Outburst of Jewish Fury against Paul in the Temple: his Arrest. A week later Paul is in the Temple to discharge his vow; whether it was discharged or not is uncertain. The sight of him there infuriates certain Jews from Asia (Ephesus was the metropolis of that province), who at once begin shouting, as they lay their hands on Paul, that he teaches everywhere a doctrine subversive of all that the Jew held dear; and that he had violated the Temple by taking a Gentile into the inner court. An inscription on the railings (Revelation 11:2 *, cf. Ephesians 2:14 *) denounced the penalty of death against any Gentile found there. It was a suspicion merely; Trophimus (Acts 20:4) had been seen with Paul on the streets but not in the Temple. Paul is dragged at once out of the Temple, which he is accused of defiling and which must at once be cleared. The Roman garrison at Jerusalem was a cohort (600 men) with some cavalry, under a tribune (Acts 21:31 mg.); it was lodged in the Antonia Tower at the NW. corner of the Temple area and connected with the Temple by two flights of steps. The tribune, thinking he has before him a dangerous character, orders him (Acts 21:33) to be heavily chained (cf. Acts 12:6), and to ascertain the merits of the case takes him up to the barracks (Acts 21:34).
Acts 21:36. Away with him: cf. Luke 23:18.