[The posts which follow make extensive use of The Acts of the Apostles, by Madame Cecilia, (Religious of St Andrew's Convent, Streatham), with an Imprimi potest dated 16 October 1907 (Westminster); Burns, Oates & Washbourne Ltd. (London). With grateful prayers for the author and her team:
REQUIEM æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.ETERNAL rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.]
Acts XXI : 27-40
 |
| St Paul. J-J Tissot |
[28] Men of Israel, help: This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place; and moreover hath brought in Gentiles into the temple, and hath violated this holy place.
[29] (For they had seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)
[30] And the whole city was in an uproar: and the people ran together. And taking Paul, they drew him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.
[31] And as they went about to kill him, it was told the tribune of the band, That all Jerusalem was in confusion.
[32] Who, forthwith taking with him soldiers and centurions, ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers they left off beating Paul.
[33] Then the tribune coming near, took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains: and demanded who he was, and what he had done.
[34] And some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude. And when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle.
[35] And when he was come to the stairs, it fell out that he was carried by the soldiers, because of the violence of the people.
[36] For the multitude of the people followed after, crying: Away with him.
[37] And as Paul was about to be brought into the castle, he saith to the tribune: May I speak something to thee? Who said: Canst thou speak Greek?
[38] Art not thou that Egyptian who before these days didst raise a tumult, and didst lead forth into the desert four thousand men that were murderers?
[39] But Paul said to him: I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city. And I beseech thee, suffer me to speak to the people.
[40] And when he had given him leave, Paul standing on the stairs, beckoned with his hand to the people. And a great silence being made, he spoke unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying:
[27] Dum autem septem dies consummarentur, hi qui de Asia erant Judaei, cum vidissent eum in templo, concitaverunt omnem populum, et injecerunt ei manus, clamantes : [28] Viri Israelitae, adjuvate : hic est homo qui adversus populum, et legem, et locum hunc, omnes ubique docens, insuper et gentiles induxit in templum, et violavit sanctum locum istum. [29] Viderant enim Trophimum Ephesium in civitate cum ipso, quem aestimaverunt quoniam in templum introduxisset Paulus. [30] Commotaque est civitas tota, et facta est concursio populi. Et apprehendentes Paulum, trahebant eum extra templum : et statim clausae sunt januae.
[31] Quaerentibus autem eum occidere, nuntiatum est tribuno cohortis quia tota confunditur Jerusalem. [32] Qui statim, assumptis militibus et centurionibus, decurrit ad illos. Qui cum vidissent tribunum, et milites, cessaverunt percutere Paulum. [33] Tunc accedens tribunus apprehendit eum, et jussit eum alligari catenis duabus : et interrogabat quis esset, et quid fecisset. [34] Alii autem aliud clamabant in turba. Et cum non posset certum cognoscere prae tumultu, jussit duci eum in castra. [35] Et cum venisset ad gradus, contigit ut portaretur a militibus propter vim populi.
[36] Sequebatur enim multitudo populi, clamans : Tolle eum. [37] Et cum coepisset induci in castra Paulus, dicit tribuno : Si licet mihi loqui aliquid ad te? Qui dixit : Graece nosti? [38] Nonne tu es Aegyptius, qui ante hos dies tumultum concitasti, et eduxisti in desertum quatuor millia virorum sicariorum? [39] Et dixit ad eum Paulus : Ego homo sum quidem Judaeus a Tarso Ciliciae, non ignotae civitatis municeps. Rogo autem te, permitte mihi loqui ad populum. [40] Et cum ille permisisset, Paulus stans in gradibus annuit manu ad plebem, et magno silentio facto, allocutus est lingua hebraea, dicens :
Notes
27. the seven days. The definite article shews that this reference is to some definite period well known to the Jews, but commentators are not agreed as to what special days it refers. Hence various explanations are given, e.g . —
(a) The seven days are reckoned from the day of St Paul's arrival in Jerusalem (see verse 15).
(b) They count from the day he took the Nazarite vow.
(c) They refer to the period when, the sacrifices having been offered, the four Nazarites would be freed from their vow.
these Jews that were of Asia. During the twenty years which preceded this visit to the holy city, St Paul had only made four short visits to Jerusalem. Consequently, he was better known to the Asiatic than to the Palestinian Jews. Also they had pursued him with their bitter hostility in Iconium, Antioch, Berea, and elsewhere. It is not surprising, therefore, that these Jews of the Dispersion raised the tumult, rather than those of Judea. Moreover, to many of these Trophimus would also be known, especially to those of Ephesus.
saw him. St Paul bore the marks of his Nazarite vow, and had been seen in the company of the four Nazarites and in the chambers reserved for the Nazarites. None but Jews were allowed to pass the Soreg or balustrade which separated the Court of the Gentiles from the Court of Israel. It is probable that St Paul was seen with Trophimus the Ephesian in the city near the Temple, and his enemies had profited by this occasion to accuse him of defiling the Temple. St Paul certainly had not taken this Gentile disciple into the forbidden area.
There were inscriptions engraved on stone pillars which formed part of the Soreg or balustrade, and on these the following words were sculptured : “ No man of alien race is to enter within the balustrade and fence that goes round the Temple : if any one is taken in the act, let him know that he is to blame for the penalty of death that follows,”
in the temple. The Temple Courts (ἐν τω ἱερω) as the Greek clearly shews, not the “house (ναος) of the Lord” proper, which consisted of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. None but priests and Levites could enter the former, and the high -priest alone might enter the latter.
laid hands. ( ἐπεβαλον.) They used violence ; it was not a formal arrest. Trophimus does not appear to have been with St Paul when the Jews attacked the apostle.
28. This is the man, etc. The Asiatic Jews pointed out St Paul to their Palestinian brethren. These two classes of Jews were united in their hatred of the doctrines taught by St Paul.
Compare the accusations against St Paul with the charges against St Stephen, when St Paul himself was one of the chief persecutors.
Against St Paul.
He teacheth all men everywhere against
(a) the people.(b) the law.(c) this place.
He hath brought gentiles (i.e. Greeks) into the temple, and thus violated the temple.
Against St Stephen.
This man ceaseth not to speak words against
(b) and the law.(a) the holy place,
We heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and change the traditions received from Moses.
Two charges are identical— those of speaking against the Law and the Temple, The reference to St Paul having taught “all men everywhere” was an allusion to his apostolic journeys.
the people. The chosen people of God, the Jews.
gentiles. Lit. “Greeks,” i.e. pagans. The plural is used for the singular.
violated. Lit. “ made common” (κεκοινωκε), and thus defiled. “The feverish anxiety of the Jews to maintain all their ancient privileges and customs, and their hatred of all foreign interference, was growing, it must be remembered, every year. The doomed Holy City was filled with wild societies of ‘ Zealots, and other unions of bigoted and fanatic Jews. When the events related in this chapter were taking place, little more than ten years remained for Jerusalem. We are now speaking of what took place A.D. 58-59. In A.D. 70 not one stone of all this superb pile of buildings, then glittering with its wealth of gold and marble, remained on another. No Jew was allowed to linger even near the scene of so many ancient Hebrew glories of such awful disaster and shame” (Schaff, Acts of the Apostles, h. l.).
30. taking Paul they drew him. They drew him out of the Court of the Women, at the south-east corner of which was the House of the Nazarites, where St Paul had passed the time of purification with the other Nazarites.
the doors were shut. Those which separated the Court of the Women from the Court of the Gentiles. As the Jews intended to kill St Paul, they dragged him out of the more sacred part of the Temple. The Levitical guards at once closed all the doors of the balustrade, lest the sacred spot should be defiled by blood or the presence of those who were unclean.
31. went about to kill him. The mob set upon him ; there was no formal scourging or preparation for a judicial execution.
it was told, etc. Better, “ tidings or information came up.” St Luke uses the technical term for charging a criminal.
tribune. Lit. “the chiliarch,” a military ruler in charge of 1000 infantry and 120 horse soldiers, which equalled one-sixth of a legion.
The tribune dwelt in the Castle of Antonia, a fortress situated on the rock of Acra, on the north-west angle of the Temple area. Herod the Great had built this castle and named it after Antony, one of the Triumviri. The castle served as a garrison for the Roman soldiers. A tower flanked either side, and two flights of steps, open to the air, led from the barracks to the northern and western colonnades of the Temple. From the towers there was a good view of the whole of the Temple buildings. At the festival seasons, extra soldiers were stationed there to quell the insurrections which sometimes took place when the city was crowded with pilgrims. Their presence was generally sufficient to maintain order or to restore peace.
in confusion. The Bezan text adds, “See that they make not an insurrection.”
32. run down, — i.e. down the flight of steps.
they left off beating Paul. Once more St Paul was saved from his countrymen by the intervention of a Roman governor (see xviii. 12-17), and the Temple was not defiled by a tragedy.
In the Old Testament there are two instances of similar tumults in the Temple, and both led to fatal results : —
(а) Zacharias the priest was by order of King Joas killed in the court of the house of the Lord (2 Paralip. xxiv. 21).(b) Athalia was dragged out of the Temple precincts, and put to death on the highway near the palace (4 Kings xi. Ifi).
33. took him. Claudius Lysias formally arrested the apostle, that he might not be killed by the excited mob.
to be bound with two chains. The Romans used to chain each prisoner to two soldiers, either by the hands or feet, or by both. The soldiers who came with the tribune had brought the chains with them. Only St Paul’s hands were bound.
The prophecy of Agabus (xx. 11 ) was now fulfilled, and St Paul knew that other tribulations were in store for him. This was the commencement of the captivity which lasted five years.
34. cried one thing, etc., — i.e. some “ were shouting out ” one accusation, while others brought different charges. This was a repetition of the scene at Ephesus (see xix. 32).
to be carried. Better, “ to be brought or conducted.”
35. he was carried by the soldiers. The soldiers conveyed him in safety up the steps in order to place him in the “ encampment,” i.e. in that part of the castle which served as the soldiers’ barracks, and where there were rooms set apart for prisoners.
36. Away with him. The full meaning of these words is given in ch. xxii. 22.
The Bezan text adds here, “ that he be put to death.”
The same cry was raised against our Blessed Lord : Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas (St Luke xxiii. 18).
37. May I speak something to thee? The very form of the interrogation in the Greek — (Εἰ ἐξεστιν μοι εἰπειν τι πτος σε;). May I be permitted to say ? — shewed the tribune that his prisoner was an educated man.
38. Art not thou that Egyptian? St. John Chrysostom and other Greek scholars read, “Art thou not then that Egyptian?” which is a better translation of the original.
The tribune had taken him for a certain Egyptian who had recently raised a tumult, but he now discovered his mistake. It is possible that the Jews, in order to exasperate the Romans, may have brought this false accusation against St Paul.
who before these days didst raise etc. Josephus relates that a certain false prophet, an Egyptian, endeavoured to make himself master of Jerusalem, but, having been defeated, he managed to escape (Bell. Jud., ii., xiii. 5). He had promised his followers that the walls of Jerusalem would fall in, like those of Jericho, when they approached the city under his leadershp.
four thousand men. Josephus gives different numbers (Bell. Jud., ii., xiii. 5, and Antiq. xx. 8. 6), but as he contradicts himself, we may conclude that the number which St Luke gives is probably correct, since he is most accurate in all his details. Also, as the revolt of the Egyptian had occurred but recently, the tribune was certainly well informed concerning it. Josephus, in giving 30,000 as the number of adherents, probably includes the rabble as well as the actual followers.
murderers. Lit. “ Sicarii” or “assassins.” The Sicarii were a band of fanatical murderers, who, in the disturbed times preceding the destruction of Jerusalem, went about armed with daggers, and in broad daylight and in the public thoroughfares murdered whoever was obnoxious to them. Among others, they murdered the high-priest Jonathan, at the instigation of Felix (Josephus, Ant Jud., xx., vi. 7 ; Bell. Jud., ii., xiii. 3).
39. Tarsus. This city was renowned as a centre of learning, and on its coins asserted its freedom by the inscription ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΙΣ ΑΥΤΟΝΟΜΟΣ (free city).
I beseech thee, suffer me, etc. “ It was a strange scene on that Feast of Pentecost. The face and form of the speaker may have been seen from time to time by some during his passing visits to Jerusalem, but there must have been many who had not heard him take any part in public action since the day when, twenty-five years before, he had kept the garments of those who were stoning Stephen. And now he was there, accused of the self-same crimes, making his defence before a crowd as wild and frenzied as that of which he had then been the leader” (Ellicott, Comm.).
40. standing on the stairs. He stood far above the people, and thus was able to attract their attention. By addressing them in Aramaic, a Hebrew dialect spoken in Judea (now known as the Syro-Chaldaic), he surprised them, as he had astonished the chiliarch by speaking to him in Greek.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
No comments:
Post a Comment