1022
THE KING’ S BUSINESS
were come together, he said unto them, “Men and Brethren (I, Brethren), though I have committed (had done) nothing against the pfople, or ('add, the) customs of our fathers, yet was I ('omit, I) deliver c i prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans: who, when they had exam ined me, would have let me go (desired to set me at liberty), because there was no cause of, death in me. But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had ought (aught whereof) to accuse my nation of ('omit, of). For this cause therefore have I, called for you to see you and to speak with you (did I entreat you to see and to speak with me); because that for (for because of) The hope of Israel I am bound with this chain." Paul is at Rome at last, and there to preach the Gospel as he had so longed to do (Rom. 1 :14-16). He turned first o f all to the Jews: he loved his own people no matter how bitterly they hated him and how relentlessly they persecuted him. He got the Jews together at, 'the very earliest possible moment that, he might preach to them. He avoided antagonizing them and sought to conciliate them. He told them that he had no charge to bring against them. He told them further that it was “because o f the hope of Israel" he was bound with the chain that they saw upon him. It is not pleasant to be bound with a chain but it is a great pleasure and a great honor to be bound with a chain, for the sake o f a good cause. It was entirely throifgh Jewish malice that Paul was now in chains, but strangely enough it was because o f ldyalty to the great hope o f the Jewish nation that he had incurred Jewish enmity. The “hope of Israel” was two fold: the hope o f a resurrection (Acts 23:6; 24:15; 26:6-8) and the hope o f a Messiah in whom they and all the nations o f the earth should be blessed. (Acts 3:22-24; Luke 1:6-9, 70, 72; Rom. 15:8; Gal. 3:14, 16-18). In Paul’s preaching the two hopes were blended because the Messiah he preached was a Messiah risen from the dead, the first fruits and guarantee o f the resurrec tion of others. (Acts 13:32, 33, 38)*
Rhegium: and after one day the south wind blew (a south wind sprang up) and we came the next day (and on the second day we came) to Puteoli: where we found brethren, and were desired (entreated) to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward (came to) Rome. And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they (the brethren, when they heard of us) came to meet us as far as Apii Forum, (The Market of Appius) and the Three Taverns (Three taverns); whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courr age" No man craved human fellowship and sympathy more than Paul and no man appreciated it more when he had it (cf. Acts 17:15; 18:5; 2 Cor. 7:6; 1 Thess. 3:1, 2 ; 2 Tim. 4:21). Paul was an intensely human man, he was not at all what many people think him to have been, a cold dog matist and heartless logician. It is true that he was a master o f relentless logic, but he was one o f the most loving and tender-hearted men that ever lived. The picture we have o f Paul in the verses before us, seeking out the brethren wher ever he went on this momentous journey, and thanking God and taking courage as brethren came td meet him and converse with him, is a most beautiful one and should be deeply pondered if we desire to know the real Paul. There is in ifa lso an impressive illustration o f the k in d 'of rtian that every ambassador o f Jesus Christ should be, a man o f loving and tender heart, a man rejoicing in human fellow ship, a man eagerly desiring and rejoicing in the fellowship and sympathy o f human friends. vs. 16-20. “And when he came to (entered into) Rome the centurion deliv ered the prisoners to the captain of the guard; but ( omit, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the capain of the guard) Paul was suffered to dwell (abide) by him self with a (the) soldier that kept (guarded) him. And it came to pass, that after three days Paul (he) called the chief of the Jews together (called together those that were the chief of the Jews): and when they
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