Bible Commentaries

Chapter81

Prayer

Almighty God, do thou show light unto them that are groping in darkness. If any know not which way to turn, send thou the beam of light which will show the way thou thyself hast worked out. If any are cold of heart, and are filled only with the wonder of ignorance, do thou send the ardent heat from on high that shall warm the cold life and fill it with the surprise of new revelations. Thou art a continual surprise; we cannot find thee out unto perfection, saying, This is the beginning and this is the end. God is great, and we know him not. No man can see God and live. There is no searching of thine understanding. Thy way is infinite, and the clouds are the dust of thy feet. The light is thy robe, and thou dost leave our imagination behind thee, unable to follow in the wondrous pursuit. Yet dost thou tarry for us; thou dost wait until our weakness can overtake thee, and then in long speech of love thou dost reveal thy purpose to us, and show that the darkness is thine as well as the light; that thou didst make the rough hills as well as the smooth plains. Then thou dost pass on, and we lose thee, and again dost thou return and wait for us. Thus are we brought on our way—stopping, wondering, praying with great agony and heart-fear, and then praising thee with loud rapture and cloudless hope. This is thy way with us; the meaning is love. We would see thee more clearly; but this is our impatience, not our Acts 21:1-14

1. And when it came to pass that we were parted [same word in Luke 22:41] from them, and had set sail [better, "had put to sea again after having torn ourselves away from them"], we came with a straight course unto Cos, and the next day unto Rhodes, and from thence unto Patara:

2. And having found a ship crossing over unto Phoenicia, we went abroad, and set sail ["put to sea"].

3. And when we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left hand, we sailed unto Syria, and landed at Tyre [the whole district from Cilicia to Egypt was called Syria. On Tyre, cf. Joshua 19:29; Acts 11:19; Acts 15:3. Note that the little church in the great city had to be sought out], we tarried there seven days: and these said to Paul through the Spirit [ Acts 20:22], that he should not set foot in Jerusalem.

5. And when it came to pass that we had accomplished the days, we departed and went on our journey; and they all, with wives and children [this little fellowship of disciples expressly associated wives and even children with the men in church action], brought us on our way, till we were out of the city: and kneeling down on the beach, we prayed, and bade each other farewell [same word as "parted" in Acts 21:1];

6. And we went on board the ship, but they returned home again.

7. And when we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais [Accho of Judges 1:31; our Acre. An older city than Tyre and Csarea, it has outlived them both]; and we saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day.

8. And on the morrow we departed, and came unto Csarea [see Acts 8:40]: and entering into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven [Meyer, following Tisch. Born, puts the comma after " Acts 11:28].

11. And coming to us, and taking Paul's girdle, he bound his own feet and hands [cf. Jeremiah 13:5, and John 21:18], and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle [the company may have laid aside their girdles, one of which Agabus "took"], and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

12. And when we heard these things, both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.

13. Then Paul answered, What do ye, weeping and breaking [G, "What are you doing that you commence weeping and (so) are breaking the heart of me?" [my heart? for I am ["I" emphatic, i.e, "my heart is"] ready, not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. [The unselfish grief of his friends touched Paul after he had conquered his own natural feelings; but loyalty to the Lord Jesus overrules all.]

14. And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying; The will of the Lord be done.

The Quiet Interval

There are some endings which seem to be final. Such an ending we found in the last words of the interview between the Apostle Paul and the elders of the Church of Ephesus. It seemed as if after that ending there could be no resumption. Anything that could be said after such a communion of heart with heart that was not bathed with tears would be of the nature of an anticlimax. After such agony there is only one natural and gracious possibility, and that is—silence. Silence is as eloquent as speech; in its right place it is even more eloquent. But after the interview at Miletus with the elders of the Church of Ephesus nothing was possible but—silence. The night had come; the agony could not be increased; the senses reeled; all life seemed to be a mocking dream; whether things will ever come into natural course and shape again gracious time will reveal. Blessed silence! blessed time! We so often ignore those teachers, and go out in quest of noisy speakers. What can teach like time, or heal, or lift up again, or take away the very burden which at first it seems to impose? If we grow towards old age, it is only that we may grow towards youthhood again: old age being the gate that opens upon Christian immortality. Have periods of silence in your life; remit many of the controversies and difficulties to the adjustment and healing of silent, gracious, patient time. At the end of the days you will see the meaning of it all; and you, who entered into the first gate wearily, saying you could carry no more burdens and speak no more words, will pass through the second gate strong to carry, eloquent to speak, heroic to dare. But let solid, even slow, impartial time have its own way. You will only spoil its purpose by your impatience. You cannot hasten the old charioteer; he drives at a certain pace, and he will not be mocked or importuned into any increase of speed. Thank God for breaks that give us release from old cares and heavy burdens, and give us opportunity of gathering ourselves together again into still better condition and still augmented strength. Let Paul alone for a time; let him have his sail out. Thank God he has gone upon the water, that will do him good. Bless God for the alternative of the water for the land, of the land for the water; of the day for the night, and the night for the day. By these alternatives we are rested and quieted and made young again. Let us be glad that he will spend all the day on the water, and all the night, and to the lullaby of its plash may yield himself to sleep. After such communion he needs sleep; only such sleep as man can realise—not animal sleep only, but that deeper, more mysterious, and gracious sleep into which the Lord alone can throw Acts 21:15-40

15. And after these days we took up our baggage [G, "packed up." Got our things ready, or, equipped ourselves for the visit to Jerusalem at the feast. The marginal reading of the R. V. is the correct one], and went up to Jerusalem.

16. And there went with us also certain of the disciples from Csarea, bringing with them one Mnason [perhaps Greek form of Manasseh] of Cyprus, a Cypriote Jew or proselyte who had his home at Jerusalem, as had also Barnabas and his sister Mary, mother of John Galatians 1:14]: and they have been informed ["instructed" as in Luke 1:4] concerning thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.

22. What is it therefore [G, What then is there? i.e, How lies the case]? they will certainly hear that thou art come.

23. Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men with a vow on them [ Luke 18:18. This vow differed from that of Aquila, being the regular vow of a Nazarite of days, Numbers 6:1-21. The usual time was thirty days, at the end of which the Nazarite shaved off and turned the "hair of his separation," offering the prescribed sacrifices in the temple. Wealthy and pious friends often undertook this expense for poor Nazarites]; these take and purify [same word as in LXX. Numbers 6:3, Numbers 6:8; not therefore purify, but "become with them a Nazarite," or, be consecrated with them: share with them their vow] thyself with them, and be at charges for them,

24. That they may shave their heads: and all shall know that there is no truth in the things whereof they have been informed [instructed] concerning thee; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, keeping the law.

25. But as touching the Gentiles which have believed [ Numbers 15:5-31], we wrote [B, D, 40 , and many vss. have "sent." which is preferable. "Wrote" is supplied from Numbers 15:20, and erroneously retained by R. V.] giving judgment [G, "sent after we had judged that." It is to be borne in mind that the "sent" refers to the Gentile brethren of Syria and Cilicia who had requested these elders of Jerusalem to resolve questions raised abroad by unauthorised critics from Jerusalem] that they should keep themselves from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from fornication.

26. Then Paul took the men, and the next day ["and" should follow "them"] purifying himself with them [G, "having consecrated," i.e, having entered into participation of their Nazarite state] went into the temple, declaring [lit. "giving common notice of"] the [prospective] fulfilment of the days of purification, until [duration of the notice] the offering was offered for every one of them.

27. And when the seven days [the usual notice] were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the multitude, and laid hands on him [so the precaution taken to satisfy the prejudices of weak brethren brought upon Paul the deadly enemies of the faith], crying out, Men of Israel, help:

28. This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place: and moreover he brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath defiled this holy place.

29. For they had [G, "there were who had"] before seen [cf. the "saw" of Numbers 15:27] with him in the city [cf. "in the temple" of Numbers 15:27, and "into the temple" of Numbers 15:28] Trophimus the Ephesian, whom they supposed [and then asserted as a fact, and then multiplied into the "Greeks" of Numbers 15:28] that Paul had brought into the temple.

30. And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they laid hold of Paul, and dragged him out of the temple: and straightway the doors were shut [that the temple might not be defiled with Paul's blood],

31. And as they were seeking to [trying to (by beating)] kill him, tidings came [to the castle of Antonia, bordering on the N. W. side of the temple] up to the chief captain of the band ["tribune of the cohort"], that all Jerusalem was in confusion.

32. And forthwith he took soldiers and centurions, and ran down upon them, and they, when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, left off beating Paul.

33. Then the chief captain came near, and laid hold on him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains [measure necessary for immediate security of Paul and appeasement of the multitude]; and inquired who he was, and what he had done.

34. And some shouted [word only used besides in reference to Christ, Luke 23:21, and Herod, ch. Luke 12:22] one thing, some another, among the crowd: and when he could not know the certainty for the uproar, he commanded him to be brought into the castle.

35. And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the crowd:

36. For the multitude of the people followed after crying out, Away with him [same word Luke 23:18].

37. And as Paul was about to be brought into the castle, he saith [in Greek] unto the chief captain, May I say something unto thee? And he said, Dost thou know Greek?

38. Art thou not then [G, "Not then thou art," i.e, Thou art not. Paul's Greek disabused the tribune of the idea that he was] the Egyptian, which before these days stirred up to sedition and led out into the wilderness the four thousand men of the Assassins ["banditti," lit. daggermen. This "Mahdi" of Nero's reign led his followers to the Mount of Olives, where they were to have seen the walls of Jerusalem fall down. He was defeated by Felix, the worthless procurator in whose lime barditti, "the Assassins," became a recognized profession]?

39. But Paul said, I am a Jew, of Tarsus, in Cilicia [a Greek colony], a citizen of no mean city; and I beseech thee give me leave to speak unto the people.

40. And when he had given him leave, Paul, standing on the stairs, beckoned with the hand unto the people; and when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew [the Syro-Chaldaic dialect, 1 , 19] language, saying.

The Beginning of the End

Very tender are these words, "an old disciple," which you find in the16th verse. What is the meaning of the expression? Had Mnason been a long time in the Church, or was he an old man who, late in life, had embraced the Christian faith? Let us take it that he had been a believer for a long time. You do not find such men giving up the faith. It is very seldom that an old Christian takes off his Christianity, lays if down like an outworn garment and says, "That is of no further use." I have never known any such case. Christianity grows in its hold upon the human heart as the years run away. It is dearer to the old disciple than it can be to the young scholar; he has seen more of it, enjoyed its sweetness more, felt the need of it more, seen its power to sustain and help all human life more. Very seldom—I could use a more emphatic term—does the old believer turn away from the Cross and say he has believed a lie. That circumstance ought to have its weight as a matter of evidence. Whatever will bear well the wear and tear of human life ought to be spoken of respectfully. You speak well of a wall that stands against all weathers year after year—a wall which the wind has not blown down, which the floods have not washed away. Laying your hand upon it with somewhat of affection, you say, "This is the right sort of building; this is the kind of building they used to put up in olden times." Surely you might say as much about the Christian faith, which never fails; always most when we need it most, whispering when we cannot bear loud speaking; speaking loudly when our attention has wandered far; finding us water in the wilderness and food in stony places. We ought to be able to speak as affectionately about that as about a wall that has stood through wind and rain, and laying our hand upon it, we should say with tender affection, "This is the thought that has comforted me night and day—the eternal, the unchangeable thought—the friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Decency ought to have some claim upon civilized men.

Take it that he was an old man when he embraced the Christian faith. Then there is hope for some who have not yet laid hold upon it. "How long halt ye between two opinions?" If you were enemies, we could deal with you as such; but you are not enemies; you hover, merely falter; you cannot leave us, you look in again. What is the meaning of that? Let the heart answer. The enemy will whisper to you, "It is too late now; you are too old; keep away." But all that is sweetest in human history and in the experience of living Christians would say, "On the contrary; make the most of your time; the day is far spent, the door is still open, go in now." Here is a faith that will condescend to the weakest, accept no patronage from the strongest, tarry for the old cripple that wants to catch the king's chariot. Now is the day of salvation!

When Paul and his friends went up to Jerusalem "the brethren received them gladly." I am not sure about that; they never have been received gladly up to this moment. The gladness admitted of being stated in one half-line—"the brethren received us gladly." A kind of sentence put in to help a sentence; a few words added to help the rhythm of the expression; a scattering of syllables to help the scanning of the blank verse—I have no particular faith in that gladness. More would have been said about it; Paul never did content himself with half a line when he was recognizing the kindness of his friends. Read this letter to the Philippians, and tell me if in one half-line he dismisses all the Philippian love. They never liked Paul at Jerusalem. He was too big for any one city; he did not go up to Jerusalem in the sense of approaching some majestic place that common people might hardly touch; he descended upon it, and even the bishop and elders did not understand his humble haughtiness.

Paul saluted James and all the elders, and "declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. And when they heard it they glorified the Lord." I feel uncertain about that. There is a piety that disgusts me. Presently we shall know the meaning of their glorification of God. They might have said something to Paul; that battered old warrior was worthy of having a kiss on the right cheek and on the left cheek and on the scarred forehead. There is a way of turning from a man that you may pray, when you ought first to have thrown your arms around him, and said, "God bless thee, old warrior! grand old fighter, soldier of the Cross; come, let us kneel together and together pray." Beware of cold piety, of ceremonial prayer, of turning the happiest incidents of life into state occasions, whereupon you must address the Lord as if he were an ivory deity. A little more humanity at Jerusalem would have done no harm; but Jerusalem is forgotten: Paul remains. James and the elders are little more than names. Paul has a seat in every room in the house, and when the house has most to give him he is most welcome. A little humanity in the Church would do the Church no harm. A little recognition of merit, a kindly reference to loving service done by man to man, friend to friend, helps the wheel of life to run round more smoothly. It would be so at home if you would say how thankful you are, how pleased with what has been done for you, and how kind it was to think about you at all. Your house would become a sweet home, and every busy worker in it would forget weariness in thankfulness for the appreciation shown.

They could not have been so greatly occupied with the glory of God, for they instantly proposed to Paul to do something that was of the nature of a compromise, and they said, with such whining and broken voices, "Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law: and they are informed of thee that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together, for they will hear that thou art come. Do therefore this that we say to thee—." Not the language of bishops. There the Church goes down. That spirit is still abroad amongst us; we are bound to the letter, and we are saying of men of free spirit and Pauline heart, "As for us, we are all right with regard to them; but there is a general impression abroad that they are not orthodox." "Be quiet—or say something—make a speech—read a paper—attend a service—nothing, nothing in the report, but do this." Was there ever such a craven-hearted thing as a Church with this note in its throat? The great Apostle had to prove himself to a number of anonymous Jews to be right in spirit! The men who are buried in a crowd, in a grave no man can find, were tacitly if not distinctly to dictate the policy of the world's greatest Christian prince and hero! But James had lived a long time in the metropolis; he seldom went from home; he was a man that could not bear a noise, and he would offer on the altar of prejudice this oblation. It was not right, but Paul will not hinder the great cause; Paul, who is seventy-fold more of a bishop than James could ever be, was willing to become "all things to all men," that he might by any means save some. We can imagine the smile of the heart as he consented to be "one of five," to go through certain customs and ceremonies in order to prove himself orthodox—a thing which a man can never be by mere observance and outward ceremony. Orthodoxy does not consist in doing certain things, but in doing something in the soul. It is the soul that is orthodox, not the custom that is approved.

But when did Paul ever sacrifice the greater to the less? He seems to have said to himself, "If any good can be done in this way, I am willing to do it. I have made my position distinct in Jerusalem before today, and I have acted upon the whole meaning of that position all this time; but if any real and substantial good can be done by this proposed course, I am willing to undergo it." But course-men were not to be so satisfied. "Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple...". 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, crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place." In the very act of attempting to prove himself orthodox, to people who had no right to judge his orthodoxy, he was seized as a hypocrite. The temple was no protection. It suits some men to believe others to be hypocrites rather than to give them credit for good intentions, instead of saying, "We have been misinformed about this man, here he is submitting to the law of Moses actually in the temple itself; let us apologize to him: put out our hands to him, and say, "Brother, we have been mistaken."" You cannot satisfy blackmailers; pay them what you like today, they will return tomorrow. There are blackmailers in the Church as well as in the world. You can never live holy enough to put an end to their censure, their malice, their diabolism of spirit; they want more; they demand it in savage tones; they reject all the life that has been lived; and your last prayer on earth—be it the mightiest ever breathed from the lips of man—will be counted nothing by the black-mailer, who would rather you were in hell than in heaven. Never submit to them: never treat with them; never offer to go an inch with them! Resist beginnings; stand upon the eternal right and say, "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?" What applies to character applies also to argument. There are blackmailers in controversy; they want to hear the argument stated again, increased, enhanced, continually enlarged. When you have satisfied Aristotle with your logic, you have not begun to touch the black-mailer; he does not want the logic, he wants to torment the logician.

It will go badly with Paul then but for the State. I thank God for the State as well as for the Church. James and the elders will not do much for Paul now, for, dear old gentlemen! they did not like noise. There is a time when the State must assert its authority. "The chief captain of the band" was told "that all Jerusalem was in an uproar;" so he "immediately took soldiers and centurions" (they were the only arguments he could recognize) "and ran down upon them;" and when the mob "saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul." Cowards! And these were the men that Paul was asked to conciliate! He had been told respecting them that, if he would only shave his head and go in the temple for a while, all the people would be quiet and respectful and would recognize him. To be recognized by them was an intolerable patronage.

"Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was and what he had done." The State knows nothing about Christian ministers. It seems comical—sweetly and piously amusing—to hear the chief captain. I love him already for his innocent ignorance. Said he, "Art thou not that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?" You think the State knows you—not a hair of your head; never heard of you. You go forward as a Congregationalist, and what does the State know about a "Congregationalist"? You will be mistaken for an Egyptian that made an uproar once, and went out into the wilderness with four thousand men that were murderers! You don"t suppose the chief captains of the band know anything about Congregationalists, or prayer-meetings, or ministers" meetings, or deacons" meetings? There is no rebuke perhaps more humbling than an inquiry as to your identity by men whom you thought respected you, and knew all about you. Do not make that mistake. A senator of this country asked me, with a verdant innocence, if mine was the only Congregational church in London—a man who voted upon ecclesiastical questions, and was supposed, by virtue of his office and position, to have a good deal to do with the adjustment of ecclesiastical matters. It would be amusing to Paul to be mistaken for an Egyptian; a kind of grim delight would be in his old heart as he was thought to be the leader of a murderous band. He, who had not been ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; He, who had held the Cross aloft, until by its lustre it had put out suns and stars; He, whose life had been a daily sacrifice; He, who died daily for Christ, coming back from the wars, was mistaken by the State for an Egyptian, which had made an uproar long ago, and led out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers. Never mind; Paul owed the State a good deal in this instance. Paul was more indebted to the Romans than to the Jews in this matter. The State will see jus-lice done to us. The State holds the property in which we are now assembled, as certainly as it holds any church that is supposed primarily to belong to it. The State will not allow this property with which we ourselves are associated to be diverted from its proper purpose; to be handed over to people who have no right to it: to whatever may be done inside the walls in the matter of prostituting the property, the State will say, "This must not be done." So with human life. Thank God for civilized States.