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Acts 21:20
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18 On the following day Paul went in with us to aJames, and all the elders were present.  
19 When he had greeted them, ahe told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles bthrough his ministry.  
20 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all azealous for the law;  
21 but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.
22 What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come.  
23 Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow.
24 Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may ashave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law.  
25 But concerning the Gentiles who believe, awe have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from2 sexual immorality.”  

Arrested in the Temple

26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, aentered the temple bto announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.  
27 Now when the seven days were almost ended, athe Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and blaid hands on him,  
Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
<< Acts 21:19   Acts 21:21 >>


Acts 21:20

Glorified (edocazon). Inchoative imperfect, began to glorify God, though without special praise of Paul.

How many thousands (posai muriadev). Old word for ten thousand (Acts 19:19) and then an indefinite number like our "myriads" (this very word) as Luke 12:1; Acts 21:20; Judges 1:14; Revelation 5:11; Revelation 9:16. But it is a surprising statement even with allowable hyperbole, but one may recall Acts 4:4 (number of the men—not women—about five thousand); Acts 5:14 (multitudes both of men and women); Acts 6:7. There were undoubtedly a great many thousands of believers in Jerusalem and all Jewish Christians, some, alas, Judaizers (Acts 11:2; Acts 15:1, Acts 15:5). This list may include the Christians from neighbouring towns in Palestine and even some from foreign countries here at the Feast of Pentecost, for it is probable that Paul arrived in time for it as he had hoped. But we do not have to count the hostile Jews from Asia (verse Acts 21:27) who were clearly not Christians at all.

All zealous for the law (pantev zhlwtai tou nomou). Zealots (substantive) rather than zealous (adjective) with objective genitive (tou nomou). The word zealot is from zhlow, to burn with zeal, to boil. The Greek used zhlwthv for an imitator or admirer. There was a party of Zealots (developed from the Pharisees), a group of what would be called "hot-heads," who brought on the war with Rome. One of this party, Simon Zelotes (Acts 1:13), was in the number of the twelve apostles. It is important to understand the issues in Jerusalem. It was settled at the Jerusalem Conference (Acts 15; Gal. 2) that the Mosaic ceremonial law was not to be imposed upon Gentile Christians. Paul won freedom for them, but it was not said that it was wrong for Jewish Christians to go on observing it if they wished. We have seen Paul observing the passover in Philippi (Acts 20:6) and planning to reach Jerusalem for Pentecost (Acts 20:16). The Judaizers rankled under Paul's victory and power in spreading the gospel among the Gentiles and gave him great trouble in Galatia and Corinth. They were busy against him in Jerusalem also and it was to undo the harm done by them in Jerusalem that Paul gathered the great collection from the Gentile Christians and brought it with him and the delegates from the churches. Clearly then Paul had real ground for his apprehension of trouble in Jerusalem while still in Corinth (Romans 15:25) when he asked for the prayers of the Roman Christians (verses Acts 21:30-32). The repeated warnings along the way were amply justified.




Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Acts 21:20:

Matthew 24:29
Luke 12:1
Acts 21:20
Acts 22:3
Galatians 1:14

 

<< Acts 21:19   Acts 21:21 >>

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