Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Paul sails to Cos, Rhodes, Patara, Tyre, Ptolemais, and Caesarea, where Agabus foretells to him his bonds at Jerusalem: he therefore proceeds undaunted to Jerusalem; where, on James's advice, while purifying himself in the temple, he is seized by the Jews and almost killed; but the tribune rescues him: by whose permission, having been granted the power, he addresses the people.
Vulgate Text: Acts 21:1-40
1. And it came to pass, that when we had taken our departure from them, we set sail and by a straight course came to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from thence to Patara. 2. And when we had found a ship that was sailing over to Phoenicia, we went on board and set sail. 3. And when we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left hand, we sailed into Syria, and came to Tyre: for there the ship was to unload her cargo. 4. And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. 5. And when the days were over, we departed and went on our way, all of them with their wives and children bringing us on our way as far as outside the city: and kneeling down on the shore, we prayed. 6. And when we had bidden one another farewell, we went on board the ship: and they returned home. 7. And we, having finished our voyage from Tyre, came down to Ptolemais: and saluting the brethren, we abode one day with them. 8. The next day, having departed, we came to Caesarea. And entering into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we abode with him. 9. And he had four daughters, virgins, who did prophesy. 10. And as we tarried there for some days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet, named Agabus. 11. He, when he had come to us, took Paul's girdle: and binding his own feet and hands, said: Thus saith the Holy Spirit: The man whose girdle this is, the Jews shall thus bind in Jerusalem, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. 12. Which when we had heard, both we and they that were of that place asked him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13. Then Paul answered, and said: What do you mean weeping and afflicting my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but to die also in Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus. 14. And when we could not persuade him, we ceased, saying: The will of the Lord be done. 15. And after those days, having made ready, we went up to Jerusalem. 16. And there went also with us some of the disciples from Caesarea, bringing with them one Mnason a Cyprian, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge. 17. And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. 18. And the next day Paul went in with us unto James, and all the Elders were assembled. 19. Whom when he had saluted, he related particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20. But they, when they had heard, magnified God, and said to him: Thou seest, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. 21. Now they have heard of thee, that thou teachest those Jews, who are among the Gentiles, to depart from Moses: telling them that they ought not to circumcise their sons, nor walk according to the custom. 22. What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou hast come. 23. Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men, who have a vow on them. 24. Take these, and sanctify thyself with them; and bestow on them, that they may shave their heads; and all will know that the things they have heard of thee are false, but that thou thyself also walkest keeping the law. 25. But concerning those of the Gentiles who have believed, we have written, judging that they should abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from fornication. 26. Then Paul, having taken the men, the next day, having purified himself with them, entered the temple, declaring the completion of the days of purification, until an offering should be made for each of them. 27. But when the seven days were almost ended, those Jews who were from Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up the whole multitude and laid hands on him, crying out: 28. Men of Israel, help: this is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against the people, and the Law, and this place, and besides has even brought Greeks into the temple, and has profaned this holy place. 29. For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, whom they supposed Paul had brought into the temple. 30. The whole city was stirred up, and a rush of people came together. And seizing Paul, they were dragging him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. 31. As they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 32. He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33. Then the tribune came up and arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains, and was asking who he was and what he had done. 34. But some in the crowd shouted one thing, some another. And when he could not learn the truth on account of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. 35. And when he came to the steps, it happened that he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd. 36. For the multitude of the people followed, crying: Away with him! 37. As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune: May I say something to you? He said: You know Greek? 38. Are you not the Egyptian who before these days stirred up a tumult and led out into the desert four thousand sicarii? 39. And Paul said to him: I am indeed a Jewish man from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. I beg you, permit me to speak to the people. 40. And when he had given permission, Paul, standing on the steps, beckoned with his hand to the people, and when there was a great silence, he addressed them in the Hebrew tongue, saying:
Verse 1: Having Torn Ourselves From Them; To Cos; Rhodes
1. HAVING TORN OURSELVES FROM THEM, — ἀποσπασθέντες, that is, torn away from them, as a father is torn from his dearest children; who therefore followed him and the ship cleaving the sea with their eyes as far as their sight could reach: so Arator.
TO COS. — Cos, Coa and Cea, is an island of the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea, distinct from Chios. For between Chios and Cos lies Samos. Furthermore, Cos was the homeland of Hippocrates, prince of physicians, and of Apelles, prince of painters. Some think that Solomon bought noble horses from Coa; for the Hebrew has de Coa, 3 Kings 10:28. But that will be examined there.
RHODES. — A well-known island, in the previous century, in the year of the Lord 1522, wrested from the Christians by Selim, Emperor of the Turks; of which Pliny, book II, ch. 62, asserts that there is never a day so cloudy on it that the sun does not appear. Whence on it a colossus, or statue of the Sun made of bronze, was erected one hundred and five feet high, so that many could not embrace its thumb. Wherefore this colossus was one of the seven wonders of the world, of which Pliny treats in book 34, ch. 7. Hence from this colossus some have thought that the Rhodians are called Colossians, and that they were the ones to whom Paul wrote his epistle; but falsely, as I have said in that place.
Verse 3: When We Had Come in Sight of Cyprus
3. WHEN WE HAD COME IN SIGHT OF CYPRUS, — ἀναφανέντες δὲ τὴν Κύπρον, that is, opening up or uncovering Cyprus, that is, when Cyprus began to be opened up and to appear to us. It is a hypallage common in many languages, because to those sailing the land seems now to open up and approach, now to hide itself and recede; for one sailing in a ship is at rest, and so does not feel himself moving and advancing, whence he thinks the rest is moving.
Verse 4: Who Told Paul Through the Spirit Not to Go Up to Jerusalem
4. WHO TOLD PAUL THROUGH THE SPIRIT (prophetic) NOT TO GO UP TO JERUSALEM. — That is, they were telling Paul, by the prophetic spirit, that if he went to Jerusalem he would be captured there. They were therefore urging him, out of their own spirit, by which they loved him and his safety, not to go up there; otherwise the Holy Spirit willed him to proceed there and to be captured there, so that, being captured, he might be sent to Rome. So Lyranus.
Verse 5: All of Them Escorting Us With Wives and Children
5. ALL OF THEM ESCORTING US WITH WIVES AND CHILDREN. — Here is fulfilled the oracle of Psalm 44:3, concerning the access of Tyre to the Church, says Bede: "The daughters of Tyre with gifts; all the rich of the people shall entreat thy countenance," etc. For no city received, kept, and sent off the Apostle with greater sweetness. Indeed, the place is shown to this day in the sands where they prayed together with Paul, which the Christians religiously venerate as a monument of the piety of their Tyrian forefathers.
Verse 8: Philip the Evangelist
8. PHILIP THE EVANGELIST. — Not because he wrote a Gospel, but because he preached the Gospel, who was one of the first seven Deacons. See what was said in chapter 8.
Verse 9: He Had Four Virgin Daughters Who Prophesied
9. NOW THIS MAN HAD FOUR VIRGIN DAUGHTERS WHO PROPHESIED. — For the reward of virginity is wisdom and prophecy, says Oecumenius. So St. Jerome in book I Against Jovinian asserts that the Sibyls deserved prophecy through their virginity, and were therefore called Sibyls, as it were siobulas, because virginity alone knows the counsel of God. Yet Joannes Alba, in Electorum ch. 58, interprets these prophesying virgins as celebrating divine praises, as Nuns now do; for the condition of these latter seems to have begun then. Thus in the books of Kings those who devoted themselves to psalms and divine praises are called "sons of the Prophets." Let virgins rejoice in such holy and ancient leaders of theirs. There were still standing in the age of St. Jerome, at Caesarea, the little house and bedchambers of the daughters of Philip, which St. Paula, on her way to Jerusalem, when she came to Caesarea, visited with pious affection, as he himself testifies in her Epitaph; who also in book I Against Jovinian says: "After the cross of Christ, immediately in the Acts of the Apostles, the single house of Philip the Evangelist produces a four-horse team of virgin daughters, so that Caesarea, in which the Church from the Gentiles had been dedicated through the centurion Cornelius, might also offer examples of virgin maidens." All have been enrolled in the catalogue of holy Virgins. We read in the Menologion that one of them, named Hermione, suffered most grievously under Trajan and rested in the Lord on September 4.
Verse 10: Agabus
10. AGABUS. — This is the prophet who, in chapter 11:28, predicted the famine under the Emperor Claudius.
Verse 11: Binding His Own Feet and Hands; And Will Deliver Him Into the Hands of the Gentiles
11. Binding his own feet and hands. — So Jeremiah, in chapters 13 and 27, by carrying chains and bonds, in fact foreshadowed and prophesied the bonds to be cast upon the Jews and the other nations by the Chaldeans. The same was done by Isaiah in ch. 20, and by Ezekiel in ch. 4 and 12. See what was said there. Note: For sibi the Greek has αυτοῦ; which, if you read with the rough breathing, αὑτοῦ, means sibi (himself), as our [translator] renders; but if you read with the smooth breathing αὐτοῦ, it means ipsi, namely Paul. Hence St. Gregory, hom. 37 on the Gospels, and Dionysius here judge that Agabus bound the hands and feet of Paul, in order to portend and actually represent that he was to be so bound at Jerusalem. Our [translator] rendering sibi means that Agabus bound his own hands, in order to represent in himself Paul and his bonds; perhaps he did both, casting bonds both on Paul and on himself, but successively.
Symbolically: Agabus bound himself rather than Paul, in order to signify that Paul would feel his own labors and torments no more than if he were suffering them in someone else's person, so great was the will with which he was carried to undergo them; and accordingly, judging small whatever ones he came upon, he was burning to take in still greater ones.
AND WILL DELIVER HIM INTO THE HANDS OF THE GENTILES. — As the Jews delivered Christ to the Gentiles, namely to Pilate and the Romans, to be scourged and crucified, so they also delivered Paul to the Gentiles, to the tribune and the Roman governor, and at last to the savage Nero.
Verse 12: Those of That Place
12. THOSE OF THAT PLACE, — οἱ ἐντόπιοι, that is, residents, namely the Christians dwelling at Caesarea.
Verse 13: What Are You Doing Weeping; And Breaking My Heart; For I Am Ready Not Only to Be Bound, But Even to Die
13. What are you doing, weeping? — Therefore with tears they were entreating Paul not to proceed to Jerusalem.
AND BREAKING MY HEART. — In Greek συνθρύπτοντες; the Syriac: pounding; others, crushing; others, breaking, grinding; others, tearing my heart in pieces. Note here the bowels of charity and compassion of St. Paul. "He was beseeching them," says Chrysostom, "grieving over their tears; and he who in his own temptations did not suffer, was grieving out of love, because he saw them weeping; and he complained of being wounded by them, as if they considered him to be ill affected by the dangers that were predicted. Not accustomed to resist the requests of the brethren — as when he allowed himself at Damascus to be let down through a window, when at Ephesus he did not give himself up to the theater, ch. 19:31 — alone he firmly resists, certain of God's will." Thus Christ rebuffed Peter recalling Him from His passion: "Get behind Me, Satan," Matthew 16:23.
FOR I AM READY NOT ONLY TO BE BOUND, BUT EVEN TO DIE IN JERUSALEM, FOR THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS. — This is the voice of the standard-bearer of the faithful and the Martyrs, worthy of Paul, which invites the rest and as it were sounds the trumpet to prisons and martyrdoms. This is the sign of an eminent love, repelling the enemy from itself with a certain just wrath, and indignant against the impediments of perfection, says Abbot Isaias, orat. 21, vol. II of the Library of the Holy Fathers.
Verse 14: And When We Could Not Persuade Him
14. And when we could not persuade him (in the perfected act, that is, succeed in persuading).
Verse 15: Having Prepared Ourselves
15. HAVING PREPARED OURSELVES, — ἀποσκευασάμενοι; Vatablus: with our baggage taken up; Oecumenius: equipped with provisions for the journey and necessities. Add: prepared, that is, resolved to undergo with Paul bonds and death, and whatever God should will us to suffer.
Verse 16: Bringing With Them the One With Whom We Were to Lodge; Mnason
16. BRINGING WITH THEM THE ONE WITH WHOM WE WERE TO LODGE. — Not on the way, as Lyranus wishes, for little of that remained; but at Jerusalem, where, on account of the impending Pentecost, at which the Jews from everywhere flowed together to Jerusalem to the temple, according to the law of Exodus 23:17, there was going to be a scarcity of lodgings; and that we might not be a burden to the faithful, who in Jerusalem, having suffered persecution and plundering of their goods from the Jews, were poor, for whom therefore Paul was carrying a collection of alms.
MNASON. — Others read Jason. See what was said at chapter 17:5.
Verse 17: And When We Had Come to Jerusalem
17. AND WHEN WE HAD COME TO JERUSALEM. — Chrysostom indicates that Paul reached Jerusalem after Pentecost: for he celebrated Pentecost at Caesarea, in order to console the Caesareans who were detaining him and in some measure to comply with them. Baronius more probably judges that Paul reached Jerusalem before Pentecost, both because he himself had certainly destined it so, ch. 20, v. 16; and because he did not yield to the Caesareans wishing to detain him, but strongly resisted; and because Luke carefully enumerates the days from the Passover, in order to signify that Paul kept the fiftieth day, namely Pentecost, at Jerusalem. For in ch. 20:4 he relates that Paul, at Passover, after the seven days of unleavened bread, set sail from Philippi, and in five days reached Troas, and there tarried seven days, and from there in three days came to Miletus, and there having lingered some time, hastened to keep Pentecost at Jerusalem; wherefore departing thence, on the first day he came to Cos, on the second to Rhodes, then Patara, then Tyre, where he spent seven days, then at Ptolemais one day; thence he came to Caesarea, where he stayed several days, and soon proceeded to Jerusalem. Reckon all these days and you will arrive at about 50, so that he kept the fiftieth, that is, Pentecost, at Jerusalem.
Note: Paul arrived at Jerusalem at Pentecost in the year of Christ 58, the 14th of Peter in the Roman See, the 2nd of Nero, in which year likewise the Blessed Virgin Mother of God on August 15 passed from earthly Jerusalem into heaven, as the Church teaches.
Moreover, at the passing of the Blessed Virgin, by the wonderful providence of God, all the Apostles, scattered throughout the whole world, came together, as Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, relates in Nicephorus, book II, ch. 21 and following; Damascene, On the Dormition of the Virgin, and others. There is therefore no doubt that all the Apostles, gathering at Jerusalem to the Virgin, likewise visited Paul, who was already in chains, and they wonderfully consoled one another, recounting in turn their labors and the conversion of all nations. From what has been said it is clear that everything Luke relates from chapter 20 up to chapter 28, the last, was done by Paul in this year of Christ 58. In this year, then, the Blessed Virgin leaves earthly Jerusalem and goes into heaven, while Paul at Jerusalem is delivered into chains, that he may transfer the glory of the Church from Jerusalem and Judea to Rome among the Gentiles. For while the Blessed Virgin was living in Judea, she sustained the glory of the Church there by her life and merits; once she was dead, as if the support had been removed, the Judean Church collapsed.
Some, however, suspect that Paul was present at the dying Virgin. For if it is true, as Juvenal, Damascene, and others soon to be cited relate, that all the other Apostles were brought together to her by miracle from the whole world, why should we deny this to Paul alone, who was near, most loving of the Virgin, and most in need of Her blessing, counsel, and prayers, since he was in chains, soon to go to Rome and contend with Nero? For an Angel could rescue Paul from chains for a short time, just as one rescued Peter, Acts 12:7 and 8, and that imperceptibly, and quickly bring him back. For although Epiphanius, in heresy 78, against the Antidicomarianites celebrating the Blessed Virgin, seems to indicate that She did not die, but was translated like Enoch, or like Elijah in a fiery chariot was caught up alive into heaven, yet it is certain that She underwent death and rose, and then [was assumed] to the heavenly [glory]. For although in the Chronicle of Eusebius it is held that the Blessed Virgin departed from life and earth in the year of Christ 48, in Her 62nd or 63rd year, yet this cannot be true, because St. Dionysius, in book I On the Divine Names, ch. III, writes that he was present at Her funeral with Hierotheus. But Dionysius, in the year of Christ 48, had not yet seen Paul, and so was not yet converted. For Paul came to Athens in the year of Christ 52; and went up to Jerusalem in the year of Christ 58, when St. Dionysius seems to have accompanied him there and to have been present at the Virgin's funeral. For although it is probable that Paul also earlier, namely in the year of Christ 54, had gone up to Jerusalem, as I said in ch. 18:22, yet that was only a sudden excursion, and one still uncertain and doubtful. Wherefore Cedrenus in his Compendium, on Tiberius; Epiphanius the Presbyter, sermon On the Mother of God; Baronius, year of Christ 48, ch. IV; Suarez, III part., Quaest. 37, art. 2, disp. 21, sect. 1; Canisius and Christopher a Castro, in the History of the Mother of God, hold that the Blessed Virgin departed in the year of Christ 58, in Her 72nd year, which was the 24th year from the Passion of Christ, on August 13, and rose on the third day, namely August 18: although some, but few, hold that She died on August 13 and rose on the 15th, but glorious both in body and in soul She was assumed by the Angels, indeed by Christ Her Son, with triumph into heaven, and there, placed on a throne above all the orders of the Angels next to Her Son, was crowned Queen of heaven and earth. And this was the reason why the Holy Spirit impelled Paul to hasten to Jerusalem, namely that before Her death and departure into heaven he might greet Her and commend to Her his Churches and his struggles, especially those which he was soon to undergo at Rome with Nero and with Simon Magus. Yet he could not be present at Her dying, inasmuch as a little after his arrival at Jerusalem, namely a little after Pentecost, having been seized by the Jews in the temple, he was passing his time in chains.
Verse 18: Paul Went In With Us to James; And All the Elders Were Gathered; When He Had Greeted Them
18. PAUL WENT IN WITH US TO JAMES. — "He paid deference," says Chrysostom, "to the Episcopal dignity which James, the brother of the Lord, bore at Jerusalem, and to the eminent sanctity and authority in which he was strong." Hence Paul did the same, Galatians 1:18 and Acts 15:2. James here, after a few — namely five — years, that is, in the 7th year of Nero, having most holily ruled the Church of Jerusalem for 30 or rather 29 years, was hurled from the pinnacle of the temple and struck with a fuller's club, and fell as a martyr, say Bede, Eusebius in the Chronicle, and others: namely, the Jews vented upon James, who was present to them, the wrath they had conceived against Paul, since he had appealed to Caesar and at Rome had been released by him as a free man.
AND ALL THE ELDERS WERE GATHERED, — both in age, but rather in dignity and order, namely Presbyters, as the Greek has it. No council was celebrated here, for nothing was here defined; but it was merely an assembly of those greeting Paul and congratulating him on his arrival. Improperly therefore does Bede say that this was the fourth council; for the first was convened in the election of St. Matthias, Acts 1:15; the second, in the election and ordination of the seven Deacons, ch. 6, v. 2; the third, and properly so called, in the question concerning observance of the legal rites, Acts 15:6; the fourth in this place.
When he had greeted them. — The Syriac: we gave them peace. For the greeting of the Hebrews, and from them of the Christians, was: "Peace be with thee, peace be with you." For peace among the Hebrews signifies every good.
Verse 20: How Many Thousands; And All Are Zealous for the Law
20. How many thousands. — In Greek μυριάδες. A myriad contains ten thousand. But here it is taken loosely, and signifies many thousands; for the first Christians, by Peter and the Apostles preaching most effectively in Judea for several years, were converted Jews, and very many of them, as is plain from ch. 2, v. 41, and ch. 4, v. 4. Hence it is clear that God did not so reject the Jews that He did not choose and save many of them.
AND ALL ARE ZEALOUS FOR THE LAW, — Calmet; the Tigurine: studious, followers; that is to say, the Jews, having been converted to Christ, contend with great zeal for Moses and the Law, and for its honor and observance; but they fear lest, by you and your discourses, it should be neglected and abolished; and so they themselves should be despised and trampled upon by those converted from the Gentiles to Christ, since these are now superior in number and dignity. St. James pleads the cause of the Jews, as their Pastor and Bishop. For although the Law of Moses was already dead for 24 years — namely from the first Pentecost, in which the new law was promulgated in the year of Christ 34, soon after His Passion and Resurrection — yet it was not yet mortal (i.e., death-bringing). Hence it could still be observed by the Jews as honorable and religious, and given by God; even though it now obliged no one; so that the Jews should not be forbidden from it as if it were impious, nor in turn the Gentiles compelled to it as if necessary, says St. Augustine, epist. 19.
Verse 21: That You Teach Departure From Moses; They Ought Not to Circumcise Their Sons; Nor to Walk According to the Custom
21. THAT YOU TEACH DEPARTURE FROM MOSES OF THE JEWS WHO ARE AMONG THE GENTILES. — Clearly the Tigurine version: that you teach defection from Moses to all the Jews who are among the Gentiles. This the Jews remaining in Judaism, and therefore enemies of Paul, were spreading about Paul; but falsely: for nowhere did Paul forbid the Jews to be circumcised and to keep the Law of Moses; nay rather, he himself had circumcised Timothy, Acts 16:3, and had taken the vow of a Nazirite, Acts 18:18. Hence in Greek for departure is ἀποστασίαν. They therefore call Paul an apostate from the Law, as Ebion the heresiarch called him — indeed the inciter and father of apostates — as if he were condemning the Law as sacrilegious. The occasion of this calumny was that Paul exalted Christ and the grace of Christ, and by that tacitly disparaged Moses and the Law, teaching that we are justified by the grace of Christ, not by the Law of Moses; for that was only its shadow and preamble.
THEY OUGHT NOT (that is, are not permitted) TO CIRCUMCISE THEIR SONS, — because circumcision has been abolished through Christ.
NOR TO WALK ACCORDING TO THE CUSTOM. — The Tigurine version: nor to live according to the institutions, or ancestral and Jewish customs; that is to say, they have heard that you do not observe the rites instituted and handed down by the fathers.
Verse 22: What Then Is the Matter; Surely the Multitude Must Come Together
22. What then is the matter? — What counsel? What needs to be done?
SURELY THE MULTITUDE MUST COME TOGETHER, FOR THEY WILL HEAR THAT YOU HAVE COME. — That is to say: surely the multitude of Jews zealous for the Law will come together, in order to inquire, complain, and accuse concerning you and your statements against the Law, and perhaps to maltreat and punish you, unless you forestall them and show yourself zealous for the Law.
Verse 23: Having a Vow
23. Having a vow — of a Nazirite, whose terminus and consummation was sanctification, that is, the shaving of the hair, lustration, and offering of sacrifice, according to the law, Numbers 6:13 and following. St. Jerome, epist. 11 to Augustine, adds the bare-footedness. Some, however, by vow understand the vow of sacrificing, as I shall say below.
Verse 24: Sanctify Yourself; And Pay the Expense for Them That They May Shave Their Heads
24. SANCTIFY YOURSELF, — ἁγνίσθητι, that is, purify yourself in the manner already mentioned and more fully to be stated. James and the other Jerusalemites had already heard before that Paul had taken the Nazirite vow. So Baronius and others, who hold that this vow was familiar to Paul, frequent, and as it were continuous, and that therefore he abstained from wine perpetually.
AND PAY THE EXPENSE FOR THEM THAT THEY MAY SHAVE THEIR HEADS. — The Syriac: for them. Hence Cajetan judges that Paul here was not a Nazirite, nor was discharging a Nazirite vow: for he had recently arrived, and no mention is made of any vow of his; Paul therefore only joined himself to the Nazirites, made expenses on their behalf, and as it were presented them as their sponsor in the temple. For by this very thing he publicly declared himself to be the sponsor and patron of the Nazirites, of Judaism, and of the Jews. But Lyranus and others judge that Paul here also was a Nazirite and was fulfilling his own vow; and this is hinted at by the words sanctify yourself with them. Paul therefore made this vow, Acts 18:18. If you say he fulfilled it in Acts 18:22, as I hinted there, it is necessary [to say otherwise].
You ask: what was this purification of Paul? Vatablus and others judge that it was a vow of nazirite-ship, which he discharged here: for this vow could be made on any day, and could even be restricted to a single day, and at other times completed over many. What he therefore says, "expend on them," means with them, or rather on behalf of them (for this is what the Greek ἐπί signifies), so that you may all the more show yourself to be zealous for the law and its rites and legal observances. Perhaps also the others were poor, so that Paul was obliged to defray the expenses for them, as Cajetan and Vatablus think. For impende, the Greek has δαπάνησον, that is, make the outlay, expend, pay. Furthermore these expenses were necessary, both "that they might shave their heads," whence Arias renders it, expend ritual outlays for the washing and shearing of the hair; and consequently for the buying and offering of the victims prescribed at the shaving of the Nazirites by the law, Num. vi, 12 and 14. Note here how long the observance of the law endured after its abolition, namely 24 years. For these things were done in the year of Christ 58, as I have said in the Chronotaxis: in that year, therefore, the law, though dead, was not yet death-bringing, in such a way that one who observed it would sin.
Verse 25: Now Concerning Those of the Gentiles Who Have Believed; That They Abstain From What Is Sacrificed to Idols
25. NOW CONCERNING THOSE OF THE GENTILES WHO HAVE BELIEVED. — He meets an objection: lest Paul object the scandal of the Gentiles — namely, that they, by his example, would suppose that they too were bound to keep the legal observances — he teaches, or rather reminds them, that it had already been written to them that they were not bound by the law of Moses, and were ordered only to abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, as Paul knew, since he had been present at this decree, and indeed had been its occasion, Acts ch. xv.
THAT THEY ABSTAIN THEMSELVES FROM WHAT IS SACRIFICED TO IDOLS. — In the Greek, from idolothyte, namely from the flesh and food offered and sacrificed to idols. See what is said at chapter xv, verses 20 and 29.
Verse 26: Then Paul, Having Taken the Men; On the Following Day, Being Purified; Announcing the Completion of the Days of Purification
26. THEN PAUL, HAVING TAKEN THE MEN. — Note here Paul's readiness in immediately yielding to the counsels of St. James, and his zeal not only for avoiding scandal but also for conciliating the Jews to himself. Thus he became all things to all men, that he might gain all. Moreover St. Chrysostom, in his fifth homily On Paul's Praises, observes his prudence, by which, according to place and time, he varies his manner of life, and as if ambidextrous, now lives and acts as a Jew, now as a Gentile. So Homer at the beginning of the Odyssey celebrates the resourcefulness of Ulysses, and calls him ἄνδρα πολύτροπον, that is, a versatile man, who according to the demands of circumstances, places, and times, knew how to turn and adjust himself in every direction, and to yield and accommodate himself to every people, person, place, and time. This gift is required in an Apostolic man.
ON THE FOLLOWING DAY, BEING PURIFIED, HE ENTERED WITH THEM INTO THE TEMPLE. — Vatablus says: feigning that he had completed the time of his nazirite-ship, as if Paul had not truly made the vow of the Nazirite, but only pretended to have done so in order to satisfy the Jews. But this would have been a lie, which is far from Paul — as St. Augustine, in epistle 19, rightly argues against St. Jerome, who asserts that Paul only pretendedly rebuked Peter (Gal. ii, 11).
Others, like Sanchez, more plainly and probably judge that this purification was so called in the strict sense; for thus does Luke always call it in the Greek here — namely, that Paul, having a vow of nazirite-ship, was polluted by contact with a dead body, and purified himself from this legal uncleanness. For this is what the word purified properly signifies, and the law prescribes this purification (Num. vi, 10). There it also appoints him seven days, and Paul devotes the same number to it here (vers. 27). For the same reason Paul shaved his head at Cenchrea (Acts xviii, 18). The sense, therefore, is: Paul, polluted by a funeral, purified himself from this pollution by immediately shaving his head; thus purified, he went to the temple, in order there to announce and to complete the remaining seven days of his purification, prescribed by the law of Num. vi, 9. Otherwise, if by purification you take the vow of nazirite-ship itself, there will be ambiguity in the word purified. For here it means a lustration; presently, when he says, "Announcing the completion of the days of his purification," it will signify the vow itself. The Syriac favors this, which at vers. 23, for having a vow upon themselves, renders, bound by a vow that they should be cleansed. Whence it seems to follow that these four Nazirites, Paul's companions, were as he was purified from a similar legal uncleanness, but did not complete the Nazirite vow. The same is gathered from what follows: "He announced the completion of the days of his purification, until an offering should be presented for each one of them," namely in the prescribed purification: therefore all of them were impure and polluted, and so to be purified.
ANNOUNCING THE COMPLETION OF THE DAYS OF PURIFICATION. — Concerning this announcement we read of nothing prescribed in Num. vi. Hence Sanchez judges it uncertain what kind of announcement it was, and whether it was made by Paul to the Jews, as though he were announcing to them his legal purification from Nazirite pollution, in order to show them that he did not despise the Mosaic law but kept it; or to the Nazirites, as his companions, that he was announcing his vow; or finally to the priests: which last view others commonly hold. For to the priests pertained the purifications and ceremonies of the Nazirite-ship, inasmuch as these were to be completed in the Nazirites through them. Now if you take by purification the vow of nazirite-ship, its completion is properly understood as an act perfected and finished, that is: Announcing his vow to be completed, and requesting that the ceremonies and offerings be made for him which are prescribed in the discharge of this vow, Num. vi, 13, where it is said: "When the days, which he had decreed by vow (the Nazirite), shall be fulfilled, the priest shall bring him to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, and he shall offer his oblation to the Lord, a lamb of one year," etc. And vers. 18: "Then let the Nazirite be shaved before the door of the tabernacle of the covenant of the long hair of his consecration; and his hair shall be taken and put upon the fire, which is laid under the sacrifice of the peace-offerings." His hair, then, as something sacred, was offered like a victim through the fire, and was burnt to God along with the peace-offering. Whence what follows: "Until it should be offered," should be expounded thus: Until the oblation should be offered, or so that it should be offered, for "each one of them." So Mariana.
From this exposition draw morally that our nazirite-ship — namely the religious state — is a state of unceasing purification and sanctification; and consequently religious must, until the end of their vow and of their life, devote themselves continually to the purification of heart and affections. But if you take purification in the strict sense, for the expiation of legal uncleanness, its completion must be understood as an act begun in this present time, but to be completed in the future — that is, Announcing that the seven days of purification prescribed in Num. vi, 9, must be completed by him, where it is said: "But if any one shall have died suddenly before him, the head of his consecration shall be defiled; and he shall shave it forthwith on the same day of his purification, and again on the seventh; and on the eighth day he shall offer two turtle-doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the covenant of testimony, and the priest shall make (sacrifice) one for sin, and the other for a holocaust, and shall pray for him, because he has sinned upon the dead, and shall sanctify his head on that day, and shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation, offering a lamb of one year for sin." And this is the offering of which Luke says: "until the oblation should be offered for each one of them," that is, Paul remained in the temple with the four Nazirite companions for seven days, until on the eighth day the offering prescribed by the law should be made for them: so Vatablus. What I say, in the temple, understand to mean near the temple, in the buildings and chambers attached to the temple: for no one could enter the temple except one who was pure. Hence for the impure there was a courtyard before the temple, in which they remained until they were purified. This latter view seems truer, as I have shown a little earlier.
Verse 27: And While the Seven Days Were Being Accomplished
27. AND WHILE THE SEVEN DAYS WERE BEING ACCOMPLISHED. — In an act in progress, or rather just begun, not perfected — that is, while they were proceeding, or rather beginning to be accomplished: for they were not yet accomplished, as will soon appear. Hence the Greek has ὡς δὲ ἔμελλον αἱ ἑπτὰ ἡμέραι συντελεῖσθαι, that is, when it was about to be that the seven days should be filled, or when they were beginning to be filled: for μέλλω is often the same as I begin, as I shall show at James ii, 12; although the Syriac takes it in an act almost perfected, and renders, when the seventh day had come; but less truly. For Paul, captured a little later, was sent to Caesarea, and remained there five days (cap. xxiv, vers. 1); these having elapsed, when led to the tribunal of the Governor (cap. 24, vers. 11), he says: "It is not more than twelve days for me, since I went up to worship in Jerusalem." For from Jerusalem to Caesarea it is a journey of two days. Add seven, five, and two, you will have 14 days, not 12. Therefore it must be said that Paul, when he said this, had not accomplished and completed the seven days, but had only begun to complete them, so that the third day from his arrival in Jerusalem was now in progress, which was the first day of Paul's purification, on which, as he was beginning it, he was immediately captured. For add three, five, two and two others, of which I shall speak presently, and you will have precisely twelve days, which Paul here assigns. So Bede. Furthermore some begin these seven days from Paul's arrival in Jerusalem, so Lyranus and Vatablus. Others, and better, from the beginning of Paul's purification: for this, as I said, lasted seven days; so Bede, the Gloss, Dionysius, and Sanchez.
Thirdly, some here extricate themselves very easily, by saying that these vows and purifications were not those of nazirite-ship, or similar ones sanctioned by the law, but were others peculiar, introduced by the devotion of the people and the tradition of the elders. That such existed among the Jews is clear from Josephus, book II Of the War, chapter xv, where, treating of Berenice, sister of king Agrippa: "She had come," he says, "to Jerusalem, to fulfill vows to God. For those who are involved in sickness or other necessities have the custom of praying for thirty days before they sacrifice victims; and also of abstaining from wine and shaving their hair. Practicing this custom in those days, the queen even stood barefoot before the tribunal, beseeching Florus." These words of Josephus correspond almost exactly with these of Luke, and according to them you may explain Luke's words thus: Paul made a vow of sacrificing, or of offering victims: therefore, according to the rite of the elders, he purified himself, that is, shaved his head, and went up daily to the temple to pray to God, announcing the completion of the days of this his purification, so that, when these were completed, he might offer to God the sacrifice he had vowed. Nor does it matter that Josephus numbers thirty days of purification, but Luke seven; because since this number of days depended on each one's devotion, it could be shortened on account of occupations or other necessities, especially to seven, which was sacred and frequent among the Jews because of the religion of the Sabbath; and so Paul, occupied with the preaching of the Gospel, had shortened them to seven.
This therefore is the series and chronological order of what was done: Paul arrived at Jerusalem; the next day he visited James; he urged purification; Paul immediately complied, and on the following day, as it is said in vers. 26, having entered the temple for the sake of purification, he is there seized: hence he was captured on the third day from his arrival to Jerusalem; on the following day, namely the fourth, as is clear from vers. 30, Paul pleads his cause in the council; the following night he is comforted by Christ, cap. xxiii, vers. 11; in the morning, namely on the fifth day, the Jews conspire against his life, ibid. vers. 12. Therefore the tribune, vers. 23, on the following night sent him to Antipatris, which was 17 hours' distance from Jerusalem; thence Paul arrived on the sixth day toward evening; and on the following day, which was the seventh, he reached Caesarea (for this was distant only eight hours from Antipatris), cap. xxiii, vers. 32; after five days the High Priest, having come to Caesarea, accuses Paul before the governor, cap. 24, vers. 1. Paul, among other things, responds at vers. 11, that he had come to Jerusalem twelve days before. Count then the seven days already enumerated, and the five for the High Priest's coming, and you will have precisely twelve, which Paul assigns: and therefore in the verses just cited, Luke separately arranges them in the manner I have just enumerated, in order to show that Paul spoke the truth, and that it was precisely twelve days.
Verse 28: He Brought Gentiles Into the Temple
28. HE BROUGHT GENTILES INTO THE TEMPLE. — For the Jews abhorred the Gentiles as foreigners, idolaters and unclean; even if they had been converted from heathenism to Christianity, as this Trophimus was, they nonetheless reckoned them under the name and reproach of Gentiles, indeed hated them all the worse, as outright enemies of Judaism: hence it was a capital crime for a Gentile to enter the temple, as Josephus testifies in book V of the Antiquities, chapter xiv. He calls "Temple" here not the Sanctuary: for that was permitted only to the priests to enter; much less the Holy of Holies: for that lay open to the High Priest alone, and that only once a year, namely on the Day of Atonement; but the court of the laity, which lay open to the sky in front of the Sanctuary and the court of the priests, from which the people watched the priests praying and sacrificing in their own court. Furthermore, before this court of the Jews, the outermost court was added for Gentiles and the unclean: they alone could enter that; which therefore was not regarded as a sacred place, but as profane.
Verse 30: They Were Dragging Him Out of the Temple; And Immediately the Gates Were Shut
30. THEY WERE DRAGGING HIM OUT OF THE TEMPLE. — In order that they might more freely and boldly kill him, lest they pollute the temple with his blood, says Chrysostom. You will say: In the temple there is the right of asylum, so that it is not lawful to drag a defendant from it, unless he be a treacherous person, a homicide, or a public robber, or a public devastator of fields, as is held in the chapter Immunitatem, Extrav. de Immun.; by what right then did the Jews drag Paul from the temple? I reply: The right of asylum from immunity, in canon and civil law, is proper to the temple of the new law, not the old, as Abulensis teaches against the Canonists in chapter xxi of Exodus, Question XVI; for nowhere in the Old Scripture is there any sanction of this temple immunity. Yet out of reverence for the temple, they did not wish to wound or kill Paul there. Add to this, they thought that Paul had violated the sanctity of the temple by bringing into it the Gentile Trophimus, and was therefore as it were unworthy of it, and ought to be dragged out. Furthermore the temple, defiled by murder or some other crime, was expiated by the common rite once a year on the Day of Atonement, Levit. xvi, 15 and following, unless idolatry had been committed in it: for then it had to be expiated immediately, and it was not lawful to sacrifice in it before the expiation, as is gathered from IV Kings cap. xxiii, vers. 4, and II Chron. xxix, 3.
AND IMMEDIATELY THE GATES WERE SHUT. — Lest in this tumult the Gentiles should burst into the temple, as if to liberate and defend Paul, or the Gentile Trophimus (on whose account the Jews had stirred up the sedition); and lest in this tumult some slaughter should be committed in the temple. Differently Arias: for he judges that the gates of the temple were closed by divine intervention, so that Paul, still remaining in it, might be kept safe and not be killed by the surging crowd of the raging populace. If this were true, it would assuredly have been a great miracle, as also a patronage of God over Paul.
Verse 31: Is Thrown Into Confusion
31. IS THROWN INTO CONFUSION. — συγκέχυται, is mixed together, is disturbed.
Verse 32: He Ran Down to Them
32. HE RAN DOWN TO THEM. — Namely, from the elevated citadel into the temple lying below it, where Paul was being dragged by the Jews to be killed. This citadel was not on Sion, as Cajetan would have it, but was the tower Antonia, which Adrichomius, in his Description of Jerusalem, describes thus from Josephus and others: "The Antonia, a very strong and fortified citadel, lying on the north side of the temple, which was once built by Hyrcanus the Maccabee on a rock fifty cubits high and steep on every side, and was called the tower Barris. The Pontiffs descended from the Maccabees inhabited it down to Herod's time: where, in a cell built for this very purpose, the sacred stole of the High Priest was kept, the prefect of the citadel daily lighting a lamp there. Herod the Great, having gained the kingdom, when he perceived this citadel was situated in a convenient place for restraining the citizens, lest they should plot any new disturbances by sedition, restored it at great expense; and within he formed a magnificent royal residence, after the fashion of a palace and a city, and fortified it at the four corners with four lofty towers (of which three rose fifty cubits, and the fourth seventy), from which the whole temple could be seen; and he named it Antonia in honor of M. Antony the triumvir, his friend. In it Roman soldiers with arms were always on watch, observing lest the people on festal days should commit anything new in the temple. And thus the temple was a citadel for the city, and the Antonia a fortress for the temple." The same is found in Aristeas, in his book on the 72 Interpreters; Hegesippus, book I On the Destruction of Jerusalem, chap. vi, and others.
Verse 33: With Two Chains
33. WITH TWO CHAINS. — One bound the hands, the other the feet of Paul, as Agabus had foretold to him, vers. 11.
Verse 34: Into the Barracks
34. INTO THE BARRACKS. — These "barracks" were the Roman garrison in the citadel Antonia, of which I have already spoken. Hence the Greek has εἰς τὴν παρεμβολήν, that is, into the place divided into common quarters and stations and tents of soldiers.
Verse 35: The Steps
35. THE STEPS. — By which one went up into the citadel Antonia.
Verse 36: Away With Him
36. AWAY WITH HIM. — Thus the Jews cried out against Christ, John xix, 15; no wonder, then, if they cry out the same against Paul, who breathed nothing but Christ. Chrysostom and Oecumenius say that some explain it thus: "Hurl him in upon the standards," that is, upon the spears and swords of the soldiers gathered together under the standards in the citadel.
Verse 38: Are You Not That Egyptian; Four Thousand; Of the Assassins
38. ARE YOU NOT THAT EGYPTIAN, WHO BEFORE THESE DAYS STIRRED UP A TUMULT? — Namely, three years before, that is in the 13th year of the emperor Claudius, the year of Christ 55, for these things are being said and done by the tribune in the year of Christ 58, the 2nd of Nero: so Eusebius, in his Chronicle, who also in book II of his History, chap. xxi, from Josephus, book XX of the Antiquities, chap. xx, describes this Egyptian thus: "At the same time," he says, "a certain man came from Egypt to Jerusalem, professing himself to be a prophet, and persuading the populace to follow him up Mount Olivet, which is five stadia distant from the city in front of it: for there they would see, at his bidding, the walls of Jerusalem fall, so that through their ruins access to the city would be open. When this became known, Felix ordered the soldiers to take arms; and bursting forth, surrounded by many cavalry and infantry, he attacked the crowd seduced by the Egyptian: of whom four hundred were killed and two hundred taken alive: the Egyptian himself, having escaped from the battle, vanished. After these things, robbers again incited the people to rebel against the Romans, declaring that their dominion must be shaken off, and they would burn down the villages of those who did not consent."
Furthermore the Egyptians of old had a bad reputation, as authors of evil arts. Hence the proverb: "The Egyptians weave amazing contrivances," said of the cunning, and as Plautus says, of stitched-together deceits. And: "The Lydians wicked, after these the Egyptians second, and thirdly the Carians, the worst of all." And: "Egyptian weddings" were called inauspicious and unhappy. Taken from the fable of Egyptus, who gave his fifty sons in marriage to as many daughters of his brother: but they, except one, were all murdered by their brides. So even now those vagabonds whom the Italians call Cingaros (Gypsies), who, by divining each one's fortune, empty the purse, are called Egyptians, and boast that they came from Egypt.
FOUR THOUSAND. — So many he had led out of Egypt at the beginning, but, as is wont to happen, with the crowd flowing in, the number of the brigands grew to thirty thousand, as Josephus and Eusebius, already cited, narrate.
OF THE ASSASSINS. — So called those who carried daggers, for slaughtering others secretly, covertly, and expeditiously. For the sica was a shorter but sharper sword, so called from secando (cutting), as if seca. Whence Cicero, in his second and third oration against Catiline: "No longer," he says, "will that dagger be wielded among our flanks, no longer shall we fear it in the field, in the forum, in the senate, nor finally within our household walls." Behold again Paul made like Christ. For Christ, set side by side with Barabbas, was crucified among robbers as if a robber: so Paul is here reckoned an assassin, indeed the leader of the assassins.
Verse 39: From Tarsus of Cilicia; No Mean City; A Freeman of a Municipality
39. FROM TARSUS OF CILICIA. — For there is another Tarsus in Bithynia, another in India. Tarsus was once called Tersus, either because there first after the Flood the dry land appeared; or because there Pegasus fell with a broken ankle, which they call ταρσὸν, and contracted lameness: so Stephanus, book On Cities; or from the array of oars and rowers, which the Greeks call ταρσόν. For Tarsus, being a maritime city, abounded in rowers and ships. Hence in the Scriptures the ships of Tarshish are celebrated.
NO MEAN [CITY]. — That is, well known, celebrated. It is a μείωσις (litotes), for Tarsus was the metropolis of Cilicia: so Stephanus, book On Cities; but now it is far more celebrated, because we owe to it the Apostle Paul.
A FREEMAN OF A MUNICIPALITY. — In modern usage, that is a citizen; the Syriac: in which I was born. Municeps from munus (office, gift), as if munus capiens (one who takes office), was properly said of one who, having been received into Roman citizenship, became a sharer in the offices, such as were the Tusculans, Tiburtines, Praenestines, Arpinates, etc., who were not allowed to hold magistracies, but only a part of office. So Festus. "They are called municipes, because they undertake civil offices," says Paulus, in his book Munus, in the Digest, On the Meaning of Words and Things. Later, however, by abuse of language, the citizens of any city were called municipes, as Ulpian says in book 1, Digest, On Municipal Affairs. Paul says this, as if to say: I am not that Egyptian leader of the assassins, as you suppose, tribune; for I am from Tarsus, and consequently a Roman municeps and citizen.
Verse 40: He Addressed Them
40. HE ADDRESSED THEM. — St. Chrysostom rightly marvels here at Paul's great spirit, who, in so great a tumult and danger, present to himself, undisturbed, lofty and upright, as one trusting in his innocence and his cause, and leaning upon God, delivered to the raging populace a discourse so apt, indeed so well-composed, that he was heard with the wonderful silence of all; surely "the just is bold as a lion," and he says with the Psalmist: "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? If armies in camp should stand against me, my heart shall not fear. If a battle should rise up against me, in this will I trust," Psalm xxvi, 1; surely Paul was saying: "To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."
Again behold here Paul's heart burning with love of his own people, although most ungrateful and most hostile to him, since amid such injuries he still thinks of the salvation of the Jews, if he might at least gain and save some for Christ. Hence he wished to become anathema from Christ for them, Rom. ix, 1.
Thirdly, see how great was Paul's zeal for the divine honor, for propagating the name and Church of Christ, and for amplifying His majesty and glory. For even in the midst of chains and tumults and the very agony of death, he cannot keep silent but proclaims, celebrates, and glorifies Jesus Christ to the utmost of his strength, even though all his hearers should resist and shout him down.
Finally, Paul was captured around Pentecost, as I have said at vers. 17, and perhaps on the very feast of Pentecost — to which he alluded when he said in cap. xx, vers. 22: "Behold, bound in the spirit I am going to Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit testifies that bonds and tribulations await me at Jerusalem," that is: The Holy Spirit binds and impels me to Jerusalem, that on His feast — namely Pentecost — I might be bound in chains for Him. Hence, just as St. Peter twenty-four years before, on the first Christian Pentecost, delivered the first sermon to the people (Acts ii), so on the same feast Paul here delivers his; but with a different cause and outcome. For Peter, on account of the wonders of Pentecost, had hearers most capable and benevolent, and so by the force of the Spirit and a fiery tongue immediately converted three thousand persons; but Paul preached to enemies most hostile to him, demanding his death: hence he reaped no other fruit than that, by throwing clothes and dust at him, they cried out: Away with him from the earth; for it is not fitting that he should live.