RSV ~ Acts 21 Notes

Acts 21:1-18 | ISB Notes

A third series of “we” passages where Luke accompanies Paul on his final journey to Jerusalem. See note on Acts 16:10.

Acts 21:1-3 | ISB Notes

Paul and companions sail from port to port around the southwestern edge of Asia Minor and on past the island of Cyprus to Phoenicia, just north of Palestine. The final stretch from Patara to the harbor of Tyre was nearly 400 miles long.

Acts 21:7 | ISB Notes

Ptolemais: A Phoenician port just south of Tyre (21:3).

Acts 21:8 | ISB Notes

Caesarea: The provincial capital of Judea, another 32 miles down the coast from Ptolemais (21:7). This was the final stop on Paul’s sea voyage; from here he would travel more than 50 miles on foot to Jerusalem (21:15).

Philip the evangelist: One of the seven men ordained for service in 6:56. Soon afterward he was engaged in missionary preaching in Samaria (8:4-25) and along the coastline of Judea (8:26-40).

Acts 21:10 | ISB Notes

Agabus: The prophet who foretold the famine years earlier (11:28) here announces Paul’s upcoming arrest in Jerusalem (21:11). He enacts his message with the help of Paul’s belt instead of merely enunciating it.

• On the premise that actions speak louder than words, several Hebrew prophets delivered messages from Yahweh through symbolic acts and public demonstrations (Is 20:2-4; Jer 19:1-15; Ezek 4:1-17; Hos 1:2-11).

Acts 21:13 | ISB Notes

even to die: Already aware that suffering awaits him (20:23), Paul has prepared himself to wear the martyr’s crown. Even the affections of his friends could not overpower his sense of mission or dissuade him from traveling to Jerusalem. Paul preferred martyrdom over further ministry; see Phil 1:19-26.

Acts 21:17 | ISB Notes

Jerusalem: The final destination of Paul’s third missionary tour, where he arrived about A.D. 58. So far as we know, this is the last time the apostle ever set foot in the city.

Acts 21:18 | ISB Notes

James: The acknowledged leader of the Jerusalem Church since the departure of Peter (12:17). That Luke surrounds him with a body of elders instead of the apostles suggests the original Twelve had left the city by this time for mission fields beyond Israel (Lk 24:47). See note on Acts 12:17.

Acts 21:20 | ISB Notes

many thousands: Luke has already noted how the evangelization of Israel met with great success in the earliest days (2:41; 4:4; 6:7).

Acts 21:21 | ISB Notes

forsake Moses: Rumors had reached Jerusalem that Paul forbade Jewish Christians to observe the religious traditions of Judaism. James takes this report to be false and urges Paul to make a public display of his reverence for the customs of Moses. From the perspective of Acts, only the Gentiles were exempt from circumcision and other ceremonies of the Torah (15:1-11), although hints are given that the Temple and its Mosaic rituals will pass away even for the Jews in due time (6:14; 10:9-16).

• According to the Council of Florence in 1442, circumcision and other rites of the Mosaic Law could still be observed in the earliest days of the Church, so long as no one considered them necessary requirements for salvation.

Acts 21:23 | ISB Notes

under a vow: A temporary Nazirite vow of abstinence from wine, cutting the hair, and physical contact with corpses (Num 6:1-12). The completion of the vow involved a week of purification, a ritual shaving of the head, and a sacrificial offering of animals and food in the Temple (Num 6:13-21). Paul had completed a similar vow in 18:18.

Acts 21:25 | ISB Notes

sent a letter: The epistle issued years earlier by the Jerusalem Council (15:23-29). See note on Acts 15:20.

Acts 21:27 | ISB Notes

Jews from Asia: Pilgrims in Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. Presumably they recognized Paul from his years of missionary work in Ephesus, the leading city of the Roman province of Asia (20:16).

Acts 21:28 | ISB Notes

against … the law and this place: The charge that Paul was slandering both the Torah and the Temple is reminiscent of the accusations against Stephen in 6:13.

Greeks into the temple: An unthinkable violation of Temple law. Gentiles were permitted to gather and worship in the outermost court of the sanctuary, but they were absolutely forbidden to penetrate into the inner courts, where the people of Israel alone had privilege of access. Separating the inner courts and the outer court was a partition wall with plaques posted near its gates that threatened death for Gentile trespassers. Luke contends that Paul was innocent of the charge—his Greek friend “Trophimus” was seen in the city, not the inner precincts of the Temple (21:29).

Acts 21:31 | ISB Notes

tribune of the cohort: Claudius Lysias, a commander of 600 or more Roman soldiers (23:26). They were stationed in a tower connected to the northwest corner of the Temple called the Fortress Antonia. Stairway access to the Temple platform enabled the Roman military to maintain order during Jewish festivals, when the courts were overflowing with pilgrims.

Acts 21:33 | ISB Notes

arrested him: Roman intervention saved Paul from the assaults of the Jewish mob, who would have beaten him to death for supposedly defiling the Temple (21:28).

Acts 21:36 | ISB Notes

Away with him!: Reminiscent of the crowd’s rejection of Jesus in Lk 23:18.

Acts 21:37 | ISB Notes

you know Greek?: As soon as Paul addressed him in fluent Greek, the tribune suspected he was the Egyptian insurrectionist who had led a revolt in Israel a few years earlier. According to one report, this false prophet had gathered his followers on the summit of the Mount of Olives with the intention of charging Jerusalem and wresting the city from the Romans. Although the uprising had been crushed, the prophet had somehow escaped without a trace.

Acts 21:38 | ISB Notes

the Assassins: Jewish revolutionaries known as “dagger men” (Lat. sicarii).

Acts 21:40 | ISB Notes

the Hebrew language: Probably Aramaic, a language closely related to Hebrew that was widely spoken in Palestine.