There is No Guarantee (Acts 21:15-40)
(1) The people Paul encounters
But the presentation of this collection was the chief motive of Paul’s going to Jerusalem (cf. 1 Cor 16:1–4; Rom 15:25–27). And he felt it absolutely necessary to present it personally to the Jerusalem church so that it be viewed as a true symbol of faith and unity and not as a bribe—though he feared both opposition from the Jews and rejection by the Jewish Christians of the city (cf. Rom 15:30–31).
Coming from abroad, Paul would have had to regain ceremonial purity by a seven-day ritual of purification before he could be present at the absolution ceremony of the four Jewish Christians in the Jerusalem temple. This ritual included reporting to one of the priests and being sprinkled with water of atonement on the third and seventh days.
What Paul did was to report to the priest at the start of his seven days of purification, inform him that he was providing the funds for the offerings of the four impoverished men who had taken Nazirite vows, and return to the temple at regular intervals during the week for the appropriate rites. He would have also informed the priest of the date when the Nazirite vows of the four would be completed (or, perhaps, they were already completed, awaiting only the offerings and presentation of the hair) and when he planned to be with them (either with all of them together or with each one individually) for the absolution ceremony. To pay the charges for Nazirite offerings was considered an act of piety and a symbol of identification with the Jewish people (cf. Jos. Antiq. XIX, 294 [vi.1], on Herod Agrippa I’s underwriting the expenses for a number of poor Nazirites).
Trophimus, the Gentile representative from Ephesus, beyond the barrier (the Soreg) that separated the Court of the Gentiles from the temple courts reserved for Jews alone.
Gentiles were permitted into the court of the Gentiles but no farther. Two inscriptions have been found on a balustrade separating the court of the Gentiles from the rest of the temple area. These warned Gentiles they would have themselves to blame for their deaths which would certainly ensue if they would proceed beyond the barrier (cf. Eph. 2:14).
So deep was this feeling that the Romans gave permission to Jews to fulfill this death sentence, even if the intruder was a Roman citizen.
While the temple police were drawn from the ranks of the Levites (cf. comments on 4:1), the commander of the fortress was a Roman military officer whose responsibility it was to keep peace in the city. The Fortress of Antonia was built by Herod the Great to overlook the temple area to the south and the city to the north and west, with exits to both the Court of the Gentiles and the city proper
Evidently this Egyptian rebel was unable or refused to speak Greek.
Josephus wrote of an Egyptian impostor who claimed to be a prophet. He said this Egyptian had gathered 30,000 followers (Luke with accuracy states 4,000; Josephus had a tendency to inflate numbers) and in A.D. 54 came to the Mount of Olives promising his adherents that the walls of Jerusalem would collapse at his command. Instead, the Roman army promptly marched on them, killed some and captured others, while the remainder were scattered. The Egyptian escaped.
Undoubtedly the people of Israel would have liked to lay their hands on this character who had caused so much trouble. When Lysias saw the riot in the temple, he assumed the center of the attention was this Egyptian and that the Jews were venting their wrath on him.
Paul assured the commander he was a Jew (with rights to be in the temple) and also a citizen of Tarsus, where he learned Greek. Tarsus was a city which enjoyed a good reputation, particularly for being an educational center. As yet Paul had not revealed his Roman citizenship (cf. 22:23–29).