Acts 24
TFGActs 24:1
28-35. Having thus eloquently expressed himself in reference to his past fidelity and his present devotion, he gives them a prophetic warning in reference to trials which yet awaited them, and places his own example minutely before them for imitation.
(28) Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers, to be shepherds to the Church of the Lord, which he has purchased through his own blood.
(OCA 253)
Acts 24:2
(29) For I know this, that after my departure, fierce wolves will enter in among you, sparing the flock.
Acts 24:3
(30) Also from among yourselves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Acts 24:4
(31) Therefore, watch; remembering that by night and by day, for three years, I ceased not to warn each one with tears.
Acts 24:5
(32) And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his favor, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all the sanctified.
It was a fearful responsibility which rested on the shoulders of these men, to watch as shepherds for the flock, and realize that only by fidelity like that of Paul, could they be free from the blood of them all. In leaving them to this work, he directs their thoughts to the only power sufficient to strengthen them to perform it, by commending them to God and to his Word, assuring them that the Word was able to build them up, and give them inheritance among the sanctified. This is another among many proofs which we have seen of the confidence of the apostles in the sufficiency and power of the word of God.
(OCA 253)
Acts 24:6
(33) I have coveted no man’s gold, or silver, or apparel.
Acts 24:7
(34) You yourselves know that these hands have ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me.
Acts 24:8
It is more blessed to give than to receive. For completeness’ sake we might also add these words of Jesus. These words quoted by Paul are not found in the gospel. The earthly life of Jesus shades off into the celestial, but we think that he have now given all that may be rightly included in the former.
(TFG 767)
(35) In all things I have shown you, that so laboring, you should support the weak, and should remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
The closing admonition has reference to relief of the needy, and to the discharge of their duty, even if it were necessary for them to struggle hard to make their own bread and meat, remembering that it is more blessed to give than to receive. In this, also, he could appeal to his own example, saying, “You yourselves know that these hands,” holding them out to them, “have ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me” [#Acts 20:34|]. Thus he warns and admonishes these elders, in a speech of inimitable pathos, which is recorded by Luke that it might bear the same lesson to elders of Churches everywhere, teaching that no less than apostolic zeal and self-sacrifice are expected of them.
(OCA 253)
Acts 24:9
36-38. When these solemn and touching words were concluded, the apostle was ready to re-embark upon the vessel about to weigh anchor in the harbor, and the final farewell must be spoken.
(36) And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all;
(OCA 253)
Acts 24:10
(37) and they all wept much, and fell upon Paul’s neck, and kissed him,
It would be difficult to imagine a more touching scene. The tears of women and of children are sometimes shallow; but when full-grown men, men of gray hairs, who have been hardened to endurance by the bitter struggles of life, are seen to weep like children, and to fall upon one another’s necks, we have the deepest expression of grief ever witnessed on earth. Such, however, is not the sorrow of this world. When the strong man of the world is overwhelmed with grief, he seeks for solitude, and his heart grows harder while it is breaking. But the sorrow of the man of faith is softening and purifying. It binds the afflicted in closer sympathy with one another and with God, while it is sanctified by prayer. It is painful, but it is not altogether unwelcome. It is a sorrow which we are willing to feel again, and which we love to remember. The history of the Church is full of scenes like this. When the paths of many pilgrims meet, and they mingle together, for a few days, their prayers, their songs of praise, their counsels, and their tears, the hour of parting is like a repetition of this scene on the sea-shore at Miletus. Tears, and heavings of the breast, which tell of grief and love and hope all struggling together in the soul; the parting hand and fond embrace; the blessing of God invoked, but not expressed; the sad turning away to duties which the soul feels for the moment too weak to perform–these are all familiar to the servants of God, and are remembered as tokens of those hours when, most of all, the joys of heaven seem to triumph over the sorrows of earth.
(OCA 253-254)
Acts 24:11
(38) sorrowing most of all for the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more.
If Paul had been parting from these brethren under happy anticipations for them both, the sorrow of neither party could have been so great. But, added to the pain of a final parting was the gloom of their own uncertain future, and the terrible and undefined afflictions which certainly awaited him. There is not, in the history of our race, apart from the sufferings of the Son of God, a nobler instance of self-sacrifice than is presented by Paul on this journey. He had already, twelve months before this, recounted a catalogue of sufferings more abundant than had fallen to the lot of any other man. He had been often in prison, and often on the verge of death. From the Jews he had five times received forty stripes save one, and had three times been beaten with rods. Once he was stoned, and left on the ground, supposed to be dead. He had suffered shipwreck three times, and spent a day and a night struggling in the waters of the great deep. In his many journeys, he had been exposed to perils by water, by robbers, by his own countrymen, by the heathen; in the city, in the wilderness, in the sea, and among false brethren. He had suffered from weariness, and painfulness and wakefulness. He had endured hunger and thirst, and had known what it was to be cold for want of sufficient clothing. Besides all these things, which were without, he had been and was still bearing a burden not less painful in the care of all the Churches (#2 Corinthians 11:23-28|). And besides even all this, was that thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him, which was so irritating and humiliating that he had three times prayed the Lord to take it from him (#2 Corinthians 12:7-9|). These sufferings we would think enough for the portion of one man; and we would suppose that his scarred (#Galatians 6:17|) and enfeebled frame would be permitted to pass the remainder of its days in quiet. Yet here we find him on his way to Jerusalem, engaged in a mission of mercy, but warned by the voice of prophesy that bonds and afflictions still awaited him [#Acts 20:22,23|]. Most men would have said: I have suffered enough. The success of my present enterprise is doubtful, at best, and it is certain to bring me once more into prison, and into untold afflictions. I will, therefore, remain where I am, amid brethren who love me, and strive to end my days in peace. Such may have been the feelings of the Ephesian elders, as they clung tearfully around him; but how grandly the hero lifts himself above all such human weakness, while he exclaims: “None of these things move me, neither do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the favor of God” [#Acts 20:24|]. When parting forever from such a man, they might well weep, and stand mute upon the shore till the white sails of his vessel grew dim in the distance, ere they turned in loneliness to the toils and dangers which they were now to encounter without the presence or counsel of their great teacher. We are not permitted to return with them to Ephesus, and listen to their sorrowful conversation by the way; but must follow that receding vessel, and witness the bonds and afflictions which await its most noted passenger.
(OCA 254-255)
Acts 24:13
XXI:1-3. The vessel proceeded by a coasting voyage along the southern shore of Asia Minor.
(1) And it came to pass, when we had separated from them, and set sail, that we ran with a straight course and came to Cos; and the next day to Rhodes, and thence to Patara.
(OCA 255)
Acts 24:14
(2) And finding a ship going across to Phoenicia, we embarked and set sail.
The change of vessels at Patara must have been occasioned by the fact that the one in which they had hitherto sailed was not bound for a Phoenician port. That the new vessel is said to be going across to Phoenicia, and that it left Cyprus on the left [#Acts 21:3|], is an indication that the other was going to cling still further to the coast of Asia Minor, and was probably bound for Antioch.
(OCA 255)
Acts 24:15
(3) Passing in sight of Cyprus, and leaving it to the left, we sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload her cargo.
Acts 24:16
- The time employed by the sailors in putting out freight, and taking on board a fresh cargo, gave Paul another opportunity for communing with brethren on shore.
(4) And having found the disciples, we remained there seven days. They told Paul, through the Spirit, not to go up to Jerusalem.
Here Paul met a repetition of those prophetic warnings which had already cast a gloom over his feelings, and so much alarmed were the brethren at the prospects before him, that they entreated him to go no further. We are not to understand that these entreaties were dictated by the Spirit; for this would have made it Paul’s duty to desist from his purpose; but the statement means that they were enabled to advise him not to go, by knowing through the Spirit, what awaited him. The knowledge was supernatural; the advice was the result of their own judgment.
(OCA 255)
Acts 24:17
#Acts 21:5,6|
5, 6. When the seven days had passed, including, most likely, a Lord’s day, in which the disciples came together to break bread, another scene of painful parting occurred, like that at Miletus.
(5) And it came to pass that when we completed those days, we departed and went our way, they all, with their wives and children, conducting us forward till we were out of the city. And we kneeled down on the shore and prayed.
Unlike the scene at Miletus [#Acts 20:36-38|], the sorrow of manly hearts was here accompanied by the tenderness of female sympathy and the tears of children. The tears of the company were bitter, but they were sanctified and made a blessing to each heart, by prayer. Thus, though all before the apostle, during this journey, was darkness and danger, all around him and behind him was earnest prayer to God in his behalf. Borne forward upon the current of such devotion, he was able to breast the storm, and defy all the powers of earth and hell.
(OCA 255-256)
Acts 24:18
(6) And bidding each other farewell, we went on board the ship, and they returned home.
Acts 24:19
- The journey by water was soon completed, and the remainder of the distance was performed on foot.
(7) And from Tyre we went down to Ptolemais, completing the voyage, and saluted the brethren, and remained with them one day.
If the vessel had been going forward to Caesarea without delay, they had better have continued on board than to have traveled the distance of thirty or forty miles to that city on foot. (k) We conclude, therefore, that the vessel either intended lying in port for a while, or did not intend to touch at Caesarea.
The fact that Paul found brethren in Tyre and Ptolemais on the coast of Phoenicia, where he had never preached before, reminds us once more of the dispersion of the Church in Jerusalem, and the fact that “they who were scattered abroad upon the persecution which arose about Stephen, traveled as far as Phoenicia, speaking the Word to none but the Jews” (#Acts 11:19|).
(k) Conybeare and Howson, vol. 2, p. 232.
(OCA 256)
Acts 24:20
#Acts 21:8,9|
8, 9. The single day spent with the brethren in Ptolemais was sufficient for the solemn admonitions which Paul was leaving with all the Churches, and for another painful farewell.
(8) And the next day we departed, and went to Caesarea. And entering into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we abode with him.
When we parted from Philip, after the immersion of the eunuch, he had prosecuted an evangelizing tour through Azotus and the intermediate cities, to Caesarea (#Acts 8:40|). It was probably while he was engaged in this tour that Peter had come to Caesarea, and immersed the family and friends of Cornelius [#Acts 10:48|]. When Philip arrived, he found the nucleus of a Church, and here we still find him, after a lapse of more than twenty years. He seems never to have returned to Jerusalem, to resume his position as a deacon of that Church, but accepted the providential arrangement by which he was thrown out into a wider field of usefulness, and thenceforward was known as Philip the evangelist. That he had four maiden daughters, who had the gift of prophesy [#Acts 21:9|], indicates the strict religious training which he had given to his family.
(OCA 256)
Acts 24:21
(9) Now he had four daughters, who were virgins, and who prophesied.
Acts 24:22
10-14. During the interval spent with the family of Philip, another, and the last of the prophetic warnings which Paul encountered on this journey was given, causing a scene of sorrow similar to those at Miletus and Tyre.
(10) And while we were remaining several days, there came down from Jerusalem a certain prophet named Agabus;
(OCA 256)
Acts 24:23
(11) and he came to us, and took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus says the Holy Spirit: So shall the Jews in Jerusalem bind the man who owns this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
Acts 24:24
(12) And when we heard this, both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.
Acts 24:25
(13) But Paul answered, What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus.
Acts 24:26
(14) And when he would not be persuaded, we held our peace, saying, The will of the Lord be done.
Agabus was the same prophet who went from Jerusalem to Antioch, and announced the famine which caused the mission of Paul and Barnabas into Judea with a contribution for the poor (#Acts 11:27-30|). It was a singular coincidence that the same man should now meet him, after the lapse of so many years, when entering Judea on a similar mission, and warn him of his own personal danger. The dramatic manner in which his prophesy was delivered gave Paul a more distinct conception of the afflictions which awaited him. If his traveling companions had hitherto been silent when brethren were entreating him to desist from the journey, as is implied in the narrative, their courage now failed them, and they joined in the entreaties of the brethren in Caesarea. The fearfulness of his prospects was a sufficient trial to his own courage, when he enjoyed at least the silent sympathy of his chosen companions; but when they deserted him, and threw the weight of their influence upon the weight already too heavy for him, the effect was crushing to his heart, though the steadfastness of his purpose was not shaken. The duty imposed upon him by the fearful condition of the Church at large was paramount to all personal considerations, and he felt willing to be bound and to die in his efforts to maintain the honor of the name of the Lord Jesus by preserving the unity of his body. Upon this declaration of his sublime self-devotion, the brethren felt unable to offer another objection, and gave expression to their reluctant resignation by the remark, “The will of the Lord be done.”
(OCA 257)
Acts 24:27
#Acts 21:15,16|
15, 16. (15) And after those days, we packed up our baggage, and went up to Jerusalem.
The journey had been accomplished in time for the feast of Pentecost. This is made to appear by enumerating the days spent on the journey from Philippi. Leaving that city immediately after the days of unleavened bread, which was seven days after the Passover, he reached Troas in five days, where he spent seven (#Acts 20:6|). Four days were occupied in the passage from Troas to Miletus (#Acts 20:13-15|). Two are sufficient to allow for the stay at Miletus (see TFG “Acts 20:17”). In three he sailed from Miletus to Patara, which place he left the same day he reached it (#Acts 21:1,2|); and two more days, with favorable weather, would take him to Tyre. (l) There he spent seven days, and three in the journey thence to Caesarea (#Acts 21:4-8|). Allowing two days more for the journey from Caesarea to Jerusalem, we have enumerated only forty-two of the forty-nine days intervening between the Passover and Pentecost, leaving seven for the stay at the house of Philip [#Acts 21:8|]. That the feast of Pentecost did transpire immediately after his arrival in Jerusalem, is indicated by the immense multitude of Jews then assembled there, and the presence of some from the province of Asia, who had known Paul in Ephesus (#Acts 21:27|). Nothing but the annual feasts brought together in Jerusalem the Jews from distant provinces.
(l) Conybeare and Howson, vol. 2, p. 227.
(OCA 257)