and promote the glory of its Author, which were the ends he had chiefly in view in all his labours and sufferings, and which he preferred to all other things whatever. And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased — It was not obstinacy in Paul that hindered his yielding to their persuasions, but true Christian resolution, not to relinquish what he believed to be the line of duty. We should never be persuaded either to do what we know to be evil, or to omit what we believe to be good, when it is in our power: saying, The will of the Lord be done — Which they were satisfied Paul knew.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 13, 14, 15 There came down - See the notes on Act…
There came down - See the notes on Act 15:1.
Named Agabus - See the notes on Act 11:28.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 12, 13, 15 tarried there many--"a good many"
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.
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there came down from Judea--the news of Paul's arrival having spread.
a certain prophet . . . Agabus--no doubt the same as in Act 11:28.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv10, 11, 12, 13, 15 10. Many days—At Cesarea Paul’s distance from Jerusalem was…
10. Many days—At Cesarea Paul’s distance from Jerusalem was about seventy-five miles, or three days’ journey. So rapid under propitious gales had been his voyage that he has nine days to spare before Pentecost, which he can spend either at Jerusalem or at Cesarea. From motives of prudence, perhaps, he prefers the latter.
Came down from Judea—Doubtless on having heard of Paul’s arrival at Cesarea, and, belonging to the Pauline section of the Jerusalem Church, anxious to welcome the apostle.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–15 10. And as we tarried there many days] The…
10. And as we tarried there many days] The word rendered “many” is not the one commonly so translated. It is equal to “some” as Rev. Ver. in margin, and implies that the Apostle made a suitable stay, such as was seemly with a host of such a kind.
there … Agabus] Perhaps the same who (Act_11:28) at Antioch foretold the coming famine. The prophets mentioned on that occasion had also come up from Jerusalem, and the name being somewhat unusual, makes the identity very probable.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–15 (10) As we tarried there many days . .…
(10) As we tarried there many days . . .—The adjective is in the comparative degree, and implies, accordingly, a longer time than had been intended. Probably the voyage had been quicker than the travellers had expected, and there was therefore time to remain at Cæsarea, and yet to arrive at Jerusalem, as St. Paul purposed, in time for Pentecost (chap 20:16). There was, at any rate, time for the tidings of his arrival to reach Jerusalem, and for Agabus (see Note on Act_11:28) to come down in consequence.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv10–15 Many days (hJmerav pleiouv). In Act_13:31 ouv ejpirav plei…
Many days (hJmerav pleiouv). In Act_13:31 ouv ejpirav plei is applied to the forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension. In Act_18:20 ona plei cronon is a longer time longer, viz. than he had intended. In Act_25:6 rav hJme pleiouv h deka is "more than ten days." Here, therefore, it is too strong an expression to say "many days." According to Lewin"s calculation, he was only five days at Caesarea from May 10 to May 15. Howson"s "some days," which is the rendering also in the margin of the R.T., is much better than "many." Renan has "quelques jours." Agabus. (see Act_11:28)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv13, 15 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and…
Act_21:13-14
Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break my heart?
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Pauls resolution
I. The bravery with which he persisted in it.
1. He reproves his friends for dissuading him.
2. Not withstanding their entreaties he repeats his resolution.
(1) How far it extends.
(2) What it is that carries him out thus.
II. The patient acquiescence of his friends in his decision. They submitted to--
1. The wisdom of a good man.
2. The will of a good God. (Matthew Henry.)
Pauls resolution
I. The occasion.
1. Paul was now at Caesarea, in Philips house (Act_21:8). Philip, that was injured by Paul (Act_8:4-5) a persecutor, is easily reconciled with Paul a convert. We should not be strange to those whom Christ has accepted.
2. There Agabus prophesieth of Pauls bonds. Agabus was ever a prophet of evil tidings (Act_11:28). God will be glorified by all manner of dispositions. Some, like Agabus, come always with a sad message in their mouths; and yet these have their use (1Ki_22:8). That may be true which is not pleasing. But what needs Paul so often to be warned of his bonds? (Act_20:22-23). That he might be thoroughly prepared. God doth not love to take His children unprovided. If a sudden and unexpected flood of miseries break in upon us, it is not because we want warning, but because we will not take warning.
II. The carriage of the saints upon this occasion.
1. Their entire affection to Paul (Act_21:12). This entreaty did not proceed from self-love, for they were resolved to go with him (Act_21:15), but zeal for Gods glory. The lives and liberties of those that are eminent instruments of Gods glory are very dear and precious to Gods faithful people. But was this well done to persuade him? Yes; for we know of no command they had to the contrary. All desires against Gods secret will are not unlawful, when we afterwards submit to His revealed will (1Ki_8:18). Satan often laboureth to take us off from our duty by the persuasion of our loving friends, who mean us well in what they say to us (Mat_16:22-23).
2. Pauls firm resolution: He would not be persuaded. Did Paul do well in this? How doth this agree with Jam_3:17? I answer--In our duty it is praiseworthy to be easy to be entreated, but not from our duty. Paul went bound in the spirit to Jerusalem.
(1) No persuasions should turn us out of the way wherein God commands us to walk. So Christ, when he was desired to avoid suffering, which was the end of His coming into the world, rejected the motion.
(2) No dangers. So when the king of Babylon threatened the three children, they resolutely answered (Dan_3:18).
3. Their discretion, when he would not be persuaded, they ceased. It is the disposition of humble spirits not to be peremptory of their own conceits, but to submit to those that are wiser than themselves (Mat_3:15; Act_11:18).
4. Their piety, the ground of their discretion: The will of the Lord be done.
Submission is required--
1. To Gods intended will, while it is yet kept secret. In every business we should ask--
(1) His leave (Jdg_1:1), By this means we acknowledge God, our dependence upon Him, and His dominion over us. It is robbery to use any goods without the owners leave. We and all ours are the goods of God.
(2) His blessing. When the event is uncertain, beg the Lords concurrence, and the blessing of His providence (Jer_10:23; Gen_24:12).
2. To His determination. Submitting all things to Gods will after the event is patience, and before the event is a notable piece of faith (Jam_4:15; 1Co_4:19). This was a truth evident to the heathens. Plato brings in Alcibiades asking Socrates how he should speak of future events, and in what manner he should express himself; and Socrates answers, Even as God will.
3. Our purposes and desires must be so moderated that we may be forearmed for all events (2Sa_15:25-26). Such a holy indifferency should there be upon our spirits, that we should be like a die in the hand of Providence, to be cast high or low according as it falls.
4. When the event depends upon a duty, we must do the duty, and refer the event to God (1Co_9:16). It is a base principle to say we must be sure of success before we will engage for God.
5. In a dubious case observe the leading of Providence. The Israelites were not to remove but as they saw the pillar of cloud before them (chap. 16:10). But when the event is declared in Gods providence, then we have nothing to do but plainly to submit, and that very quietly and contentedly, with hope and encouragement in the Lord. (T. Manton, D. D.)
The sacrifices which Paul was willing to make in the cause of Christ
I. His ease and comfort.
1. Had Paul travelled in the fashion of modern tourists many might have envied him the pleasure of visiting some of the loveliest regions. But when we hear him saying of himself, we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place, etc.; and when we hear him enumerate the catalogue of his sufferings, In labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft; and still farther when we contemplate his strenuous efforts to save souls, we feel that we live in the age of little men.
2. What are the sacrifices of ease and comfort, and what the exertions which we ought to make for the honour of Christs name? Some can give their labour, some their time, some their talents, some their wealth, some their influence, some their example, some their prayers; some may give all of these, some two or more of them; and there is not one of you but who may at least live and suffer, and pray for the honour of Christs name.
II. Earthly friendships.
1. Could the endearments of the tenderest friendship have restrained Paul from the performance of his duty, such were not wanting. He was loved with no common affection. Our text is one proof of it, and so is chap. 20:36-38. What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? is not the language of cold unfeeling rebuke? His own heart was wrung by this proof of affection Here, then, is the nobleness of Pauls sacrifice. He loved his friends well, but he loved his Saviour better.
2. Beware lest earthly friendships wean your hearts from Jesus, and rob Him of His due. An excessive attachment is very apt to cool the ardour of Christian zeal. The love of a husband, of a father, have often proved serious obstacles to an avowal and defence of the gospel. Was not Samson shorn of his strength through a blind love for Delilah? and was it not from the wife of his bosom that Job received the dreadful counsel to curse God and die? Said Christ, He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me, etc. It was a noble display of heroism made by the daughter of Knox, and the wife of John Welch, in an interview with King James. When she humbly craved permission for her husband, who was far gone with consumption, to return to Scotland for the benefit of his native air, she was rudely denied it by the tyrant. At last, however, he told her that if she would persuade her husband to submit to the bishops, he would allow him to return. Mrs. Welch, lifting her apron and holding it towards the king, replied in the true spirit of her father, Please your Majesty, Id rather keep his head there.
III. His liberty. I am ready not to be bound only, etc.
1. In every place to which Paul had lately come, the testimony was repeated, that bonds and imprisonments awaited him; and he knew well what imprisonment was, for he had already, for the sake of his religion, been a prisoner. What then? Did Paul undervalue liberty? No! His history warrants me to say, that the love of freedom burned as ardently in Pauls bosom as ever it did in that of a Brutus or a Tell, and might in other circumstances have bled to defend it. What then is the solution of this enigma? It was for the honour of Him, who, in the form of a slave, was led to prison, to judgment, that men might be no longer the oppressed thralls of sins, of Satan, and of hell.
2. At this stage of our subject, we would glance at the benefit which accrued from the imprisonment of Paul.
(1) The gospel was carried at once to the very heart of the Roman Empire, from which, as a radiating centre, it more readily found its way to distant provinces and colonies.
(2) The gospel found access to the palace of Caesar.
(3) But to it in a more especial manner are we indebted for many of those epistles which bear his name.
3. Every Bible reader is well aware what benefits flowed to Gods Church from Josephs imprisonment in Egypt; from Esthers exile in Persia; from the confinement of Jeremiah; from Daniels captivity; from Peters imprisonment; and from Johns banishment. Nor is modern history wanting in illustrations. For ten months Luther was shut up in the castle of Wartzburg; but there he translated great part of the New Testament, wrote his notes on the Evangelists, composed many treatises which were eminently useful to the work of the Reformation. It was in a lonely monastery on the Rhine that John Huss wrote several useful works for the benefit of the Church. It was in prison that Buchanan wrote his beautiful version of the Psalms of David; that Grotius produced his treatise On the Truth of the Christian Religion; that Bunyan wrote his allegory. And if God is blessing us with the sweets of liberty, let them only be the more gratefully improved to the honour of the Giver.
IV. His life. Paul lived exclusively for Christ. If the glory of Jesus could be best promoted by living, then, though hardships unutterable should be his lot, he was willing to live; but if, by dying, he could honour Jesus the more, then to die was he willing (Act_20:24). (J. French.)
Love for Christ
1. Pauls immediate object in going to Jerusalem was to come to some understanding with those Christian Jews who were zealous for the law, and so to put an end to controversies which impaired the development of some of the nobler forms of the Christian life; and impeded the progress of Christian missions. To put an end to these troubles, Paul was willing not to be a prisoner only, but also to die.
2. But the way in which the apostle speaks of his readiness to meet the dangers which menaced him is characteristic of his temper and spirit. It was Christ who was chiefly concerned in the evils of the schism. The Churches which were being divided by it were Christs Churches: He had died for them. The work among the heathen which was being impeded was Christs work: Paul was only His slave. And so the apostle says that he is ready to become a prisoner and even to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.
3. Paul was on fire with love for Christ, and the passion became more fervent as his life went on. That cooling in the ardour of our first love which some imagine to be inevitable, is not found in the life of Paul. Our question then is--How is a great love for Christ created in a Christian heart?
I. Perhaps the first answer will be by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The answer is profoundly true; but it may be suggested by indolence. We may say that therefore there is nothing for us to do, and let things take their course. If this is our temper, this noble devotion will never be kindled in our souls. It is not by any magical process that the Divine Spirit achieves His great work; without our concurrence He will do nothing.
II. Perhaps the second answer will be that we must learn from the four gospels all that can be known of Christ. This answer falls in with one of the strongest tendencies of modern religious thought. The Church has become weary of the problems of theology, and has turned to the earthly life of Christ. And the story contained in the four Gospels is the enduring wonder and glory of the history of our race. But how many have come to love Christ like Paul through simply reading the four Gospels? It is quite possible to read them and to feel their infinite charm; for the heart to be drawn strongly to Christ by what they tell us about Him, and to recognise Him as God manifest in the flesh, and yet not to love Him like Paul did. Has it ever occurred to you to ask whether, for you, the interest of Christs history, like the interest of the history of ordinary men, closes with His death? If so, the kind of devotion which He inspired in Paul is impossible. Christ may be to us the grandest, the fairest, the most glorious of historic characters. We may believe that in Him the very life of God was expressed in a human character and history. But if the ties which during Christs earthly life united the Divine and the human were dissolved at His death, then God was nearer to man while Christ was visibly present in the world than He has been since; and the awful, the infinite distance between God and ourselves remains what it was before Christ became man. The resurrection of Christ is for the Church as great a fact as the incarnation. But for the resurrection the incarnation would have been a mere passing wonder. I think that there are some of us who forget that Christ is living still. He is a memory with which we would not part for a thousand worlds, but still a memory, and nothing more. He was more than this to Paul. Paul declared that Christ was alive. If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith also is vain.
III. We must know that Christ has not merely a glorious place in the history of mankind, but that he is still alive, that He is still the same Christ that delivered the Sermon on the Mount, etc., the same yesterday, today, and forever. But we may believe and know that Christ is alive and yet think of Him with only wonder and reverence, or with only a faint affection, without any depth and energy in it. We may be so hot and eager to make sure of the blessings which Christ has revealed, that we hurry past Christ in order to grasp them; we think of Him a little, but we think most of them; just as a starving man might think of the bread and meat which a friend has brought, and forget the friend who brought them; just as a drowning man might think of his safety when lifted into the lifeboat, and forget the gallant men whose daring and skill have saved him from the wreck; or as an ardent student, excited by the teaching of some great master, might forget the master by whose genius End labour all his joy has been inspired. I also mean that we may be so zealous in good works as to forget who it is for whom we are working. And if we do not think much of Christ, it is certain that we shall not love Him much.
IV. It was to the death of Christ that the apostles most frequently recurred to deepen the intensity of their devotion to him, and it is generally of His death that they are speaking when their love for Him flames out into expressions of vehement passion. There are comparatively few persons who, at the beginning of their Christian life, have any keen sense of sin; and apart from this, there can be no deep impression of the unique power of the death of Christ, through which we have remission of sin. This development of conscience is, however, certain to come if we persist in the endeavour to obey the law of Christ faithfully. And then the Divine forgiveness will not seem a matter of course, but something surprising and almost incredible, and we shall begin to see, as we never saw before, the infinite love and mercy of Christ in becoming a sacrifice for our sins. After this discovery has been made, every confession of sin and every prayer for pardon recalls to us afresh the infinite love of Christ in dying for us. The supreme proof of Christs love takes possession of the soul, and we begin to think more of Him than even of the blessings which He promises in this world, or in the world to come. We love Christ. We find a keener interest and a deeper joy in learning and keeping His commandments. Then we receive--at first with great hesitation, then with increasing courage--those assurances, The Father Himself loveth you because ye have loved Me. If a man love Me he will keep My words, etc. Gods great love for us is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. There is a blessedness in being forgiven for Christs sake. There is a deeper blessedness in knowing that the Divine love for us is so generous that it finds in us something to approve as well as much to pardon.
V. We have not yet mastered Pauls secret. While we are thinking of Christs love for all men, we may know nothing of His love for us as individuals. The world is very large and we are lost in the crowd. But Paul was not merely one of a crowd that Christ loved. He knew of Christs love for himself individually, and a similar knowledge is necessary to us if we are to be inspired with a similar devotion. We must leave it to Him to manifest Himself to us when He sees fit, and in the ways which seem to Him wisest and best. These manifestations vary with the different circumstances of men, with their different temperaments, and with their different characters.
1. Some men as they look back upon their personal history, can recall decisive proofs that Christ has answered their prayers. And just as a man might sit down over a packet of letters which he had received at intervals during many years from his father or mother, and as he turned them over and recalled the circumstances in which they were written, might come to realise more vividly than he had ever realised before the warmth, the intensity, the endurance of his fathers or his mothers love for him--so the remembrance of the special proofs that Christ has heard and answered our prayers produces sometimes what may be described as a revolution in our thoughts about Him.
2. The discovery may come to us in other ways. I suppose that there are times when to some of us it is a great surprise that we are still doing the will of God. Christs personal, individual care for us is the only explanation of the continued existence of our higher life. In Him, not in ourselves, we see the root of whatever constancy we have shown in Gods service; and so we learn that there is in Christ not only a love for the world for which He died--not only a love for all who keep His commandments, but a love for ourselves individually--a love which must have bad a depth, an energy, a tenderness in it--which fill us first with wonder, and then with an affection for Him, such as His love for all mankind and His love for all who are loyal to Him could not have inspired.
3. There is still another way in which our sense of the personal love of Christ is deepened as the years go on. We know that He is one with us in our endeavours to overcome sin and live righteously; that He is our closest and most constant ally; that in our severest conflicts He stands by us. We know that He has a large stake in the issue of every struggle. He does not merely stand by us; He is our comrade, and it is in His strength, not in our own, that we win all our real victories. Conclusion: When this supreme discovery of Christs love for us is once made, it remains. There may be times when the sky is clouded, but we know that the splendour of the sun has not been extinguished. Christ has made, not our house, but our very selves His home. (R. W. Dale, D. D.)
Christian courage
A Hindoo woman applied to the Rev. Mr. Sutton (Baptist missionary) for Christian baptism. He set before her the sufferings which must necessarily follow a renunciation of her heathenish creed; but she replied, I am willing to bear it all; I am ready to sacrifice all to my Lord. Surely, sir, I cannot endure anything in comparison to what He suffered for me.
Devotion to Christ
When Richard Cameron, a noble Scotch martyr, had fallen mortally wounded on Airdsmoss, he said, I am dying, happy--happy; and if I had a thousand lives, I would willingly lay them all down one after another for Christ. Oh! He is near me; I think I see Him! I am just coming, Lord Jesus. And he added, Tell my parents not to weep, but continue steadfast in the faith, and not to fear a suffering lot for Christ.
Courage and submission
I. Courage is, in some senses, a natural gift. No timid man by any effort of will can make himself physically brave. Men differ in their sensibility to pain. Great men--men whose career was singularly bold as politicians--have been found incapable of bearing an operation: they bare died with a wound unprobed. It was not cowardice: it was nervous temperament. There have been soldiers who lacked physical courage; they have had to lash themselves to a battle by the bare sense of duty or by the less noble dread of disgrace. We ought to respect tenfold a man who has triumphed over such obstacles. I respect even more the man who recanted his true creed to avoid the fire, and then in the death which at last he faced held his right hand separately in the flame as though to punish its weakness, than the readier and more instant resolution of his brave fellow martyrs, who rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for truth. Paul said, I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And yet when did Paul ever shrink from danger? What a catalogue is that in 2Co_11:1-33. If Paul was not made for courage, at least he had learned it. And how learned it? The secret is told in a few words of the text. We have all heard of the strength which a weak woman will put forth in saving a loved child from flood or fire; of the bravery with which a wife will encounter perils for a husband, when his life or his honour is jeopardised. Such examples are not instances of changes of character: but they show the force of circumstances in raising character above its common level. Yet suppose now that this transforming cause were constant in its operation: would that love which has wrought wonders under sudden impulse be less powerful, if the demand upon it were perpetual? Love is stronger than death, than the fear of death, than the present sense of any pain however depressing or however agonising. Just such was that motive which St. Paul here indicates--that motive of which his life was the result--when he speaks of being ready to be bound and to die for the name of the Lord Jesus. The love of Christ constrained him. We are not called, in these calm easy days, to feats of bodily courage, but to moral courage. And where is it? Where, amongst us, is that ability to stand alone, to face an adverse world for the love of the Lord Jesus? Alas! in this aspect the brave are cowards, the strong weak, and the great little. We had rather follow a multitude to do evil, than bear a taunting reproach or a disdainful smile.
II. The apostle was brave, and therefore the disciples were submissive. The will of the Lord be done. The words might be read either as a prayer or as an acquiescence. And it is only they who can use them as the one, who can rightly utter them as the other. It is a very common ejaculation, when all efforts are vain, Gods will be done. So speaks the mourner, when all hope of restoration has fled; the bankrupt, when his last card is played; the convicted criminal, when sin is found out. But in these cases it is not a prayer at all It means only, Woe is me! for I am undone. Therefore let us try to pray the words. We have them in the Lords Prayer. But who honestly wishes that Gods will should be entirely done in him and by him? The same is a perfect man. What? No place left for that crooked practice, for that perverse temper, that pastime which I so much enjoyed, for that sin which I so much loved? No; I did not mean that: I did not quite wish that! Therefore out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thine own prayer--that prayer which thou hast said ten times this one day--condemns thee and finds thee out. Resignation is no virtue except so far as it is the product of obedience. (Dean Vaughan.)
Readiness to die
If a man is not ready to die, he is not ready to live. He who is unready to lay down his life at the call of duty, will not use his life to advantage while it is spared to him. It is a great mistake to suppose that it is a mans first duty to take care of his life, or to preserve his health, or to look out for his own interests, or to protect or support his family. His first duty is to do right. His second duty is to do right. His last duty is to do right. If the responsibility is upon him for the hour to risk his health, or his life, in behalf of his family, or of a stranger or of any trust committed to him, he ought to take the risk, and push ahead at any cost. Living is a good business for a man only when a man is as ready to die as to live. But it was for the name of the Lord Jesus that Paul was ready to be bound or to die. There is no true discipleship of Jesus which does not reach thus far. He who would not die for his Saviour does not live for his Saviour. Unless the disciple gives his Saviour the first place in his affections, his discipleship is only an empty name. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)
Preparedness for death
I. Death detaches a man from depending on what is material. He who is dependent on business, home, pleasures, etc., is not ready to die. For if these are all to him, all will go from him. Jesus delivers us from the spell of materialism.
1. He makes matter itself a parable of the spiritual.
2. He gives us spiritual views and attachments that are more to us than any matter yields. Love, duty, heaven.
II. Death involves an experience of utter loneliness. Can we endure that? Can we in bearing our sorrows, holding our convictions, spending many epochs of our life, stand alone. If not, we are not ready to die. Jesus, by His example and spirit, teaches us to say, I am alone, yet not alone. Learning that, we are ready to die.
III. Death brings us into the most vivid realisation of Gods presence. Do we dread that? or has Jesus taught us to say, Our Father? If so we can say, I am ready to die. (Homiletic Monthly.)
Faith, hope, and love, the attending angels of the Christian in his journey to the heavenly Jerusalem
I. Childlike faith, which on dark paths resigns itself to the will of God in doing and suffering (verses 13-15).
II. Brotherly love, which communicates and receives comfort in cordial fellowship amid the toils of the journey (verses 4-6, 12 13).
III. Victorious hope, which, unmoved in joy and suffering, looks forward to the heavenly termination (verses 13-15). (K. Gerok.)
The power of Christianity
Pauls conflict of feeling suggestive of very noble and comprehensive character. Some have strength and no tenderness; others tenderness and no strength. Paul had both; notwithstanding he felt the kindness shown, he felt it his duty to be steadfast.
I. Its absorbing power.
1. As to its evidences.
2. Sense of adaptation.
3. Great personal influence made to bear. Love of Christ.
II. Its impelling power. Paul was to go to Jerusalem in fulfilment of his mission, so in--
1. A profession of discipleship.
2. Consecrations of a life of godliness.
3. Active efforts on behalf of the truth. Luther would go to Worms though as many devils there as tiles on houses.
III. Its assuring power. The apostles calm and confidence striking. In view of all possibilities, prison, death, he was composed.
1. We can never go wrong with God as our Guide.
2. No trial too great if resting on Him.
3. In view of death the Christian has the loftiest hopes.
Polycarp, Latimer, and Ridley at Oxford. Application: What Christianity enables us to do for it is the measure of its hold upon us. In serving God we have a resource and confidence most sustaining and sublime. Christ is Christianity, admit Him to your soul. (G. McMichael, B. A.)
And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.
Submission to the will of God
I. The revealed will of God lies upon two pages--the page of Scripture and the page of providence. There were three trials pressing upon the men of Caesarea when they meekly folded their hands and said, The will of the Lord be done.
1. There was defeat, for they were beaten in an argument into which they had evidently thrown all their power; consequently there was--
2. Disappointment, everything went contrary to their hopes and expectations; and--
3. There was grief, the bitter grief of a painful bereavement. What is the secret of rest in all these things? I see nothing but a profound and adoring sense of God--to look away till we see only Him, His counsel ordaining, His love presiding, His hand guiding, His Spirit sanctifying, His glory crowning. The will of the Lord be done.
II. But I turn to the unrevealed will. After all this was the main thought of the company of Caesarea. We cannot tell which is right, Paul or we. The Lord will show in His own time. What He decides must be best. The will of the Lord be done. It is a hard thing to sit and watch one I love, and to school my heart to receive, I do not know what, and I am afraid to ask what. But all the while, far above all this, over the perplexity, and over the mystery, and over the dread, there is reigning the high will of God, and that will is bearing on to its own destined purpose, and it must prevail. And here is faiths large field--the unrevealed will of God. Unite yourself with it, throw yourself upon it absolutely. Let it bear you where it will; it can only bear you home. The will of the Lord be done. (J. Vaughan.)
Acquiescence in the Divine will
A rare spirit of acquiescence in the Divine will was recently displayed by a poor woman in Atlanta, Georgia. She was supported entirely by charity, she had scarcely any education, but had learned a lesson many highly-cultured people have failed to learn. Having endured great bodily affliction for many years, her disease reached its last stage, and she lay apparently at the point of death for four or five weeks. Every day, and almost every hour, was thought to be the last, but to the astonishment of all she continued to breathe. Her sufferings were very severe, and knowing her to be ready for the great change, her friends were almost hoping for the moment of her release. One of them said to her, Well M--, are you ready to go? Yes, said she, ready to go but willing to wait!
Submission to the Divine will
Payson was asked, when under great bodily affliction, if he could see any particular reason for this dispensation. No, replied he, but I am as well satisfied as if I could see ten thousand; Gods will is the very perfection of all reason. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Gods way the best
Driven by an instinct which neither we nor they can comprehend, the swallows pass with the changing seasons from clime to clime. Over miles of weary plain, over lofty mountain walls, across leagues of sea, into lands unknown before, they follow with gladness and trust the Hand that guides them. We, too, have a journey to make into lands unknown to us: we, too, have a Hand to guide us in that long journey. Shame is it for us if we follow the leadings of that Hand with less of gladness and of trust than the unreasoning birds of heaven. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)
Resolution in service
Henry Townley, a fashionable and sceptical lawyer, whose conversion, followed by that of his brother and mother, was spoken of by a missionary, just returned from Africa, as one of the two most startling pieces of news he heard on his arrival in England, the other being the downfall of Buonaparte, determined to become a missionary to India at his own expense. All his friends, including his pastor, sought to dissuade him, as his health was extremely delicate. His mother came up to London to remonstrate with him, and with the directors of the London Missionary Society. Having used with her son all possible argument and persuasion, she left him for the night, and the next morning finding him unmoved, she said, It is as certainly the will of God that you should go to Calcutta as if an angel came from heaven to tell you so, for had it been otherwise you had never endured the test of yesterday, but would have given up the design. Now go, and the Lord be with you. (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On v15 15–17. Took up our carriages. Our baggage. See Revision.…
15–17. Took up our carriages. Our baggage. See Revision. “Carriages” once meant the things carried.
Went with us certain disciples of Cæsarea. Paul was often thus attended. They seem to have gone in order to find a place for him with an old disciple, a native of Cyprus, now dwelling in Jerusalem, named Mnason.
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Come to Jerusalem. This is the fifth time Paul entered the Holy City since his departure on that memorable journey to Damascus about twenty-two years before. The present probable date is near Pentecost (the latter part of May), a.d. 58.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v15 Act_21:15. We took up our carriages, or things to…
CRITICAL REMARKS
Act_21:15. We took up our carriages, or things to be carried (see Jdg_18:21).—ἀποσκευασάμενοι. The reading of the Received text should be translated, having packed away our baggage—i.e., the superfluous part of it (Olshausen); or having discharged our baggage—i.e., unpacked the matters necessary for our journey to Jerusalem. But the best reading, ἐπισκευασάμενοι, signifies, having packed up our baggage, and so made ourselves ready for the journey to Jerusalem (Hackett, Alford, Holtzmann, and others).
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Act_21:16. An old, better, an early disciple.—i.e., one who had long been a disciple, having been probably converted on the day of Pentecost. Whether the Cæsarean brethren brought Mnason with them to Jerusalem (Calvin, Beza, Plumptre), or brought Paul to Mnason at Jerusalem (Bengel, Olshausen, Meyer, De Wette, Holtzmann) is uncertain. Both translations are admissible. Mnason was of Cyprus, and therefore a countryman of Barnabas (Act_4:36).
Act_21:17. The brethren were not the Church or the apostles (Kuinoel), but private Christians, such as Mnason and others (Wendt, Holtzmann, Hackett, and others).
Act_21:18. James.—See on Act_12:17, Act_15:13. The apostles, not mentioned, may by this time have been dispersed from Jerusalem, while some may have been dead. The Jerusalem Church was manifestly presided over by James and the elders.
Act_21:19. Particularly, what things, or one by one, each of the things which.—Compare Act_15:4; Act_15:12. That nothing is here said about the delivering up of the collections for the poor saints at Jerusalem has been explained by supposing that the “we” sources were no more at the author’s command, but may be satisfactorily accounted for by assuming that Luke did not consider this necessary to be stated. It is perfectly arbitrary to assert that—in order, shall it be said, to guarantee the apostle’s good faith?—information should have been given about the final disposition of those contributions which the apostle had been collecting, and with which he hoped to appease the irritated minds of his Jewish brethren (Holtzmann).
Act_21:20. They glorified the Lord—Rather, God (as in Gal_1:24), on Paul’s account, and not as if they themselves did not share in the general suspicion or anxiety (Holtzmann), but more likely as if they were somewhat troubled about the inferences that were being publicly drawn from Paul’s Gentile mission—called his attention to the many thousands, or myriads, of Jewish Christians, not in the world (Overbeck), but in Jerusalem and Judaea (Wendt, Zöckler), who were all (not “some “as in Act_15:1; Act_15:5) zealous, not of, but for the law, as Paul himself had formerly been (Gal_1:14).
Act_21:21. That thou teachest all to forsake Moses.—Lit., that thou teachest apostasy from Moses. The allegation contained an element of truth in so far as it was undoubtedly Paul’s aim to persuade his countrymen to embrace the gospel, and in so far as their reception of the gospel would in due course emancipate them from the bondage of the law; but it was not Paul’s object or business to inculcate on Jewish Christians the discontinuance of either circumcision or the ritual of Moses. (See further in “Homiletical Analysis.”)
Act_21:22. The multitude (or a crowd, πλῆθος, without the article) must needs come together.—The best MSS. omit this clause along with γὰρ, for, and read, they will certainly hear that thou art come.
Act_21:23. We have four men.—The clause shows how closely the Jerusalem Church adhered to the ritual of Moses. That the vow, taken by the men, was that of the Nazarite is suggested by the reference to shaving the head.
Act_21:24. Purify thyself with them and bear charges with, rather, for them.—James, who gave this advice, was himself a Nazarite—“Drank no wine nor strong drink, neither did he eat flesh. No razor ever touched his head; he did not anoint himself with oil; he did not use the bath.… He would enter into the temple alone, and there be found kneeling on his knees and asking forgiveness for the people; so that his knees grew hard like a camel’s knees, because he was ever upon them worshipping God and asking forgiveness for the people” (Euseb, Hist., Act_2:23). The term for a Nazarite vow, though not prescribed by the law, was usually thirty days; but Jewish practice had rendered it possible for one who could not undertake a vow for so long a time to join in with another in the last days of his Nazaritic period on condition of bearing all the temple charges for offerings for himself and that other. The Jews considered it a specially meritorious act to assist a poor Nazarite in this manner. Agrippa I., on obtaining the sovereignty of Palestine, paid the expense of numerous indigent Nazarites who were waiting to be released from their vows (Jos., Ant., XIX. vi. 1). As Paul was a poor man, it is supposed he paid, or proposed to pay, the charges for the Nazarites out of the Gentile contributions which he brought for the poor saints in Jerusalem. Ramsay challenges the statement that Paul was a poor man, and suggests that the charges here specified, as well as the cost of his subsequent trial, were borne out of his own patrimonial estate, or hereditary property (St. Paul the Traveller, etc., pp. 310 ff). All may know should be all shall know.
Act_21:25. The best MSS. omit the clause that they observe no such thing. This reference to the apostolic decrees confirms the credibility of the account in chap. 15.
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_21:15-25
With James and the Elders at Jerusalem; or, Mistaken Counsels
I. Paul’s journey to the capital.—
1. The point of departure. Cæsarea; the abode of Philip the evangelist (Act_21:8), the city of Cornelius (Act_10:1), the scene of Herod’s death (Act_12:19-23) and of Paul’s subsequent imprisonment (Act_23:31-35). The apostle little dreamt, on leaving Cæsarea, that before many days had passed he would return to it a prisoner, though, had he foreseen such, the knowledge would hardly have discomposed him (Act_21:13). Paul one of those heroic spirits that rise superior to external circumstances, and when confronted by extremest danger “forget they ever heard the name of death” (Shakespeare).
2. The time of departure. After the interview with Agabus. The pathetic scene with the disciples (Act_21:12-14), and in particular the courageous declaration of Paul, not to mention other reasons, clearly rendered it impossible for him to remain longer at Cæsarea. Had he done so, even the disciples might have begun to think, if not to say, when they recalled his spirited utterance—“These be brave words, O Paul! but where is thy performance?” And Paul was not the man to suffer any one to charge him with either timidity or inconsistency.
3. The manner of departure. With “carriages” or things to be carried—i.e., baggage taken up—this including both articles necessary for the journey and the gifts Paul was bearing to the poor saints in Jerusalem. Paul’s anticipations of sorrow for himself had no power to make him forget the contributions he had gathered for the needs of others. Paul was ever a rare example of self-forgetfulness.
II. Paul’s travelling companions.—
1. Those who had accompanied him from Asia. Whether all the seven mentioned in Act_20:4 (Besser), or only Trophimus, Aristarchus, and Luke is debatable, though the latter opinion is the more probable.
2. Certain disciples from Cœsarea. Most likely Gentile converts, though they may have been Jewish Christians travelling to Jerusalem to attend the Feast of Pentecost. Wherever Paul went his noble personality, rendered more magnetic by the grace of God that was in him, drew around him circles of friends, and grappled them to his bosom as with hooks of steel. The time had not yet arrived when all men would forsake him (2Ti_4:16) as they had formerly forsaken his Master (Mat_26:56).
3. Mnason, an old or “early” disciple—i.e., one who had long been a Christian, having been (it may be supposed) one of the first converts, gathered into the Christian fold on the day of Pentecost. A native of Cyprus like Barnabas, he may also have been one of those “men of Cyprus” who came to Antioch and were among the first to preach the gospel to the Gentiles (Act_11:20). Whether he lived at Cyprus but possessed a house as well in Jerusalem, or usually resided in Jerusalem but had been visiting at Cæsarea and was now returning home, or had not been to Cæsarea at all, but was still in Jerusalem, and Paul (according to another translation) was being conducted to him, are points concerning which no authoritative decision can be given. The one clear fact is that Paul and his companions obtained a lodging in Mnason’s house, presumably because in the state of public feeling among Jewish Christians concerning Paul’s Gentile mission, it might have been difficult, if not dangerous, to seek accommodation for him with one of these.
III. Paul’s arrival in the city.—
1. The date. That he reached Jerusalem in time for the Feast of Pentecost is apparent. His departure from Philippi took place after the days of unleavened bread, since then he had been occupied in travelling as under:—
From Philippi to Troas (Act_20:6)
5 days.
Where he abode
7 days.
From Troas to Miletus (Act_20:13-15)
4 days.
Where he stayed (say)
3 days.
From Miletus to Patara (Act_21:1)
3 days.
From Patara to Tyre (say)
4 days.
Where he remained (Act_21:4)
7 days.
From Tyre to Ptolemais (Act_21:7)
1 days.
From Ptolemais to Cæsarea (Act_21:8)
2 days.
Where he halted (Act_21:10, say)
6 days.
From Cæsarea to Jerusalem
2 days.
In all
44 days.
If to this be added six for the days of unleavened bread (Act_20:6), the total of fifty will be obtained, which is the interval between Passover and Pentecost.
2. His reception. The brethren—i.e., the private Christians (among them Mnason and his friends) to whom his coming was made known welcomed him and his companions gladly—Mnason to his house and all of them to their hearts. Sympathising fervently with Paul’s missionary enterprise they rejoiced to see him home again with tidings from the regions beyond.
IV. Paul’s interview with the Church leaders.—
1. Fraternal greetings. As on a former occasion (Act_18:22), Paul saluted or embraced the recognised heads of the Christian community, who had convened to accord him welcome. These were James the brother of Our Lord—not James the younger (Hackett)—who, ten or eleven years later, suffered martyrdom as a believer in Jesus of Nazareth, by being hurled from the pinnacle of the temple and despatched by stoning (Euseb., H. E., Act_2:23); and the elders or spiritual rulers, overseers, presbyters of the various congregations in Jerusalem. That none of the apostles are mentioned as having been present suggests that none of them at that time resided in the Holy City. Some may have set forth on missionary tours, while others may have “departed to be with Christ, which is far better.”
2. Glowing recitals. Salutations over, the apostle, as he had done on returning from his first missionary tour (Act_14:27), declared particularly or rehearsed one by one the things which God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry—noting specially his hearing of Apollos (Act_18:24), meeting with John’s disciples (Act_19:1), and successful preaching (Act_19:20) in Ephesus; his journey to Macedonia and Achaia (Act_20:1-2); with the various incidents that occurred on the homeward route, in Troas (Act_20:9), at Miletus (Act_20:17), in Tyre (Act_21:4), and at Cæsarea (Act_21:8). More might be done to deepen the home Church’s interest in the missionary enterprise by returned missionaries, were they to lay before their Christian brethren, in fitting language, the story of what God is at present doing among the heathen.
3. Fervent thanksgivings. When the assembled elders had listened to the thrilling narrative, they glorified God for having raised up such a veteran missionary within the Church, and for having performed, through his instrumentality, such wonders of grace among the Gentiles (compare Act_4:21, Act_11:18). Henceforth they could entertain no doubt or suspicion, more of the earnestness of the man or of the Divine authority of his mission; and whatever friction may have previously existed between the apostle and the Jerusalem leaders, at this moment it had disappeared. The anti-Gentile spirit, if it slumbered in the Church of the Metropolis, which is doubtful, was not shared in by its rulers.
4. Mistaken counsels.
(1) The circumstances out of which these arose were two; the multitudes (myriads or tens of thousands) of Jewish Christians from all parts of the world, who were then present in the Holy City, and the misconception under which they laboured of Paul’s work, which they imagined to be a crusade against circumcision and the customs of Moses, when it was no such thing. Certainly Paul taught the Gentiles that circumcision and the customs of Moses were not required for a sinner’s justification so that the Gentiles had no need to embrace these with a view to salvation. To the Jews among the Gentiles—i.e., to the Jewish Christians he explained that even for them circumcision and the customs of Moses formed no ground of acceptance before God; but he never insisted on the discontinuance, by Jewish Christians, of either circumcision or the customs. Doubtless Jewish Christians, who came to understand the complete religious worthlessness of circumcision, and the customs as mere external performances, would gradually lay these aside; and so the notion might (and probably did) diffuse itself that Paul directly aimed at this result by means of his gospel. It was of course an error fitted to be hurtful.
(2) The motive which dictated the advice given by James and the elders was unquestionably good. They desired, if possible, to disabuse the public mind of the unjust suspicions it entertained of Paul’s Hebrew orthodoxy, and to remove every stumbling block out of the way of his ministerial usefulness among his countrymen. On this principle Paul himself was always prepared to act (1Co_9:20).
(3) The advice itself ran that Paul should associate himself with four poor Christian Jews who had taken on themselves Nazarite vows, which required them to let their hair grow, to abstain from intoxicating liquor, and generally to lead ascetic lives for a period usually of thirty days, from which vows they could not be released without the presentation in the temple of certain specified offerings (Num_6:1-21). It was suggested that Paul should, according to a custom then prevailing, join himself to these four men during the last seven days of their vow, should along with them abstain from wine, and lot his hair grow; and that at the end of these days he and they should shave their heads, while he paid for the necessary offerings to clear himself and them—again after the manner of pious Jews of a wealthier sort, who were accustomed thus to assist their poorer brethren. James and the elders believed that by so doing Paul would demonstrate to his excited countrymen that there was no truth in the information they had received, and that he, Paul, was as good and orderly a Jew as any one among themselves. To the suggestion of this course they may have felt prompted by remembering that Paul had once at least before at Cenchrea undertaken a similar vow (Act_18:18).
(4) The consideration by which James and the elders hoped to urge this course upon the apostle was that they had gone a long way in making concessions to the Gentiles, having written and concluded or given judgment, that they, the Gentiles, should observe no such thing as circumcision and the customs of Moses, but only that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols and from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication.
(5) Nevertheless the advice was a mistake. What it recommended, if carried out, as it was, might not have been sinful in itself or unlawful for Paul from his point of view (1Co_6:12; 1Co_10:23), but it was certainly of doubtful policy as tending to confirm Jewish Christians in the idea that Paul did regard the law as in some fashion indispensable for salvation, while in point of fact he did not, and practically worthless, since it neither effected what they hoped for, nor averted what they feared, neither allayed the groundless suspicions against Paul, nor prevented an outbreak of hostility against him (Act_21:28).
Lessons.—
1. The lawfulness of Christian prudence—exemplified in lodging Paul with Mnason.
2. The duty of Christian brotherly kindness—illustrated in Paul’s reception by the Christians of Jerusalem and the leaders of the Church there.
3. The doubtfulness even of Christian compromises—as seen in the course recommended by James and followed by Paul.
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Act_21:16. An Old Disciple.—Exemplified in Mnason of Cyprus.
I. A striking proof of Divine faithfulness.—In preserving Mnason to be a Christian of long standing.
II. A satisfying evidence of the reality and power of religion.—Had Mnason not found it so, he had not adhered to it so long.
III. A precious storehouse of Christian experience.—One who has long been a disciple must have learnt much of the secret of the Lord.
IV. A possible instrument of valuable service.—To the Church and the world. As there are tasks that can better be performed by young believers, so there are offices that can be more efficiently filled by aged disciples.
V. A deserving object of Christian honour and esteem.—If the hoary head is entitled to respect and veneration, much more is it so when found in the way of righteousness.
VI. A Christian pilgrim drawing near the better land.—Heaven may be near the young believer, it never can be far off from the old disciple.
Act_21:17-20. A Foreign Missionary’s Return.
I. The welcome he received.—Joyful.
II. The salutation he brought.—Peace.
III. The story he told.—The triumphs of the cross.
IV. The enthusiasm he enkindled—They glorified God.
Act_21:20-24. Concessions to Weak Brethren.
I. Legitimate.—
1. When they can be made without violating conscience—i.e., when they refer to things indifferent.
2. When they help to remove stumbling-blocks out of the weak brother’s way.
3. When they assist in promoting peace.
II. Illegitimate.—
1. When, though right in themselves, they tend to mislead the weak brother by causing him to think his position only right.
2. When adopted more from a desire of peace than with a view to promote what is right.
3. When they are calculated to offend as many as they please.
Act_21:21-24. The World’s Misrepresentations of the Followers of Christ.
I. Are frequently wide-spread.
II. Mostly have nothing in them.
III. Always are difficult to remove.
IV. Seldom get corrected by compromise.
Act_21:26. Doubtful Actions; or, the inconsistencies of great and good men.
I. State the case referred to.—Paul’s arrival in Jerusalem; welcome from the brethren; meeting with the elders and James. James’s proposal and the reason of it. Danger apprehended from probable suspicions of Jewish Christians. Paul’s adoption of the course recommended, and joining of himself with the four men who had a vow.
II. Was this action wrong?—Consider—
1. How it may have looked to James.
(1) Unless James had deemed the course recommended legitimate it may be assumed he would not have made the proposal.
(2) James’s motives were unquestionably right—to ensure Paul’s safety by disarming the hostility of the Jews; to gain a hearing from his co-religionists for Paul’s gospel; to set the apostle right with the Jewish Christians.
(3) Yet the course recommended may have been wrong, though the course itself may have appeared right and the motives prompting it may have been good.
2. How it may have looked to Paul.
(1) Of great importance to allay the wide-spread suspicion that was abroad concerning him, and to gain a hearing for the gospel.
(2) No small matter to disabuse the minds of his weaker brethren of their misconceptions concerning himself and his mission.
(3) Not against his principles to take a vow, since he had done so at Cenchrea (Act_18:18).
(4) In harmony with his conduct in circumcising Timothy (Act_16:3).
(5) Not inconsistent with his refusal to perform the same rite on Titus (Gal_2:3).
(6) Not the same as Peter’s eating with the Gentiles at Antioch and then withdrawing (Gal_2:11-12).
(7) It was only a carrying out of Paul’s principle of becoming all things to all men to gain some (1Co_9:20, etc.).
3. How it may look to some still.
(1) Of doubtful morality. Not that to recommend or adopt such a course of action was wrong; but that being liable to misconstruction it should neither have been recommended nor adopted without serious consideration. Neither Paul nor James believed that observance of the moral law was indispensable for salvation; but what about the multitude of Jews? Would they not reason, that if Paul observed the customs they must be absolutely binding on the conscience?
(2) Of doubtful expediency. It was meant to save Paul, but did not; intended to gain the Jews, but did not; designed to recommend Christianity; but is it certain it did not rather confirm the Jews, both Hebrew and Christian, in the notion of the permanent obligation of the law of Moses?
III. Lessons from the story.—
1. Compromises are seldom successful.
2. Good men may give bad advice and take false steps.
3. The short road to victory is ever steadfast adherence to principle.
Note.—“Surely these records of the ‘Acts,’ with their unflinching truth, speak with a strange mighty power to us after all these ages. We feel, while we read of the awful fall and miserable death of one of the Twelve (Act_1:16-20); of the sin and punishment of two of the most notable believers of the first age (Act_5:1-11); of the jealous murmuring and discontent of the poor saints (Act_6:1); of the failure in courage of Mark and the bitter quarrel of two of the most prominent Christian leaders (Act_15:38-40); and here of this doubtful compromise of Paul and James that we have before us a real picture, painted from life, of the Church of the first days, by one who never shrinks to paint the errors, the faults, and the grievous mistakes of even the most distinguished of the first believers.”—Spence.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v15 15, 16. Now they proceed to go up to…
15, 16. Now they proceed to go up to Jerusalem, taking along with them a certain Mnason, a Cyprian, an old disciple, i. e., one of the first disciples of the Lord Jesus when He began His ministry, “with whom we may lodge,”
i. e., this man Mnason had the financial ability to furnish a lodging in Jerusalem for Paul, Luke and comrades.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v15 Subdivision 2. (Act 21:15-40; Act 22:1-29.)
Subdivision 2. (Act 21:15-40; Act 22:1-29.)
The Arrest.
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The story of how Paul actually falls into the hands of his enemies implicates the Christians in Jerusalem, who by their advice, which he takes, and to satisfy their zeal for the law, puts himself into the very place of chiefest danger, and where the presence of one known to advocate the equal footing of Jew and Gentile would be sure to lash the unconverted Jew to fury. His own compliance, though from pure desire to be to the Jew a Jew, to win the Jew, yet not only puts him into the hands of his enemies, but takes him off the higher ground upon which he habitually walked, and renders his steps less certain. It is a painful history all round.
1. The cause of Paul’s arrest is traced briefly but clearly, and shown to rest with the Jewish Christians. Before we come to this, it will not be amiss to note that it cannot be for nothing that we are told of the place in which the apostle at this time lodges: some meaning must certainly attach to this, whether or not we are able to find the meaning; and some relation there must be also to the narrative with which it is connected. Those also who believe in God’s absolute control of history, and that Scripture everywhere shows this control, can have no difficulty in accepting a meaning flashed out of a name as a true, if hidden, indication of the mind of God. Now Mnason, at whose house Paul lodges at this time, is from a word which means "to sue for, court," and Paul is certainly here as a suitor, and in a strange place for him: he is in a place not his own. The man in Christ, which he has but lately told others it was all his boast to be (2Co 12:5), is here in the guise of one walking orderly and keeping the law. And it is the suit he has in hand that brings him down to this. He is really lodging with Mnason, the disciple from the beginning, or early disciple, as the term used is. Was it not, in fact, such early disciples, belonging to the time when Christians could be reckoned but as a sect of the Jews, among whom would naturally be found those of whom it was asserted as a universal truth that they were "all zealots for the law"? Mnason himself would be actually included here. Could Paul be ranged among these? No one could imagine it. But he certainly was laboring to make himself acceptable to these. No doubt, the law was to him a thing indifferent, and that it was his acknowledged principle to become to the Jew a Jew, that he might gain the Jew. But would they not have understood by it something more? and does not "walking orderly and keeping the law" imply that he belonged to the house of Mnason, rather than that he was but lodging there? There surely was not a selfish thought in the apostle’s heart. He was walking in the spirit of pure self-sacrifice, to win his Jewish kindred to the Lord; but if he had declared to them his exact position with regard to it -"to those under the law as under the law, not being myself under the law" (1Co 9:20, R.V.), would it have been, could it have been, a means of winning them?
The meeting that is pictured for us as taking place is at James’ house, and with the elders. The apostles seem by this time to have scattered from Jerusalem, and nothing is mentioned with regard to them. Nor indeed does James himself seem to take any prominent part, such as he took at the council to decide the place of Gentile converts with respect to the law. It is more than possible that those most fanatical as to Moses were the most forward, as they had indeed made their voices to be heard first on the former occasion. Paul himself, in the natural progress of divine revelation, had doubtless made advance, while it would be well if under the influence of their alarm at the steadily growing questions involved by the increasing Gentile element in the assemblies, these had not gone backward. There was a strong feeling abroad as to Paul, and a multitude behind who must needs come together. While it was the nation still in unbelief of which Paul was surely thinking, he is faced with this opposition first to be encountered of the converted and Christian Jews. On their side they must needs recognize also the wondrous work of divine grace which God has been working by him among the nations. They will make no doubt that all the reports that have come to them concerning him are but perversions. They are ready to assume that he is really as good a Jew as ever; what they propose to him then is not a concession: it is a justification of himself from calumny merely. Let the Gentiles, as they have conceded, remain Gentiles; he could not have taught the Jews to apostatize from Moses, and not to circumcise their children, nor to walk according to the customs. Let him take then these four men who, being believers like himself, could yet bind themselves with the Nazarite vow, and presenting himself with them in the temple purified, take upon him the expenses necessary for their completion of it, and that publicly, that all might recognize clearly his own relation to the law.
Nothing is proposed to him, as many have thought, about taking upon himself the vow in question. He is merely to purify himself ceremonially, for his appearance in the temple, and it was no new thing that they advised, but what is known to have been done by others very near the time at which all this took place. In fact there was nothing in all that was advised that the apostle could not have done with a good conscience as a part of his privilege to give up his own liberty in toleration of the ignorant infirmity of others; but the question returns, and will return: Was it to be understood in this way? Here among "zealots for the law," there was indeed ignorance on every side; could he then adapt himself to this, raising no question, leaving them to grow into the truth, as necessarily they would? not forcing any, as in fact he had never forced, -tolerant where God yet was tolerant? Could he not in such a case, without professing anything where it was at present hopeless to bring round this mass of prejudiced opposition to the higher truth, as he saw and followed it, simply go through the ceremonial as they prescribed it to him, and remove out of his way this hindrance to that upon which his heart was set, the proclamation of Christ to his kindred by one whose very advocacy itself was evidence of the truth that he proclaimed, who with his own eyes had seen Christ Jesus the Lord, and had seen men bow before that sacred Name as he had?
Yes, it was indeed vain to expect to quell in any other way the storm that was beginning to manifest itself, though in its first zephyr breathings. He had seen the whirlwinds of Jewish passion aroused in the very midst of the Gentiles, and able to carry with them the Gentiles themselves, otherwise cynical and indifferent. What would it be with such questions started here where the crowd was one, and Christians too were in zealous opposition to whatever seemed to touch the authority of Moses?
But what then did all this do but echo the words which shortly were to come home to him with terrible confirmation as he faced the wild tumult from the castle-stairs, "They will not receive thy testimony concerning Me"? The apostle of the Gentiles must renounce all hope of being God’s messenger to Israel; and he who sought it, spite of the burning, uncalculating love that had brought him there, was necessarily out of the path to which God had called him. The testimony to Christ indeed was to be permitted him, though it could but demonstrate once more the hardness of heart to which they could only be given up. The Lord would and does own His faithful servant in a testimony, to which He would not nevertheless have sent him. Over it all He was; and the history of that which follows becomes, as has been said, the prophecy of long centuries to come, in which such scenes would be in principle re-enacted upon a larger scale. History is averred to repeat itself, and the reason is obvious: for man repeats himself; and poor fallen man is in every generation but the reflection of his father Adam. And where God’s grace has made a difference, still there remains even here a nature which maintains but too much of the likeness. God’s hand has overruled in this case to forecast the future for our instruction; yet even this could not be so impressive and complete if it were not founded upon a similarity of moral elements which in their inter-working present a more than superficial parallel. It is a parallel of causes as well as effects, -fruits and consequences which we can trace to roots and seeds which are in ourselves also, and present grounds of real and profitable self-judgment.
2. The counsel of the elders is acted on by the apostle. He does not, for he could not, declare himself under the law. He treats them all, one would say, as those who were not ripe for disclosures of this nature, which must wait for a fit season to be made. Enough that he can undertake this charge and perform this purification in the same way in which he had circumcised Timothy some time since. The shadows for him had passed in that which had fulfilled them: these with their zeal for the law were in the shadow still, and he must wait upon God for their deliverance. But it is evident, nevertheless, that here he is in no position to help them, but that his present action must encourage them in their own. But his heart presses him on to reach a place in which his voice may be heard with acceptance by his people, and he stoops to the present sacrifice required: to what it will lead on he does not know.
In fact, the plan seems to be working well; the days are almost completed, when that comes of which he has been warned. Some Jews from Asia find him in the temple, having seen him previously in the city with an Ephesian Greek -one of his Gentile "nurselings," as they might taunt him, from the name. Outside, they had endured him, as it seems, or at least had refrained from an attack; but now this man with his disreputable tastes had dared invade the sanctuary itself; doubtless the same man inside, as he had been out: he had brought his Greek there, no doubt. Instantly there flashes out the wrath of the impetuous, haughty race. The city is moved, and the people run together, and dragging him out, shut to the temple-gates. Paul is in those well-known hands that spare not; and only by the intervention of God the Romans become his saviors from the violence of the raging mob! The plan which appeared so reasonable has ended only in disaster: Paul need take no more trouble to appease the Christian Jews, and is in the very worst possible position to reach the unbelieving ones!
It is significant that Lysias, the chief captain’s name, means "one who looses, or delivers," and that nothing but the Roman arms in fact accomplished the deliverance Of the believing Jews from the legal system in which they were bound up. It was not to be more than a decade, if so much, until that temple which was its necessary centre and heart should be overthrown, according to our Lord’s prophecy, by the Roman power, and the people scattered over the face of the earth. Their house, long bereft of the divine Presence, but where alone the blood of atonement could be offered for their sins, and with which all their ritual was connected, was taken from them utterly, and the system ended, although unbelief might still grip it with dead hands. In the rejection of the grace which was now going out to the Gentiles, they had rejected that which was their only possible salvation, and judgment in brief time followed; though not before the last word should be uttered by him whom in fact, though not in form, they had delivered to the Gentiles, bidding the true in heart amongst them go forth out of the camp (Heb 13:13). That he should have the last word for them, who had sought them with such earnest desire, was the divine recognition of him whom they had treated with unworthy suspicion, and betrayed, however undesignedly, into the hands of his enemies. "According to the wisdom given to him," says the apostle of the circumcision, "our beloved brother Paul has written to you" (2Pe 3:15). The voice that had been closed by their own folly while among them now spoke in all the majesty of the truth which could no more be silenced.
3. Yet he is permitted also here one last appeal in behalf of his Lord and Saviour. Won by the demeanor of his prisoner, the chief captain gives him leave to address the mob from whom he has rescued him; and Paul uses his liberty to relate to them the story of his conversion and of the revelation made to him. He reasons with them, reminding them of his past, in which he too had shown himself with as much false zeal for God as they were now showing. As men do commonly, he had followed the belief in which he had been trained, as both the high priest and elders could bear witness of him, persecuting to the death believers in Christ, whether they were men or women, and even hunting for them beyond the borders of the land. Nothing had stopped him but that intervention from heaven itself which had revealed to him Jesus the Nazarene in glory! Those with him had seen also the light, but had not heard the words* that were uttered, which were for himself alone. He had heard the Lord declare Himself the One he persecuted. Blinded by the glory of that light, he was led into Damascus, there to await, as he was bidden, further revelations.
{*This is in effect the difference between the statement here and that in Act 9:7, in which it is said that those with him heard the voice: this is the genitive case, and speaks a partial hearing, -the sound of it but not the utterance, as the accusative in the present instance -the voice at full length.}
Paul narrates more fully than the previous history has done, the visit of Ananias, -"a pious man," as he remarks, according to the law," -through whom at once his sight is restored to him, and he is declared to be one chosen by the God of their fathers to know His will and see the *Righteous One, and hear, as a special witness for Him, a voice out of His mouth. Then he is bidden to be baptized, and have his sins washed away, as he thus owns the authority of Jesus. It is a clear example of baptismal remission of sins on entering the kingdom: on God’s part he who truly bows to Christ is absolutely forgiven; but on man’s part, as openly admitted by baptism, this can be but a conditional announcement, available, not for introduction into heaven, but into the company of disciples upon earth. As a kingdom of truth (Joh 18:37) the kingdom means discipleship.
{*It is striking that the apostle does not mention the name of the Lord Jesus but once in this entire address, omitting it even where, as in verse 18, it would most naturally be used. This is due, perhaps, to a desire to avoid further inflaming the Jews. -S.R.}
The crowd listens to this yet, spite of the claim made for the Crucified One: but we are soon to find that this is not acceptance. The apostle comes now to what is pressing upon his spirit, as he looks upon those dark, upturned faces, upon which one can imagine, however restrained as yet, that he sees the storm gathering. What can he presage else, as he repeats, emphasized as they are by recent occurrences, words from the lips of truth itself which had long since warned him, "Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning Me." How he must have watched them as he related his ineffectual pleading at that time! "Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue those that believe in Thee; and when the blood of thy witness* Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and consenting, and keeping the garments of those who slew him!" Was Paul not just the witness now to be believed?
{*It is touching to remember that Paul is here making a definite confession, before the people, many of whom had doubtless witnessed his mad zeal, of his own sinful persecution of Stephen. -S.R.}
But He who spoke had broken off appeal: "Go," He said: "for I will send thee to the nations afar off."
4. For what then was he standing there? and what was in his mind as he declared thus to their face their unrepentant stubbornness? Would he break them down by it, even then, that they might show it to be but a thing of the past, and no longer applicable? Or did it announce the hopelessness which had now taken possession of him, the past and present linking themselves together rapidly in his mind, as when facing death they are known often to come up? If so, it was confirmed in a moment as he stood before them plainly avowed, the apostle of the Gentiles.* At once the short quiet is over. All the arrogant pride of an elect people, with which all that should humble man most may in fact inspire him, burst out of that heaving and gesticulating human mass confronting him, crying out madly for his death. The Roman captain, baffled by the foreign tongue that had been made use of, and conceiving by the outcry that there must be some proportionate cause, commands to examine Paul by scourging. It was the custom of the day, and for many a day; but from which the Roman citizen was exempted. Paul, as we know, was that; and his simple question, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?" brings the chief captain to inquire, and ends the matter. That the apostle was well within his legal rights, none can, of course, question; but it has been questioned whether it was according to the height of the truth which he proclaimed to plead such rights; but the governments of the earth have always their place with Paul, and are recognized as a ministry of God for good to His people; why not thankfully use them for that, when it needed only a word of information to secure it, and there was not a thought of resistance?** With the man in Christ, as such, the governments of the earth have nought to do; nor is it to forget such a place to realize that as the creatures of God, still upon the earth, we have other relations than those implied by this. All natural relationships lie outside of it; while the peace and power and object of the man in Christ are to go with us everywhere, through all.
{*Both conclusions could be drawn, and both may have been in the apostle’s mind. Certainly it seems clear that the Spirit of God intended us to draw these conclusions. But it looks, too, as if Paul were just entering upon an extended account of his work among the Gentiles, in order to lead up to a defense of his course, and more particularly in explanation of that for which he had been arrested. In his address before Felix he seems to resume the defense just where it was broken off here (Act 24:11-19). -S.R.
**And yet it is for his own protection that Paul speaks. He had not done so at Philippi, having submitted to the cruel indignity of being beaten by Roman magistrates (Act 16:22). He seems only to have spoken of his citizenship on the next day for the purpose of removing any stigma that might attach to the Christian name. The magistrates are compelled tacitly to remove the stigma.
But here Paul claims Roman citizenship, even emphasizing his free birth, as he had already declared he was a citizen of no mean city. In the next chapter he declares himself a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee. While this last is far worse than the others, we cannot fail linking them together. The fact remains that the beloved and honored servant of Christ was in a false position all through, and these various acts savor a little of that spirit of compromise to which he had committed himself -S.R.}
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv10–15 10-14. During the interval spent with the family of…
10-14. During the interval spent with the family of Philip, another, and the last of the prophetic warnings which Paul encountered on this journey was given, causing a scene of sorrow similar to those at Miletus and Tyre. (10) " And while we were remaining several days, there came down from Jerusalem a certain prophet named Agabus; (11) and he came to us, and took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus says the Holy Spirit: So shall the Jews in Jerusalem bind the man who owns this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. (12) And when we heard this, both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. (13) But Paul answered, What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus. (14) And when he would not be persuaded, we held our peace, saying, The will of the Lord be done. "
Agabus was the same prophet who went from Jerusalem to Antioch, and announced the famine which caused the mission of Paul and Barnabas into Judea with a contribution for the poor. It was a singular coincidence that the same man should now meet him, after the lapse of so many years, when entering Judea on a similar mission, and warn him of his own personal danger. The dramatic manner in which his prophesy was delivered gave Paul a more distinct conception of the afflictions which awaited him. If his traveling companions had hitherto been silent when brethren were entreating him to desist from the journey, as is implied in the narrative, their courage now failed them, and they joined in the entreaties of the brethren in Cæsarea. The fearfulness of his prospects was a sufficient trial to his own courage, when he enjoyed at least the silent sympathy of his chosen companions; but when they deserted him, and threw the weight of their influence upon the weight already too heavy for him, the effect was crushing to his heart, though the steadfastness of his purpose was not shaken. The duty imposed upon him by the fearful condition of the Church at large was paramount to all personal considerations, and he felt willing to be bound and to die in his efforts to maintain the honor of the name of the Lord Jesus by preserving the unity of his body. Upon this declaration of his sublime self-devotion, the brethren felt unable to offer another objection, and gave expression to their reluctant resignation by the remark, "The will of the Lord be done."
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v10 The prophecy of Agabus:
The prophecy of Agabus:
v. 10. And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet, named Agabus.
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v. 11. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
v. 12. And when we heard these things, both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.
v. 13. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
v. 14. And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, the will of the Lord be done.
v. 15. And after those days we took up our carriages and want up to Jerusalem.
v. 16. There went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea, and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge.
"Many days," a few days more, they, Paul and his companions, remained in Caesarea. Paul had been singularly fortunate in having a speedy voyage, a fact which now gave him some extra time, at least a few days, a matter of ten or twelve days. But during this time, spent with the hospitable Philip and his family, Paul received the last and, incidentally, the most exact and explicit prophetic warning on this whole journey. For a disciple by the name of Agabus, who had the gift of prophecy, came down to Caesarea from some city in Judea, probably from Jerusalem, chap. 11:28. When this man entered the house of Philip, he proceeded to act in a manner altogether in conformity with that of the prophets of the Old Testament, in a symbolical act emphasizing the words he spoke. He took off the girdle which held the upper garments of Paul in place, bound his own feet and hands, and then explained that the Jews of Jerusalem would bind the owner of that girdle in the same way as he was now bound, and would deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. This he did not venture as his own private opinion, but expressly stated that the Holy Ghost was making the prophecy, a fact which made all contradiction and doubt impossible. The announcement naturally created the greatest consternation, not only in the circle of Paul’s companions and in the household of Philip, but in the entire congregation at Caesarea, the inhabitants of the city. And they all, including Luke himself, joined in begging Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. But Paul remained firm, not in false seeking of the martyr’s crown, for he had upon other occasions yielded to the entreaties of his friends, but for a reason which he would not divulge. He, in turn, however, earnestly begged them all to desist. He asked them what they meant by weeping, why they insisted upon thus breaking his heart. Their tender care for his welfare deeply moved him, but it could not make him waver in his determination. He declared that he was ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the sake of the Lord Jesus. The name of his Savior he could and would not deny. He was convinced that his call was taking him to Jerusalem, and that it was not a matter of free choice. The Jewish Christians that were looking upon his missionary labors with suspicion had to be persuaded of their foolishness, and the unity of the Church between Jews and Gentiles had to be definitely established. This was also the purpose of the collection which his companions were bringing to the brethren at Jerusalem. Though Paul did not explain all this at length, the brethren at Caesarea discontinued their efforts to keep him away from the Jewish capital, placing the matter and its outcome entirely in the hands of the Lord, whose will should be done. So after the days had elapsed which Paul had allowed, he and his companions collected all their baggage necessary for the journey and made the trip up to the highlands where Jerusalem was situated, a distance of a little over sixty miles. Their company was enlarged by the addition of some of the disciples of Caesarea, who aided them on their arrival at Jerusalem by conducting them to the house of one Mnason of Cyprus, in whose house they were to lodge for the time of their stay. This man was an old disciple, that is, an original disciple, one of those that had been converted on the great day of Pentecost. Mark that the Christian virtue of hospitality was freely exercised in the early days of the Church, in every city where Paul and his party had time to stop.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10, 12, 15 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
This tells about a prophecy made about Paul in Caesarea by the prophet Agabus.
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General Information:
Here the words "we" and "us" refers to Luke, Paul, and those with them, but not to the reader. (See: Exclusive and Inclusive "We")
a certain prophet named Agabus
This introduces a new person in the story. (See: Introduction of New and Old Participants)
named Agabus
Agabus was a man from Judea. (See: How to Translate Names)
took Paul's belt
"removed Paul's belt from Paul's waist"
Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'So shall the Jews in Jerusalem tie up ... of the Gentiles.'
This is a quotation within a quotation. The inner quotation can be stated as an indirect quotation. AT: "'The Holy Spirit says that this will be how the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up ... of the Gentiles.' (See: Quotes Within Quotes and Direct and Indirect Quotations)
the Jews
This does not mean all the Jews, but that these were the people who would do that. AT: "the Jewish leaders" or "some of the Jews" (See: Synecdoche)
hand him over
"deliver him"
into the hands of the Gentiles
The word "hands" here represents control. AT: "into the legal custody of the Gentiles" or "to the Gentiles" (See: Metonymy)
the Gentiles
This stands for the authorities among the Gentiles. AT: "the Gentile authorities" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
day
Judea
prophet
Paul
Holy Spirit
Jew
Jerusalem
hand
Gentile
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10–11 21:10 Luke juxtaposes female prophets (21:9) with a male…
21:10 Luke juxtaposes female prophets (21:9) with a male prophet (see study note on 17:34). Agabus, like the Old Testament prophets, used symbolic actions to proclaim his message (see “Prophetic Sign Acts” Theme Note).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.