LESSON 35
EXCITING EXPERIENCES IN JERUSALEM
"In the huge mass of evil as it rolls and swells, there is ever some good working toward deliverance and triumph."
At Headquarters.
At Jerusalem, Paul and his companions met with the Church and undoubtedly gave the money that had been given by the Gentile churches for the benefit of the poor in Judea. At the advice of James, the brother of the Lord, who was then presiding over the Church in Jerusalem, Paul shaved his head, and did certain other things to show the Jews that he was willing to observe the Jewish laws.
Falsely Accused.
When he had been in Jerusalem about a week, he went to the temple to worship. There happened to be also in the temple, some men who had seen Paul in Asia with the Gentiles. Thinking that he had brought some of these Gentiles into the temple, they stirred up the people, seized Paul, and cried 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 place."
Of course, this was not true, but it served to arouse the crowd, who dragged Paul out of the temple and shut the doors. In their rage they were about to kill Paul, which they would have done but for the timely interference of a Roman officer.
Stationed in the castle north of the temple was a guard of soldiers under command of an officer called the "Chief Captain."
Rescued From Death.
When somebody told the captain, whose name was Claudius Lysius, that there was trouble in the outer court of the temple, he hurried the soldiers down there just as the mob began to beat and trample Paul to death. The soldiers rescued Paul; but the captain thinking he was a desperate man, commanded him to be bound with chains.
"Who is this man, and what has he done?" Claudius asked of the angry Jews.
Some cried one thing and some another in such confusion that the chief captain could understand nothing; so he said to the soldiers, "Carry him to the castle."
On the Castle Steps.
As the soldiers bore Paul away, the mob, acting like wolves after their prey, followed, crying, "Away with him." Just as they were going up the steps into the castle, Paul speaking in Greek said to the chief captain, "May I speak unto thee?"
"Canst thou speak Greek?" answered the captain, "Aren't you that Egyptian who sometime ago made an uproar here and led out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?"
"I am a Jew from Tarsus," answered Paul, "a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city, I beseech thee let me speak unto the people."
Hoping to learn something about the cause of the uproar the chief captain gave his consent.
Paul turned to the people and beckoned for them to be quiet. Their yelling ceased, especially when they heard Paul speak in Hebrew, their own language.[[1]]
The Word "Gentiles."
The Jews listened to him quietly until he happened to mention the word "Gentiles," then they cried, "Away with such a fellow from the earth; for it is not fit that he should live."
In their anger, they took off their coats and threw dust in the air to show how they hated him.
Ordered Whipped.
Being still in doubt as to what Paul had done, the chief captain ordered him brought into the castle and whipped until Paul told why the Jews cried so against him. As they were binding him to beat him, Paul said to the centurion who stood by.
"Is it lawful for you to whip a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?"
When the centurion heard this, he hurried to the chief captain saying, "Take heed what thou doest; for this man is a Roman." Then the chief captain came and said to Paul,
"Tell me, art thou a Roman?"
"Yes," answered Paul.
"With a great sum obtained I this freedom," said Claudius.
"But I was a free born Roman," proudly answered Paul.
When they heard this, those who were going to torture him hurried away from him, and the chief captain, too, was troubled; for he knew he had no right to put chains on a Roman citizen who had not had a fair trial.