Act 21:26-40 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Acts 21:26-36: 21:26-36 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.

Summary for Acts 21:26-36: 21:26-36 ^a The concerns of the Christian leaders (21:20-25 ^b) 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.
Summary for Acts 21:28-29: 21:28-29 ^c Gentiles: It was a crime punishable by death to bring any non-Jew into the Temple precincts beyond the Court of the Gentiles (see also Josephus, War 5.5.2; 6.2.4). The Jews assumed that Paul had violated this sacred law by bringing Trophimus, a Gentile from Ephesus (see also Acts 20:4 ^d; 2 Tim 4:20 ^e), into the forbidden area.
21:30 ^f This supposed desecration of the Temple aroused the fury of the Jewish populace. The Temple ... gates were closed because they thought the Temple had been defiled by a Gentile.
21:31 ^g commander: Or tribune, a Roman officer who commanded 1,000 men.
21:34 ^h The fortress of Antonia, a large military garrison built by Herod the Great on the northwest corner of the Temple Mount, accommodated the Roman cohort that was stationed there to keep the peace.
Summary for Acts 21:37-40: 21:37-40 ⁱ The commander had mistaken Paul for an Egyptian false messiah who had planned to seize power from the Romans around AD 54 (roughly three years earlier; see Josephus, War 2.13.5). Paul corrected the mistake, gained permission to speak to the people, and addressed the crowd in Aramaic, the common language of Judea. He gave a strong statement of his faith in Jesus as the Messiah (Acts 22:1-21 ^j).

Thematic note: Prophetic Sign Acts
The prophets of Israel occasionally communicated through sign acts, which were dramatic visual aids performed in public to increase the impact of the message and help people feel the truth as much as hear it. Their purpose was to present an unforgettable message. These acts were unusual, even outlandish—and not just from a modern perspective. Unlike modern readers, however (who might think that the prophet was psychologically disturbed), ancient observers understood these sign acts as a regular part of a prophet’s communication style.
Ezekiel was required to act out his message more frequently than any other prophet, perhaps because he was communicating to a particularly hardened audience (Ezek 2:6-7 ^k). The sign acts reinforced the content of his message and underlined the depth of his personal commitment to it. For example, after he swallowed the word of God (2:8–3:3 ^l), Ezekiel embodied it for the exiles (3:4-9 ^m) in a series of judgment scenes (chs 4–6 ⁿ). This dramatic form of communication is difficult for even a hostile audience to ignore or forget.
The ultimate sign act was performed by Jesus Christ on the cross (see Matt 27:32-54 ^o). There God visibly depicted his wrath against sin in the darkness, the earthquake, and the agony of the sinless one who was apparently abandoned by his Father. God also depicted his profound love for the world in that he would rather die than let his people go. The cross is a confrontational message of God’s love and wrath that is hard to ignore or forget.

Passages for Further Study
Jer 13:1-11 ^p; 19:1-15 ^q; 25:15 ^r; Ezek 2:6–3:3 ^s; 3:4-9 ^t; 4:1-17 ^u; 5:1–6:14 ^v; 12:1-28 ^w; 21:19-23 ^x; 24:1-14 ^y, 16-27 ^z; 37:15-28 ^aa; Hos 1:2-9 ^ab; 3:1-3 ^ac; Matt 26:26-28 ^ad; 27:45-54 ^ae; Mark 6:11 ^af; 11:12-21 ^ag; Luke 22:17-20 ^ah; Rom 6:3-5 ^ai; 1 Cor 10:16-17 ^aj; 11:23-32 ^ak