Acts 21:27 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Acts 21:27
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,
to throw upon (literal or figurative · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural
hands
χεῖραςcheiras
G5495
the hand (literally or figuratively (power) · noun — accusative plural feminine
on
ἐπ᾽ep᾽
G1909
properly · preposition
him
αὐτὸνauton
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 24:18 Whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude, nor with tumult.
Acts 26:21 For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.
Acts 13:50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, an…
1 Kings 21:25 But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.
Luke 21:12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being bro…
Acts 4:3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.
Acts 5:18 And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.
Acts 6:12 And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Acts 21:27–end
We have here Paul brought into a captivity which we are not likely to see the end of; for after this he is either hurried from one bar to another, or lies neglected, first in one prison and then in another, and can neither be tried nor bailed. When we see the beginning of a trouble, we know not either how long it will last or how it will issue.
I. We have here Paul seized, and laid hold on.
1. He was seized in the temple, when he was there attending the days of his purifying, and the solemn services of those days, Act 21:27. Formerly he had been well known in the temple, but now he had been so long in his travels abroad that he had become a stranger there; so that it was not till the seven d…
the Jews . . . of Asia--in all likelihood those of Ephesus (since they recognized Trophimus apparently as a townsman, Act 21:29), embittered by their discomfiture (Act 19:9, &c.).
Adam Clarke on Acts 21:27
The Jews which were of Asia - These pursued him with the most deliberate and persevering malice in every place; and it appears that it was through them that the false reports were sent to and circulated through Jerusalem.
John Gill on Acts 21:27
And when the seven days were almost ended,.... The Syriac version renders it, "when the seventh day was come"; from the time that Paul came to Jerusalem: some understand this of the seven weeks from the passover to Pentecost, and that it was when they were almost ended, and the day of Pentecost was at hand, for which Paul came up to Jerusalem; but rather, the seven days of purification of the Nazarites are meant:
the Jews which were of Asia; and it may be chiefly of Ephesus, the metropolis of Asia; who knew Paul there, and were his implacable enemies; for this is to be understood of the unbelieving Jews, who were come up to the feast of Pentecost:
when they saw him in the temple; where he…
And when the seven days were nearly completed. These days were not yet completed, but their course was ongoing, the completion was awaited. Hence it is more clearly said in Greek: When the seven days were beginning to be completed. Otherwise, the statement he made after five days of being in Caesarea to the governor cannot stand: For it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem. For if you add these seven days and those five days of the council in which he dissociated the Pharisees and Sadducees, and that in which the Jews vowed to kill him, undoubtedly more than twelve days will be found there.
"And when the seven days were about to be completed, the Jews from Asia" - for his arrival most keeps times with theirs - "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: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place." Mark their habitual conduct, how turbulent we everywhere find it, how men who with or without reason make a clamor in the midst. "Jews from Asia having seen him," for it was natural that they were spending some days there, "in the Temple." Mark the economy of Providence that appeared in this. After the believing Jews had been persuaded concerning him, then it is that those Jews of Asia set upon him in order that those believing Jews may not also set upon him. "Help," say they, "ye men of Israel!" as though it were some monster difficult to be caught, and hard to be overcome, that has fallen into their hands. "All men," they say, "everywhere, he ceaseth not to teach;" not here only. And then the accusation is more aggravated by the present circumstances. "And yet more," say they, "he has polluted the temple, having brought into it men who are Greeks." And yet in Christ's time there "came up Greeks to worship": true, but here it speaks of Greeks who had no mind to worship.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Asia — Is used to denote Proconsular Asia, a Roman province which embraced the western parts of Asia Minor, and of which Ephesus was the capital, in Acts 2:9; 6:9; 16:6; 19:10, 22; 20:4, 16, 18, etc., and…
John — (1.) One who, with Annas and Caiaphas, sat in judgment on the apostles Peter and John (Acts 4:6). He was of the kindred of the high priest; otherwise unknown. (2.) The Hebrew name of Mark (q.v.). He…
Trophimus — A foster-child, an Ephesian who accompanied Paul during a part of his third missionary journey (Acts 20:4; 21:29). He was with Paul in Jerusalem, and the Jews, supposing that the apostle had brought…
Asia · Inhabitants of, in — Inhabitants of, in
Fraternity · .The Nazarites, vows of — .The Nazarites, vows of
Prisoners · Paul — Paul
Temple, The Second · No Gentile allowed to enter the inner courts of — No Gentile allowed to enter the inner courts of
Trophimus · With Paul in — With Paul in
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Acts 21:26-30
Acts 21:26-30
26. Then when Paul had taken the men, on the morrow, being purified with them, he entered into the temple, declaring the fulfilling of the days of purification until an offering might be offered for every one of them. 27. And when the seven days were now almost ended, certain Jews of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, moved the people, and laid hands on him, 28. Crying, Men of Israel, help: This is that man, which teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place. Moreover, he hath also brought Grecians into the temple, and hath defiled this holy place. 29. For they had seen Trophimus an Ephesian in the city with him, whom they thought Paul had br…
The concerns of the Christian leaders (21:20-25) were evidently well based, for when their vows were almost completed, some Jews from the province of Asia raised a mob against Paul with false charges. They were intent on killing Paul, but the Roman commander rescued him.
