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SECT. II.

St. Paul's Life endangered by a Tumult excited by
Jews.

INFLUENCED by the motives already described, St. Paul proceeded, (in compliance with the advice of the Apostles,) with the four men, who had the vow of Nazariteship, to the temple, with a view to purify or separate himself with them, agreeably to the forms prescribed by the law; he appointed a day on which he would (after the time of the vow was completed,) pay the money that was necessary to defray the charges, and buy the victims that were to be offered upon the occasion. Before, however, the time appointed had expired, certain Jews from Asia, having seen St. Paul in the temple, stirred up the people against him, and had it not been for the providential interference of Claudius Lysias, the Roman commander, they would, most probably, have accomplished the Apostle's destruction. The pretexts, which the instigators of the tumult made use of, to inflame the passions of the multitude, were, that St. Paul taught all men every where against the people,

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Probably these were Jews who dwelt at Ephesus, but who were come up to Jerusalem, to observe the feast. See Acts xix. 9-17.

and the law, and the temple, and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and polluted that holy place.

ACTS xxi. 26.

26. Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them. 27. And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him, 28. Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and

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a So far from being, as these Jews represented him, an enemy, St. Paul was the true friend, of the Jewish people. He zealously laboured to promote their best interests, and deeply deplored the infatuation, which caused so many of them to reject the means of salvation. Notwithstanding the ill usage he had frequently received from the Jews, the manner in which he spoke of, and acted towards them, was in the highest degree generous and affectionate. I say the truth in Christ Jesus; I lie not; my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness, and continual sorrow in my heart; for I could wish, that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises." Rom. ix. 1-4. Again, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved." Rom. x. 1. But it is the very spirit of Christianity, "to do good to them that hate us, and pray for them which despitefully use us and persecute us," and, perhaps, no man ever partook more largely of the "spirit of Christ," than St. Paul.

the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.

With regard to the three first articles of the charge, which these Asiatic Jews alleged against Paul, they were well calculated to excite hostility against him, tenacious as the people were, even to bigotry, of the Mosaic institutions; yet so little of truth was there in this part of the accusation, that the orator, or lawyer, Tertullus, (who was afterwards employed by the Jews to accuse Paul before Felix) did not even venture to name charges so vague and utterly unfounded. With regard to that part of the accusation, that related to the pollution of the temple, it arose from a supposition, that St. Paul had taken Trophimus, an Ephesian, into the inner court of the Jews, which it was unlawful for any stranger or foreigner to enter. This part of the charge it was, that Tertullus mainly insisted upon, in his speech, but that it was untrue, may be fairly concluded, from those who first made it, not having appeared to support it by evidence, as they would doubtless have gladly done, had it been in their power. "Certain Jews from Asia," said Paul, when pleading before Felix, "found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude, nor with tumult, who ought to have been here before

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thee, and object if they had ought against me." But the real source of the enmity excited against Paul, is to be found in his having maintained the right of the Gentiles to be admitted, equally with the Jews, to the privileges of the Gospel dispensation, as is evident from what is related in a subsequent part of the history for when Paul had been delivered by the Roman commander from the infuriated populace, and was permitted to address the multitude from the stairs of the castle", they heard him patiently, till he spoke of a vision, which enjoined him to go unto the Gentiles, " for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles." Acts xxii. 21. The author of The Acts says, "They gave him audience unto this word, and then lift up their voices and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live." Acts xxii. 22. And it is clear from what St. Paul said, in his speech before king Agrippa, that he considered his mission to the Gentiles, as the chief cause of the hostility exercised against him by the Jews, and of that tumult in particular, whereby his

a Acts xxiv. 18, 19.

The castle called Antonia, where the Roman garrison was stationed. It was built, or augmented, by Herod the Great, who named it from Marcus Antonius. Bp. Pearce.

life had been endangered, at this last visit to Jerusalem. After speaking of the occurrences, which happened on his way to Damascus, he proceeds in continuation, to give an account of what the vision declared, "I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness, both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear to thee, delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me. "Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: but shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judæa, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me." Acts xxvi.

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For the arguments here used, I am indebted to Paley's Hora Paulinæ, (Chap. viii. No. 1.), where the passages I have quoted, are applied in a similar manner.

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