Some Jews from the Roman province of Asia (the western region of modern-day Turkey) recognize Paul in the temple. They attack him and spread the lie that he had brought a Gentile into the inner court of the temple, which was forbidden. A mob seizes Paul and drags him out of the temple, where men start beating Paul with the intent to kill him in the street. The Roman commander stationed in Jerusalem receives a report about the murderous riot.
In Acts 21:27-32Acts 21:27-32 commentary, commentary Paul experiences the “bonds and afflictions” in Jerusalem foretold him by the Holy Spirit.
Paul has returned to Jerusalem after years in the Roman province of Asia, preaching the gospel and planting churches. He was joined by Gentile believers from Macedonia, Achaia, and the province of Asia. When he arrived in Jerusalem, Paul met with James, the half-brother of Jesus and the lead elder of the Jerusalem church, along with the other church elders.
They were glad to see Paul and hear about God’s work among the Gentiles, the miracles He performed through Paul and the many Gentiles who were now believers in Jesus. However, James and the elders were worried for Paul’s safety in Jerusalem. Many of the Jewish believers in Jesus were still zealous for the Mosaic Law, meaning they followed it and upheld it with extreme loyalty. These zealous Jewish believers had heard slander about Paul.
The slander which had been taught to them said that Paul taught that Jews should not follow the Mosaic Law, should not circumcise their children, and should not follow Jewish customs. This was not true. Paul, along with the elders and apostles, were adamant that Gentiles are not obligated to follow the Jewish Law, and that both Jews and Gentiles are saved only through faith in Jesus. But Paul was not teaching Jews to abandon the Mosaic Law.
To help unravel the lies these zealous Jewish believers have heard, the elders recommended that Paul pay for the cost of animal sacrifices for four Jewish men under a Nazarite vow. This would display that Paul was not an enemy of Moses or Jewish customs.
The period of the vow had nearly ended. But this peace strategy would not make a difference for Paul’s safety in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit had told him multiple times that “bonds and afflictions” waited for him in Jerusalem (Acts 20:23Acts 20:23 commentary). In this passage, Paul will be taken into custody, affecting the next few years of his life and the remainder of the account of Acts.
Paul is in the temple minding his own business, when adversaries pounce: When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him (v. 27).
Paul and the men he is sponsoring were in the temple as part of the seven days of purification they were practicing. The seven days were almost over, setting the scene for why Paul was in the temple. He is there participating in the completion of the vow. And this is where bonds and afflictions find him.
Paul’s attackers are the Jews from Asia. For context, the reason Paul had gone to Jerusalem was to celebrate the festival of Pentecost (Acts 20:16Acts 20:16 commentary). The festival of Pentecost (also called the Feast of Harvest or the Feast of Weeks) occurs at the end of the barley feast and the beginning of the wheat feast, right in the middle of these harvests.
This festival traditionally is placed fifty days after the commemoration of the Israelites leaving Egypt, when Moses went up on Mount Sinai and brought down the Law (Exodus 34:29-34Exodus 34:29-34 commentary). By the first century, Pentecost was also used as an occasion to celebrate the giving of the Law. This may further explain why Paul will be attacked, since he has been branded an enemy of the Law, and religious fervor and motivation to stick up for the Law is at a high.
Jews from all over the Roman Empire would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost. In this first century, Jews lived all over the Middle East and Western world. Since the Babylonian exile, the Jewish people had spread and settled in other nations such as Anatolia/Asia Minor, Greece, Egypt, and Rome, in what is known as “the Diaspora" (Greek for "dispersion"). But these same Diaspora Jews still adhered to their national and religious identity, and would return to Jerusalem to observe their holy days and feasts.
We see this during the Pentecost after Jesus’s ascension: there were “devout men from every nation under heaven” living in Jerusalem for the duration of the holiday (Acts 2:5Acts 2:5 commentary). The Apostle Peter preached a sermon that brought three thousand Jews to faith in Christ (Acts 2:41Acts 2:41 commentary). Here in Acts 21Acts 21 commentary, commentary during another Pentecost some twenty-five years later, the city of Jerusalem is teeming with thousands of Jewish pilgrims from all over the Roman world.
These Jews from Asia were from the Roman province of Asia, the capital of which is Ephesus, where Paul lived for two to three years and planted churches in the region (Acts 19:8-10Acts 19:8-10 commentary). The Roman province of Asia covers most of the western area of Anatolia/Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). These Jews were not the Jews whom James and the elders were worried would cause trouble for Paul. James was nervous about Jewish believers in his church community who were zealous for the Law, indicating that they were local Judeans and followers of Jesus (Acts 21:20-21Acts 21:20-21 commentary).
It is quite possible that these Jews from Asia knew Paul from the past few years when he lived in Ephesus. It would explain how they recognized him among the crowds in the city, and why their reaction is so immediate. They may have belonged to the synagogue where Paul had taught for three months until he was met with hostility by Jews who became “hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way [of Jesus]” (Acts 19:1-9Acts 19:1-9 commentary). Now, seeing Paul in Jerusalem, with years of resentment in their hearts, they could do something about him.
These Jews who had traveled to Jerusalem from the province of Asia, upon seeing Paul in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him. They may have felt emboldened to attack Paul since they were in the temple surrounded by a crowd of other devout Jews who they could stir up to action. This seems to be a planned ambush, because these Jews attacking Paul had seen him days earlier in the city (v. 29). The Asian Jews laid hands on Paul, grabbing him physically to keep him from escaping. They begin shouting to the Judeans in the crowd to help them keep Paul captive and to ultimately aid in killing him (verse 30), probably by stoning him.
They were crying out, “Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place” (v. 28).
The Men of Israel who they summoned were the many Jews in the crowd in the temple where this assault was taking place. They began to stir the crowds of Jews up by shouting lies about Paul, while beckoning the crowds to come to their aid in constraining Paul, as though they had at last caught a notorious criminal.
Their accusation was that This man whom they held, this Paul, is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place. Their general description of Paul’s “transgression” is the same slander that the zealous Jewish believers had heard, that because of his teaching, Paul was an enemy of Judaism, the Law, and the Temple (Acts 21:21Acts 21:21 commentary).
This was a common slander against Paul which he had endured and disavowed for years, but it had stuck to him (see verses where Paul answers various related allegations—Romans 3:7-8Romans 3:7-8 commentary, 3131 commentary, 6:1-26:1-2 commentary, 7:77:7 commentary, 11:111:1 commentary, 1111 commentary, Galatians 3:19-24Galatians 3:19-24 commentary, commentary1 Corinthians 7:18-191 Corinthians 7:18-19 commentary).
The Jews from Asia who had laid hands on Paul tack on a final accusation, based on an assumption they made without evidence. They seem to genuinely believe their assumption (v. 29), but it is a lie regardless. The extra accusation they levy against Paul is that he has violated a serious Jewish custom:
and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place (v. 28).
It was forbidden to bring anyone who wasn’t Jewish into the temple. The temple in Jerusalem was organized in multiple layers. The most sacred areas were the innermost ones, but the outer courts were less sacred and less exclusive the further they proceeded from the Holy of Holies. Worshipers were allowed into certain areas of the temple based on who they were.
The Court of Gentiles was the outermost layer, a massive courtyard, and the least exclusive because even the Gentiles—the "foreigners in the midst" of the Jewish people (Leviticus 19:33-34Leviticus 19:33-34 commentary)—were allowed to pray and worship there. In the center of the courtyard was the temple proper. The temple building within the courtyard was like a long, tall hallway divided by a series of courts and rooms. Only Jews were allowed to enter the temple building proper.
The first section of the temple proper was the Court of Women. This was the furthest into the temple which purified Jewish women were permitted to go. Next was the Court of Israel, where purified male Jews were allowed to go. Beyond was the Court of Priests, and finally the House of God, which was split into the Holy Places and the Holy of Holies, only entered once a year by a lone priest on the Day of Atonement.
Thus, these Jews from Asia are accusing Paul of having brought a Gentile into the Court of Israel inside the temple building. By bringing Greeks into this exclusive area, Paul has allegedly defiled this holy place. He has made God’s temple impure and unclean.
Paul’s accusers base their accusation on having previously seen Paul with one of his Greek friends: For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple (v. 29).
They likely knew Trophimus the Ephesian from Paul’s years of ministry in Ephesus. Trophimus was part of Paul’s team of co-ministers and friends who had accompanied him on the voyage home from Macedonia to Israel (Acts 20:4Acts 20:4 commentary). Trophimus is mentioned also in one of Paul’s letters to Timothy which was written years after this event, where he became too sick to travel further with Paul and was left behind in the city of Miletus in the Roman province of Asia (2 Timothy 4:202 Timothy 4:20 commentary).
Simply having observed Paul walking about Jerusalem with Trophimus the Ephesian, these Jews supposed that Paul must have also brought Trophimusinto the inner court of the temple. This is quite a leap, especially given the absence of Trophimus in this situation.
The fact that Paul is being attacked by crowds of people here implies that this is occurring in the Court of Gentiles, the outer courtyard where thousands of people could walk, where the sacrificial animals were sold and money changers conducted business (Matthew 21:12Matthew 21:12 commentary). But Paul is there with the four men whose vow he is sponsoring (Acts 21:27Acts 21:27 commentary); there is no mention that Trophimus is also there. The accusation is pulled out of thin air (theysupposed), but it is sufficient for Paul’s accusers and the Jews in the crowd, who were already predisposed against Paul, to be stirred up to seize Paul:
Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut (v. 30).
The majority of the people present rallied against Paul. The accusations against him were seen as one of the worst things a Jew could do, to preach to all men everywhere against the Jewish people, the Law which God gave Moses, and the Temple of God. Paul was accused of treason in every category. Thus deceived, all the city was provoked against Paul, and in a crowd the people rushed together.
Luke describes it as though the entire city of Jerusalem was coming down on Paul. They took hold of him and dragged him out of the temple, fulfilling the first tremors of the “bonds” that awaited him (Acts 20:23Acts 20:23 commentary). The removal of Paul from the temple was done with such unity and urgency that after he had been dragged out of the temple, some of the Jews saw to it that immediately the doors were shut.
The mob is not dragging Paul away to a trial. There is no investigation, no one is trying to verify if Paul had done anything wrong or was innocent. They were carrying him away to execute him: While they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion (v. 31).
The mob seems to be trying to kill Paul in the streets of Jerusalem. In past murders and executions, this was done outside the city gates (Leviticus 24:14Leviticus 24:14 commentary, commentaryJohn 19:16-17John 19:16-17 commentary, commentaryHebrews 13:12Hebrews 13:12 commentary, commentaryActs 7:58Acts 7:58 commentary). But the desire to (at last) kill Paul is so strong that they were seeking to kill him as soon as possible. Perhaps they intended to take him out of the city and avoid Roman interference, but they have created such a ruckus and are abusing Paul along the way, that they end up drawing too much attention to themselves and are interrupted.
Luke writes that While they were seeking to kill him, the chaos was so great that someone (a soldier, probably) sent a report which came up to the commander of the Roman cohort. The report was that all Jerusalem was in confusion. The commander and his cohort were presumably stationed in the Antonia Fortress, which had been built by Herod the Great at the northwest corner of the temple complex.
The Antonia Fortress was named for the famous Roman general Mark Antony, who was a political ally of Herod’s and supplied him with soldiers to take Jerusalem in 37 BC. The fortress was connected to the temple by walkways, allowing quick access. It makes sense that the report would reach the commander so swiftly, giving time for Paul’s rescue before the mob beat him to death, since it does not appear that the mob has taken Paul very far from the temple doors (v. 30).
This required the commander of the Roman cohort’s immediate reaction. Though translated commander, the actual word in the Greek is “chiliarch,” someone in authority over one thousand soldiers. In Acts 23:26Acts 23:26 commentary, commentary we will learn that this commander’s name is Claudius Lysias. The chiliarch’s job was to keep the peace in Jerusalem. A Roman cohort was a military unit consisting of hundreds of soldiers. This cohort was stationed in Judea to put down uprisings and prevent civil unrest.
While Rome let the Jews maintain their religious and cultural identity, the eye of the Empire was always watching. Soldiers patrolled the streets. There were many different small rebellions and skirmishes throughout the first century in Judea, most involving the party of the Zealots.
One of the twelve apostles was an official Zealot (Luke 6:15Luke 6:15 commentary). From the attitudes of the disciples, we can infer that the eleven disciples from the area of Galilee were Zealot sympathizers. A major stronghold of the Zealots was near the Sea of Galilee, at Gamla. After the commander of this cohort takes custody of Paul, he will mistake him for being a famous criminal who recently instigated terror attacks.
Having received the report that the entire city of Jerusalem was in confusion, the commander calls upon a portion of his men and goes to where the action is:
At once he took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul (v. 32).
The commander takes action At once, without hesitation. Not only does he take along some soldiers with him, but some centurions as well. The centurions were captains in charge of their own units of one hundred men.
A large group of Roman soldiers, as well as their captain and the commander over their entire cohort, ran down to the crowd. When the Jews who were attacking Paul saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. It would have been foolish to continue to try to kill their prisoner now that the true authority in the city, the Romans, had arrived. As much as the Jews wanted to take Paul’s life, they did not want to be arrested or executed for killing a man outside of Roman approval. The Jews were not supposed to enforce capital punishment at all; only Rome had that legal power (John 18:31John 18:31 commentary).
The fact that they were beating Paul hints that they were already in the process of trying to kill him. Alternatively, they may have been venting their hatred toward him by abusing him first before finishing him with a stoning outside the city. Whatever their intentions had been, they wanted Paul to die that day. But the Romans had arrived, and if the Jews hostile to Paul wanted to see him dead, they would have to pursue it through Roman procedure and by Roman hands, as had happened to Jesus.
Set to dark mode
Acts 21:27-32 meaning
In Acts 21:27-32Acts 21:27-32 commentary, commentary Paul experiences the “bonds and afflictions” in Jerusalem foretold him by the Holy Spirit.
Paul has returned to Jerusalem after years in the Roman province of Asia, preaching the gospel and planting churches. He was joined by Gentile believers from Macedonia, Achaia, and the province of Asia. When he arrived in Jerusalem, Paul met with James, the half-brother of Jesus and the lead elder of the Jerusalem church, along with the other church elders.
They were glad to see Paul and hear about God’s work among the Gentiles, the miracles He performed through Paul and the many Gentiles who were now believers in Jesus. However, James and the elders were worried for Paul’s safety in Jerusalem. Many of the Jewish believers in Jesus were still zealous for the Mosaic Law, meaning they followed it and upheld it with extreme loyalty. These zealous Jewish believers had heard slander about Paul.
The slander which had been taught to them said that Paul taught that Jews should not follow the Mosaic Law, should not circumcise their children, and should not follow Jewish customs. This was not true. Paul, along with the elders and apostles, were adamant that Gentiles are not obligated to follow the Jewish Law, and that both Jews and Gentiles are saved only through faith in Jesus. But Paul was not teaching Jews to abandon the Mosaic Law.
To help unravel the lies these zealous Jewish believers have heard, the elders recommended that Paul pay for the cost of animal sacrifices for four Jewish men under a Nazarite vow. This would display that Paul was not an enemy of Moses or Jewish customs.
The period of the vow had nearly ended. But this peace strategy would not make a difference for Paul’s safety in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit had told him multiple times that “bonds and afflictions” waited for him in Jerusalem (Acts 20:23Acts 20:23 commentary). In this passage, Paul will be taken into custody, affecting the next few years of his life and the remainder of the account of Acts.
Paul is in the temple minding his own business, when adversaries pounce: When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him (v. 27).
Paul and the men he is sponsoring were in the temple as part of the seven days of purification they were practicing. The seven days were almost over, setting the scene for why Paul was in the temple. He is there participating in the completion of the vow. And this is where bonds and afflictions find him.
Paul’s attackers are the Jews from Asia. For context, the reason Paul had gone to Jerusalem was to celebrate the festival of Pentecost (Acts 20:16Acts 20:16 commentary). The festival of Pentecost (also called the Feast of Harvest or the Feast of Weeks) occurs at the end of the barley feast and the beginning of the wheat feast, right in the middle of these harvests.
This festival traditionally is placed fifty days after the commemoration of the Israelites leaving Egypt, when Moses went up on Mount Sinai and brought down the Law (Exodus 34:29-34Exodus 34:29-34 commentary). By the first century, Pentecost was also used as an occasion to celebrate the giving of the Law. This may further explain why Paul will be attacked, since he has been branded an enemy of the Law, and religious fervor and motivation to stick up for the Law is at a high.
Jews from all over the Roman Empire would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost. In this first century, Jews lived all over the Middle East and Western world. Since the Babylonian exile, the Jewish people had spread and settled in other nations such as Anatolia/Asia Minor, Greece, Egypt, and Rome, in what is known as “the Diaspora" (Greek for "dispersion"). But these same Diaspora Jews still adhered to their national and religious identity, and would return to Jerusalem to observe their holy days and feasts.
We see this during the Pentecost after Jesus’s ascension: there were “devout men from every nation under heaven” living in Jerusalem for the duration of the holiday (Acts 2:5Acts 2:5 commentary). The Apostle Peter preached a sermon that brought three thousand Jews to faith in Christ (Acts 2:41Acts 2:41 commentary). Here in Acts 21Acts 21 commentary, commentary during another Pentecost some twenty-five years later, the city of Jerusalem is teeming with thousands of Jewish pilgrims from all over the Roman world.
These Jews from Asia were from the Roman province of Asia, the capital of which is Ephesus, where Paul lived for two to three years and planted churches in the region (Acts 19:8-10Acts 19:8-10 commentary). The Roman province of Asia covers most of the western area of Anatolia/Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). These Jews were not the Jews whom James and the elders were worried would cause trouble for Paul. James was nervous about Jewish believers in his church community who were zealous for the Law, indicating that they were local Judeans and followers of Jesus (Acts 21:20-21Acts 21:20-21 commentary).
It is quite possible that these Jews from Asia knew Paul from the past few years when he lived in Ephesus. It would explain how they recognized him among the crowds in the city, and why their reaction is so immediate. They may have belonged to the synagogue where Paul had taught for three months until he was met with hostility by Jews who became “hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way [of Jesus]” (Acts 19:1-9Acts 19:1-9 commentary). Now, seeing Paul in Jerusalem, with years of resentment in their hearts, they could do something about him.
These Jews who had traveled to Jerusalem from the province of Asia, upon seeing Paul in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him. They may have felt emboldened to attack Paul since they were in the temple surrounded by a crowd of other devout Jews who they could stir up to action. This seems to be a planned ambush, because these Jews attacking Paul had seen him days earlier in the city (v. 29). The Asian Jews laid hands on Paul, grabbing him physically to keep him from escaping. They begin shouting to the Judeans in the crowd to help them keep Paul captive and to ultimately aid in killing him (verse 30), probably by stoning him.
They were crying out, “Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place” (v. 28).
The Men of Israel who they summoned were the many Jews in the crowd in the temple where this assault was taking place. They began to stir the crowds of Jews up by shouting lies about Paul, while beckoning the crowds to come to their aid in constraining Paul, as though they had at last caught a notorious criminal.
Their accusation was that This man whom they held, this Paul, is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place. Their general description of Paul’s “transgression” is the same slander that the zealous Jewish believers had heard, that because of his teaching, Paul was an enemy of Judaism, the Law, and the Temple (Acts 21:21Acts 21:21 commentary).
This was a common slander against Paul which he had endured and disavowed for years, but it had stuck to him (see verses where Paul answers various related allegations—Romans 3:7-8Romans 3:7-8 commentary, 3131 commentary, 6:1-26:1-2 commentary, 7:77:7 commentary, 11:111:1 commentary, 1111 commentary, Galatians 3:19-24Galatians 3:19-24 commentary, commentary 1 Corinthians 7:18-191 Corinthians 7:18-19 commentary).
The Jews from Asia who had laid hands on Paul tack on a final accusation, based on an assumption they made without evidence. They seem to genuinely believe their assumption (v. 29), but it is a lie regardless. The extra accusation they levy against Paul is that he has violated a serious Jewish custom:
and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place (v. 28).
It was forbidden to bring anyone who wasn’t Jewish into the temple. The temple in Jerusalem was organized in multiple layers. The most sacred areas were the innermost ones, but the outer courts were less sacred and less exclusive the further they proceeded from the Holy of Holies. Worshipers were allowed into certain areas of the temple based on who they were.
The Court of Gentiles was the outermost layer, a massive courtyard, and the least exclusive because even the Gentiles—the "foreigners in the midst" of the Jewish people (Leviticus 19:33-34Leviticus 19:33-34 commentary)—were allowed to pray and worship there. In the center of the courtyard was the temple proper. The temple building within the courtyard was like a long, tall hallway divided by a series of courts and rooms. Only Jews were allowed to enter the temple building proper.
The first section of the temple proper was the Court of Women. This was the furthest into the temple which purified Jewish women were permitted to go. Next was the Court of Israel, where purified male Jews were allowed to go. Beyond was the Court of Priests, and finally the House of God, which was split into the Holy Places and the Holy of Holies, only entered once a year by a lone priest on the Day of Atonement.
Thus, these Jews from Asia are accusing Paul of having brought a Gentile into the Court of Israel inside the temple building. By bringing Greeks into this exclusive area, Paul has allegedly defiled this holy place. He has made God’s temple impure and unclean.
Paul’s accusers base their accusation on having previously seen Paul with one of his Greek friends: For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple (v. 29).
They likely knew Trophimus the Ephesian from Paul’s years of ministry in Ephesus. Trophimus was part of Paul’s team of co-ministers and friends who had accompanied him on the voyage home from Macedonia to Israel (Acts 20:4Acts 20:4 commentary). Trophimus is mentioned also in one of Paul’s letters to Timothy which was written years after this event, where he became too sick to travel further with Paul and was left behind in the city of Miletus in the Roman province of Asia (2 Timothy 4:202 Timothy 4:20 commentary).
Simply having observed Paul walking about Jerusalem with Trophimus the Ephesian, these Jews supposed that Paul must have also brought Trophimus into the inner court of the temple. This is quite a leap, especially given the absence of Trophimus in this situation.
The fact that Paul is being attacked by crowds of people here implies that this is occurring in the Court of Gentiles, the outer courtyard where thousands of people could walk, where the sacrificial animals were sold and money changers conducted business (Matthew 21:12Matthew 21:12 commentary). But Paul is there with the four men whose vow he is sponsoring (Acts 21:27Acts 21:27 commentary); there is no mention that Trophimus is also there. The accusation is pulled out of thin air (they supposed), but it is sufficient for Paul’s accusers and the Jews in the crowd, who were already predisposed against Paul, to be stirred up to seize Paul:
Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut (v. 30).
The majority of the people present rallied against Paul. The accusations against him were seen as one of the worst things a Jew could do, to preach to all men everywhere against the Jewish people, the Law which God gave Moses, and the Temple of God. Paul was accused of treason in every category. Thus deceived, all the city was provoked against Paul, and in a crowd the people rushed together.
Luke describes it as though the entire city of Jerusalem was coming down on Paul. They took hold of him and dragged him out of the temple, fulfilling the first tremors of the “bonds” that awaited him (Acts 20:23Acts 20:23 commentary). The removal of Paul from the temple was done with such unity and urgency that after he had been dragged out of the temple, some of the Jews saw to it that immediately the doors were shut.
The mob is not dragging Paul away to a trial. There is no investigation, no one is trying to verify if Paul had done anything wrong or was innocent. They were carrying him away to execute him: While they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion (v. 31).
The mob seems to be trying to kill Paul in the streets of Jerusalem. In past murders and executions, this was done outside the city gates (Leviticus 24:14Leviticus 24:14 commentary, commentary John 19:16-17John 19:16-17 commentary, commentary Hebrews 13:12Hebrews 13:12 commentary, commentary Acts 7:58Acts 7:58 commentary). But the desire to (at last) kill Paul is so strong that they were seeking to kill him as soon as possible. Perhaps they intended to take him out of the city and avoid Roman interference, but they have created such a ruckus and are abusing Paul along the way, that they end up drawing too much attention to themselves and are interrupted.
Luke writes that While they were seeking to kill him, the chaos was so great that someone (a soldier, probably) sent a report which came up to the commander of the Roman cohort. The report was that all Jerusalem was in confusion. The commander and his cohort were presumably stationed in the Antonia Fortress, which had been built by Herod the Great at the northwest corner of the temple complex.
The Antonia Fortress was named for the famous Roman general Mark Antony, who was a political ally of Herod’s and supplied him with soldiers to take Jerusalem in 37 BC. The fortress was connected to the temple by walkways, allowing quick access. It makes sense that the report would reach the commander so swiftly, giving time for Paul’s rescue before the mob beat him to death, since it does not appear that the mob has taken Paul very far from the temple doors (v. 30).
This required the commander of the Roman cohort’s immediate reaction. Though translated commander, the actual word in the Greek is “chiliarch,” someone in authority over one thousand soldiers. In Acts 23:26Acts 23:26 commentary, commentary we will learn that this commander’s name is Claudius Lysias. The chiliarch’s job was to keep the peace in Jerusalem. A Roman cohort was a military unit consisting of hundreds of soldiers. This cohort was stationed in Judea to put down uprisings and prevent civil unrest.
While Rome let the Jews maintain their religious and cultural identity, the eye of the Empire was always watching. Soldiers patrolled the streets. There were many different small rebellions and skirmishes throughout the first century in Judea, most involving the party of the Zealots.
One of the twelve apostles was an official Zealot (Luke 6:15Luke 6:15 commentary). From the attitudes of the disciples, we can infer that the eleven disciples from the area of Galilee were Zealot sympathizers. A major stronghold of the Zealots was near the Sea of Galilee, at Gamla. After the commander of this cohort takes custody of Paul, he will mistake him for being a famous criminal who recently instigated terror attacks.
Having received the report that the entire city of Jerusalem was in confusion, the commander calls upon a portion of his men and goes to where the action is:
At once he took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul (v. 32).
The commander takes action At once, without hesitation. Not only does he take along some soldiers with him, but some centurions as well. The centurions were captains in charge of their own units of one hundred men.
A large group of Roman soldiers, as well as their captain and the commander over their entire cohort, ran down to the crowd. When the Jews who were attacking Paul saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. It would have been foolish to continue to try to kill their prisoner now that the true authority in the city, the Romans, had arrived. As much as the Jews wanted to take Paul’s life, they did not want to be arrested or executed for killing a man outside of Roman approval. The Jews were not supposed to enforce capital punishment at all; only Rome had that legal power (John 18:31John 18:31 commentary).
The fact that they were beating Paul hints that they were already in the process of trying to kill him. Alternatively, they may have been venting their hatred toward him by abusing him first before finishing him with a stoning outside the city. Whatever their intentions had been, they wanted Paul to die that day. But the Romans had arrived, and if the Jews hostile to Paul wanted to see him dead, they would have to pursue it through Roman procedure and by Roman hands, as had happened to Jesus.