Acts 21:38 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?"

NIV: "Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago?"

NASB: Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?'

CSB: Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt some time ago and led four thousand men of the Assassins into the wilderness?"

NLT: Aren’t you the Egyptian who led a rebellion some time ago and took 4,000 members of the Assassins out into the desert?'

KJV: Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?

NKJV: Are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?”

Paul is buffeted amidst false charges, slanderous accusations, and mistaken identity. Legalists falsely claim he teaches Jewish Christians they do not need to be circumcised (Acts 21:20–21). Through a circuitous route, this leads to the accusation that he has brought a Gentile into the temple (Acts 21:28). When a Roman officer arrives to break up the ensuing riot, he somehow assumes Paul is an Egyptian who recently led peasants into an ill-fated revolution.

In Cyprus (Acts 13:8) and Ephesus (Acts 19:13–14), Paul encountered Jewish frauds who provided supernatural diversions for the religiously unfulfilled Gentiles. In Judea and Samaria, the people were preyed upon by charlatans who promised significance of some kind. In AD 36, an imposter, who claimed to be Moses reincarnated, convinced a group of Samaritans that if they excavated Mount Gerizim, they would find gold artifacts left by Moses. Pilate, misunderstanding the gathering, killed many in battle, took others prisoner, and executed the leaders. When the survivors protested, Pilate was removed from his post.

Josephus, in Jewish Antiquities, 20.8.6, recorded an event that occurred three years before this riot at the temple. An Egyptian came to Judea and told people if they joined him at the Mount of Olives, he would destroy the walls around Jerusalem, and they could rebel against the occupying Roman forces. Felix, the governor, found out and sent horsemen and footmen who attacked the would-be revolutionaries. They slew 400 and took 200 alive, but the ringleader disappeared.

It is this Egyptian with whom the tribune confuses Paul. "Assassins" refers to the Sicarii, extremist Judaean nationalists known for assassinating their political enemies in crowds with small, curved daggers.

Acts 21:37–40 explains how Paul convinces a Roman military officer to allow him to jump from a dangerous situation into something even worse. A mob at the temple has just tried to kill him. Paul, of course, wants to explain; not to defend himself against the false accusation that inspired the mob, but to share the story of his faith in Jesus of Nazareth. The tribune is confused, thinking Paul is an Egyptian revolutionary. He allows Paul to speak, and immediately regrets it.

In Acts 21, Paul returns to Judea from his third missionary journey and promptly gets arrested. He begins by visiting Philip in Caesarea Maritima. Church elders in Jerusalem ask Paul to help men fulfill a Nazirite vow, to dispel rumors he has apostatized his Jewishness. While doing so, Ephesian Jews accuse Paul of bringing one of his Gentile Ephesian companions into the temple. The Roman military tribune keeps the enraged crowd from tearing Paul limb from limb by arresting him.

Acts 21 fulfills the fears of many of Paul's friends. Throughout the last part of his third missionary journey the Holy Spirit has been telling him he will be arrested in Jerusalem (Acts 20:23–25). When Paul reacts to dire personal prophecy, the Jesus-followers in Caesarea Maritima try to stop him from going on (Acts 21:8–14). Through a complicated trail of rumors, lies, and wrong assumptions, things go according to the Holy Spirit's foreknowledge and Roman soldiers arrest Paul. He will face the next 5 years in custody in Caesarea and Rome, but he will spread Jesus' story the entire time (Acts 22—28).

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.