SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/7/2018 10:00 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Attack
of the Mob
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts
21:27-30
Message of the verses: “27 When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia,
upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid
hands on him, 28 crying out, "Men
of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere
against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought
Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place." 29 For they had
previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed
that Paul had brought him into the temple. 30 Then all the city was provoked,
and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of
the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.”
We have
already learned that because Paul had been in Gentile territory that he would
have to go through a ceremonial process which took seven days and he would have
had to go into the temple on the third day and also on the seventh day to
complete this process. He was also
paying for the four men who had just come off of a Nazirite vow which meant
they had to have their hair cut and also certain sacrifices were to be made
which Paul agreed to pay for. We see in
verse 27 that the seven days were almost over and the apostle encountered some
old enemies who were Jews from the Roman province of Asia. I suppose that these Jews were here in
Jerusalem to partake in the feast of Pentecost and that is how they encountered
Paul, and they were about to cause a lot of trouble for him. They may have been from Ephesus since the
recognized Trophimus who was from the city (v. 29). We remember that Paul had been ministering in
Ephesus for three years so that is how they could have seen him there.
Because
these Jewish men were enemies of the gospel they lost no time in stirring up
trouble for Paul as seen in verse 27b and 28.
They accused him of something that he had not done and that was taking
Gentiles into the temple, something Paul would have never done. These enemies cried out “Men of Israel, come
to our aid!” They made three false
accusations against Paul; these were three accusations that were similar to
what was brought out against Stephen.
First they stated that Paul was “the man who preaches to all men
everywhere against our people.” If one
looks at the following verses from Romans 9:1-5 they will know that is
false: “1 I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my
conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief
in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated
from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, 4
who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the
covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the
promises, 5 whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the
flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
Next they
accused Paul of being against the Law.
This was a very serious charge against him, and could be punishable by
death. The Jews were celebrating
Pentecost which was originally the feast of first fruits, and in Paul’s day
Pentecost had come to be a celebration of the giving of the law of Moses on
Mount Sinai. Charging Paul on this day
would infuriate the crowds.
Lastly
they accused Paul of speaking against “this place” which was speaking of the
temple. The Jewish people loved the
temple, but the temple was no longer needed as we have learned by our Lord that
it would soon be destroyed. Not sure what
year this takes place, but the temple along with the city would be destroyed in
70 A. D.
I
mentioned that they charged Paul of bring Greeks into the temple which was
against the Jewish law and this can be seen in verse 29. To do this Paul would have had to bring the
past the court of the Gentiles which they were allowed to be in, and then at
that time if this would have happened then the Jews were allowed to kill anyone
who came into the part of the temple where only Jews were allowed according to Josephus,
they could have even killed Roman citizens.
It doesn’t
matter where this charge was true or not as hatred against Paul was so much
that these accusations spread like wildfire.
And soon “all the city was aroused and the people rushed together” to
the vicinity of the temple. The
following is what happened “taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the
temple, and immediately the doors were shut.”
John MacArthur writes “The temple guards shoved the frenzied mob outside
(so Paul’s death would not defile the temple, and then closed the doors
(between the Court of the Women and the court of the Gentiles). The furry against Paul continued as we will
see in our next SD.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Augustus” (Luke 2:1).
Today’s Bible question:
“Was Nehemiah governor of Jerusalem before or after Ezra arrived in the
city?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/7/2018 10:35 AM
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