in Caesarea, 58 to
60 A.D. The voyage to Rome was in the winter of 60
and 61 A D. He was imprisoned in Rome two years, 61
to 63 A.D. In extent the journey which Paul took from
Caesarea to Rome was about 2,300 miles.

+The Historical Connections.+--Nero was Emperor of
Rome (since 54 A.D.). Felix was Procurator of Judea
from 51 to 60 A.D., when he was succeeded by Festus.
We fix the date of Paul's going to Rome by the fact that
when Festus came in 60 A.D., he made his appeal to
Caesar.

PAUL AT JERUSALEM

+The Return+ to Jerusalem (Acts 21:17-23:23) was at
the feast of Pentecost when it was crowded with strangers
from all parts of the world. Paul had been warned not
to come back to this city (Acts 21:10-14) and it might
have been possible for him to have remained away, passing
the last years of his life in high honor and peace as
the Great Apostle and Head of the Gentile churches.
But he seems to have felt it incumbent upon him to return
to Jerusalem and testify for his faith (Acts 21:14), and to
carry alms (Acts 24:17). Paul was now about sixty
years of age and for more than ten years had been
engaged in the most arduous missionary labors, enduring
stonings, beatings, and contumelies of all kinds, for the
sake of preaching Jesus Christ. More than twenty years
had elapsed since his conversion; and before his
well-known three missionary journeys he had been actively
engaged in the work which he loved so well. In his body
he must have borne the marks of these incessant labors,
but his spirit was as fresh and undaunted as ever.
Whatever awaited him in Jerusalem he was ready for it.

+The Meeting with James and the Elders of the
Church+ (Acts 21:17-25) seems to have been a pleasant
one. Paul told his story of the wonders wrought in the
Gentile world, and God was glorified, but there seems to
have been a certain constraint upon the company. Paul
was well known everywhere as an exponent of that liberty
in Christ by which the Gentiles when they became
Christians were not obliged to become Jews and obey the laws
of Moses. We find the elders, while freely admitting
the binding nature of the decision of the Jerusalem
Council upon this matter, advising him to show the
many thousands of Jews who believed and kept the law,
that he himself still held to the observance of the law.
Hence the urgency with which they requested him to
purify himself in the temple, with certain men who had
a vow, so that the Jews