Men of Israel come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place

 Good morning. So what did the elders tell Paul to do? We have four men who are under a vow (this was connected to keeping the law); take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their head; and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself walk orderly, keeping the law. Because of what happens later, it makes me wonder if they were telling him what God was saying to do, or else was it man’s remedy for the problem? Too many times we do what in the natural seems the right thing to do; but it is not what God would have us to do. Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them. Now if he had not done all of this with the seven men, would the following have even happened? When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him, men of Israel come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place. For they had previously seen a Greek with him, and supposed that he had brought him into the temple. Again, if he had not listened to the elders, would all of this have happened? Most likely he would not have been in the temple at this particular moment. We’ll see next time what happened after this. Father thank You that You take care of us even during rainstorms. Keep us safe.

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