“Then all the city
was stirred up, and the people ran together.
They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the
gates were shut. And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune
of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. He at once took soldiers and
centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the
soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound
with two chains. He inquired who he was
and what he had done.” –Acts
21:30-33 (ESV. Read Acts 21:27-36).
This scripture shows how easily a riot
can start and mass confusion occur. Paul
was undergoing the ritual seven days of purification. The men for whom he had paid for their sacrifices
as a part of their Nazarite vow were purified at the beginning of their vow,
but anyone like Paul who had been so long associated with Gentiles, in order to
be ceremonially clean, had to go through seven days of purification rites. And then his attackers brought the charge
that he had taken Greeks (Gentiles) into the temple area that was off-limits
for them. This was another of the rumors
circulating, simply because they had seen Paul in the company of a man from
Ephesus called Trophimus and assumed that he had gone into the sanctuary area
of the temple with Paul. Paul would not
have taken a Gentile to that area because he knew the penalty was death. The angry Jews dragged Paul outside, and the
temple gates were shut, probably to prevent any further desecration to the sanctuary. They were seeking to kill Paul. The Roman
tribune’s response to the riot was immediate.
At the Tower of Antonio, the Herodian fortress at the northwest corner
of the temple wall, soldiers kept close watch on proceedings around the temple
area. They would immediately have reported the riot and how his accusers were
beating Paul. Hearing the report, the commander (tribune) immediately took a
contingent of the centurions and went to the scene.
It is amazing how quickly the mob
desisted from beating Paul. It was the
Roman tribune’s task to keep the peace.
The mob would have known that their own lives were in great jeopardy for
disturbing the peace. Paul was arrested.
Since the crowd was not in harmony in shouting their accusations, the tribune could
not learn the true charges. He had the
soldiers take Paul to the barracks to protect him from the angry crowd and to
learn from Paul himself what he had been accused of doing. As they left the riot scene, the crowd was
yelling “Away with him!” (v. 36). Is
this not reminiscent of the crowd’s yelling “Crucify him! Crucify him!” following
Jesus’ arrest and mock trial? (see Luke 23:18 and John 19:15).
It was the time of Pentecost, an
important Jewish festival fifty days after Passover, when offerings of
firstfruits were presented. Able-bodied
Jewish men were expected to be at the temple to bring special firstfruits
offerings. Jerusalem was very crowded, and with the general enthusiasm
generated, a mob situation could easily erupt.
It seems that the tenor of the crowd, although many of them were
Christians, was not on the fact that the Holy Spirit had appeared to believers
first (more than twenty years earlier) on the day of Pentecost. Their main emphasis was on punishing Paul for
what they conceived was his gross sin of associating too readily with Gentiles. They
were majoring on minors and missing the mark. Paul could have met his death that day, but
because of the quick action of the Roman tribune and guards, his life was
spared. The gospel song declares, “God’s
not finished with me yet!” That was
evident in the sparing of Paul’s life.
God had more work for him to do, even though prison was awaiting him. He was in the safe custody of the mighty
Roman garrison and the mobs could not touch him. God’s ways are higher than man’s ways, in all ways and always.
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