Bible Study Lesson for Acts 21:1-16: Paul Warned by the Prophet Agabus

Verses 1-16 describes Paul's journey to Jerusalem and the prophetic warnings he is told that he will be arrested when he arrives there
Verses 17-26 describes Paul's first few days in Jerusalem and his meeting with the Jerusalem church
Verses 27-36 describes Paul's arrest in Jerusalem
Verses 37-40 describes how Paul requests permission to speak before the crowd. (His actual speech will be given in chapter 22)

Back to our geography lesson! At the end of chapter 20 Paul was just getting ready to sail from Miletus. Remember he had decided to sail past Ephesus, and have the elders from Ephesus journey south to Miletus (it is about 30 miles away) to meet with him. { Hand out maps again and ask the group to try to follow along }

Read Acts 21:1. We have three proper names given here, Cos, Rhodes, and Patara. Cos and Rhodes are islands. { Point out Cos on map } Apparently it took a day to sail from Miletus to Cos, where they stopped and spent the night. { Point out Rhodes on map } Rhodes is also the name of the leading city on this island. As a trivia point, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world was supposed to have been here at Rhodes, the harbor colossus; this, however, had been destroyed two centuries before Paul arrival. (So it was ancient even then!). { Show picture from "Childcraft 10: Places to Know", pg 7 , temple to Artemis is shown next page} Patara is on the southern coast of Lycia, west of Myra.

Read Acts 21:2. { Point out Phoenicia on map } At Patara Paul and his change ships from one hugging the coast of Asia Minor, for one heading for Tyre (or Phoenicia).

Read Acts 21:3. So though Paul's ship passes south of the island of Cyprus, they don't land there. { Point out the island of Cyprus on map } Remember way back in Acts 13? Cyprus was one of Paul's first stopping places on his first missionary journey, when he was traveling with Barnabas and John Mark, rather than with Luke and his current entourage. Read Acts 13:4-6. I can't help wondering if Paul didn't do some reminiscing as he passed by that island, perhaps talking with Luke or some of the others about his work there; maybe even praying for the churches there, which he helped plant, though it doesn't sound like he ever returned there.

Then the ship went on to Tyre, were the ship's cargo was to be unloaded. { Point out Tyre on map }

Read Acts 21:4. Here we need to understand that the term "disciples" can be used to represent any Christian believer, not just the original 12 disciples of Jesus. So when Luke says they found the disciples there in Tyre, what he means is that they found the local church at Tyre. Remember traveling with Paul at this point are about 9 men, along with the money bags for the offering for the Jerusalem church.

"Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem." The Holy Spirit had told the disciples of the coming trials awaiting Paul in Jerusalem, and as a result tried to dissuade him from going to Jerusalem. We know that Paul will go on anyway, because of what he said in Acts 20:22. I think the Holy Spirit was preparing the church for what was going to be happening to one of their best beloved leaders, so that they could understand that God was in control and that nothing was happening to Paul except what had to happen. I think they were also being prepared to pray and continue to lift him up in prayer.

Read Acts 21:5-6. This is another demonstration of how greatly Paul and his companions were loved. Not only do the men of the church at Tyre come to see Paul off, but also all the women and children. That must have been quite a sight, when all them together, right there out in the open, knelt on the beach to pray.

It doesn't say anything about getting on a new ship, so I'm assuming they got back on the same ship that had brought them to Tyre and which had now unloaded its cargo. Perhaps during the 7 days it was reloaded with a new cargo, to be taken to new destinations.

Read Acts 21:7. All I know about Ptolemais is that it is another city one day's journey south of Tyre; it is not mentioned again in the Bible. Here the believers are called "brothers" rather than disciples. Here, too, there is a local church willing and happy to welcome Paul and provide a place for him and his companions to spend the night.

Read Acts 21:8. From Ptolemais it is about 35 miles south to Caesarea. { Point out Caesarea on map } We have talked extensively about Caesarea in the past, so I'll only do a quick review here. It is a Gentile city, the capital of Roman Judea. It is the headquarters of the Roman occupational forces. { Show some of the pictures from Natural Geographic Feb. 1987, 261-278 } It is here in Caesarea that Paul leads the Roman centurion Cornelius to Christ after the centurion (and Peter) have visions. (Acts 10) Philip the evangelist was one of the seven original deacons, chosen way back in Acts 6. It appears that Philip's evangelistic efforts had been focused on Caesarea for the last 20 or so years; Philip, remember, was the one who lead the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ back in Acts 8. At the end of that story, we see Philip arriving in Caesarea. Read Acts 8:39-40.

Read Acts 21:9. The fact that the daughters were unmarried may indicate that they had been dedicated in a special way to serving the Lord. It does not say here anything about what exactly the daughters prophesied at this point, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't also warn Paul against going on to Jerusalem.

Let's take a short rabbit trail. Women prophetesses were not uncommon. When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple to dedicate him, they met a prophetesses there by the name of Anna. Read Luke 2:36-38. In the Old Testament there are four women specifically called prophetesses. Miriam: Read Exodus 15:20-21; Deborah: Judges 4:4-5. (Note that Deborah was married, as well as a leader of the Israelites); during King Josiah's reign there was a prophetess named Huldah: 2 Kings 22:14-15. (being a prophet meant you spoke the words of the Lord). And during Nehemiah's time there was a prophetess named Noadiah: Nehemiah 6:14. (She is only mentioned once here; apparently she was not a godly women, in that she tried to use her position as a prophetess to intimidate Nehemiah and dissuade him from finishing the wall around Jerusalem.)

Read Acts 21:10. We have seen this man Agabus before, about 15 years prior in chapter 11. Read Acts 11:27-29.

Read Acts 21:11. I wonder, sometimes, if prophets don't get weary of always having to be the bearer of bad news! Agabus had to tell people of a coming famine, now he had to tell Paul and his followers of Paul's coming imprisonment; it would be the Jews who would arrest him, but he would be handed over to the Romans (the Gentiles). I've lost track of how many times Paul had been warned about what was going to happen to him in Jerusalem - multiple times now. Read Acts 20:23. Perhaps continual reminders of coming hardship helps overcome one's fear, I don't know. { Put up symbol for bound hands on flannel board }

Read Acts 21:12-14. As we discussed this a couple weeks ago, it is very human and natural to not want one of our loved ones to go into hardship. Paul was well loved and his friends and fellow believers don't want him to get hurt, so they try to dissuade him from going. But relying on human affection as the basis for making decisions can be dangerous: Paul knew that the Lord wanted him to go to Jerusalem, and to disobey that call out of either fear or because of his friends' urging would be to sin. If Paul had been a different or weaker man he could have easily fallen into this trap and not gone on to do what the Lord had called him to do. We have a sad example, in the Old Testament, of a prophet who listened to man, rather than God, and paid the ultimate price as a result. It is a very sad story, but shows how easy even men of God can be lead astray. Read 1 Kings 13:1-25.

Read Acts 21:15-16. From Caesarea they walk to Jerusalem, where Paul and his 9 or so companions will be staying with Mnason. He is not mentioned again in Acts, but we can probably assume that he was a man of some means and open-handed generosity, if he is able to provide hospitality for 10 men for an unknown length of time.

To be continued...

Sources
Editors. Compton's Interactive Bible (software)
Philip Yancey and Tim Stafford (notes). The Student Bible. NIV Version
Editors. Natural Geographic Magazine Feb. 1987
Editors. Childcraft 10: Places to Know