Now after many years. — Four years had passed since the previous visit of Acts 18:22. The use of “many” in this instance may be noted as throwing light on Acts 24:10.
To bring alms to my nation, and offerings. — The “alms” were, of course, the large sums of money which St. Paul had been collecting, since his last visit, for the disciples (possibly in part, also, for those who were not disciples) at Jerusalem. It is noticeable that this is the only mention in the Acts of that which occupies so prominent a place in the Epistles of this period. (See Romans 15:25; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4; 2 Corinthians 8:1-4.) The manifestly undesigned coincidence between the Acts and the Epistles on this point has naturally often been dwelt on by writers on the evidences which each supplies to the other. The “offerings” were the sacrifices which the Apostle was about to offer on the completion of the Nazarite vow with which he had associated himself. There is, perhaps, a refined courtesy in St. Paul’s use of the word “nation” (commonly used only of the heathen) instead of the more usual “people.” He avoids the term which would have implied a certain assumption of superiority to the magistrate before whom he stood. (See Notes on Matthew 25:32; Matthew 28:19.)