Acts 21:40
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Having received permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. A great hush came over the crowd, and he addressed them in Hebrew:
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
stood on the stairs--"What nobler spectacle than that of Paul at this moment! There he stood, bound with two chains, ready to make his defense to the people. The Roman commander sits by, to enforce order by his presence. An enraged populace look up to him from below. Yet in the midst of so many dangers, how self-possessed is he, how tranquil!" [CHRYSOSTOM (or in his name) in HACKETT]. a great silence--the people awed at the permission given him by the commandant, and seeing him sitting as a listener. in the Hebrew tongue--the Syro-Chaldaic, the vernacular tongue of the Palestine Jews since the captivity. Next: Acts Chapter 22
Open source ↗We have, with a great deal of pleasure, attended the apostle in his travels throughout the Gentile nations to preach the gospel, and have seen a great harvest of souls gathered in to Christ; there we have seen likewise what persecutions he endured; yet still out of them all the Lord presently delivered him, Ti2 3:11. But now we are to attend him to Jerusalem, and there into lasting bonds; the days of his service now seem to be over, and nothing to remain but days of suffering, days of darkness, for they are many. It is a thousand pities that such a workman should be laid aside; yet so it is, and we must not only acquiesce, as his friends then did, saying, "The will of the Lord be done;" but we must believe, and shall find reason to do so, that Paul in the prison, and at the bar, is as truly glorifying God, and serving Christ's interest, as Paul in the pulpit was. In this chapter we have, I. A journal of Paul's voyage from Ephesus to Caesarea, the next sea-port to Jerusalem, some places he touched at, and his landing there (Act 21:1-7). II. The struggles he had with his friends at Caesarea, who mightily opposed his going up to Jerusalem, but could not prevail (Act 21:8-14). III. Paul's journey from Caesarea to Jerusalem, and the kind entertainment which the Christians there gave him (Act 21:15-17). IV. His compliance with the persuasions of the brethren there, who advised him so far to compliment the Jews as to go and purify that it might appear he was no such enemy to the Mosaic rites and ceremonies as he was reported to be (Act 21:18-26). V. The turning of this very thing against him by the Jews, and the apprehending of him in the temple as a criminal thereupon (Act 21:27-30). VI. The narrow escape he had of being pulled to pieces by the rabble, and the taking of him i…
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Peter motioned with his hand for silence, and he described how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Send word to James and to the brothers,” he said, and he left for another place.
Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool with five covered colonnades, which in Hebrew is called Bethesda.
We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
When they heard him speak to them in Hebrew, they became even more silent. Then Paul declared,
When Paul reached the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob.
The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander forward to explain himself, and he motioned for silence so he could make his defense to the people.
They were ruled by a king, the angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon.
When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat on the judgment seat at a place called the Stone Pavement, which in Hebrew is Gabbatha.
And they assembled the kings in the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
In those days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Grecian Jews among them began to grumble against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.