Acts 21:24

παραλαβὼν, cf. Acts 21:26; Acts 15:39 (Acts 16:33): take in a friendly way, associate thyself with them as a companion. ἁγνίσθητι σὺν αὐτοῖς : the advice is characteristic of the Apostle who had lived as St. James had lived, Eusebius, H.E., ii., 23, and it certainly seems to demand that St. Paul should place himself on a level with the four men and take upon himself the Nazirite vow, cf. Numbers 6:3. The σὺν αὐτοῖς can hardly be explained otherwise. But how far the obligation of the vow extended in such a case is not clear (Edersheim, Temple and its Services, p. 326), and the time specified does not seem to allow for the commencement and completion of a vow on the part of the Apostle, although we cannot satisfactorily explain such expressions as the one before us, cf. ἡγνισμένον, Acts 24:18, on the supposition that St. Paul only associated himself with the company of the four votaries and incurred the expenses of their sacrifices. Dr. Hort suggests that the Apostle may have been himself about to offer sacrifices in the Temple in connection with some previous vow, or that in connection with the Gentile offerings which he had brought to Jerusalem and safely delivered (as it would seem) he may have proposed to offer a solemn peace-offering in the Temple, cf. καὶ προσφοράς, Acts 24:17, and Romans 15:16, Judaistic Christianity, pp. 109, 110; on the verb ἁγνίζω see also Hort's First Epistle of St. Peter, p. 87. δαπάνησον ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς : “be at charges for them,” R.V., spend money upon them. It was considered a meritorious act thus to defray the expenses of their sacrifices for poor Nazirites; Josephus, Ant., xix., 6, 1, how King Agrippa on his arrival at Jerusalem acted thus with a view to conciliate popular favour, Edersheim, u. s., p. 326, Renan, Saint Paul, p. 519, Kypke, Observ., ii., 113; cf. Mishna, Nazir, ii., 6. J. Weiss supposed that the money would have been furnished out of the contributions brought by Paul, and that such employed for the poor members of the Jerusalem Church would have been quite in accordance with the objects for which the contributions were made; but on the other hand, Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 310. ἵνα ξυρήσ., see critical note; at the conclusion of their vow, Numbers 6:18, when the sacrifice was offered by the Nazirites, Numbers 6:14. On the future indicative with ἵνα in N.T. in pure final clauses see Burton, p. 86, if we adopt R.V. If we read γνώσονται, see critical note, the future is not dependent on ἵνα, “and all shall know,” R.V., viz., by this act of thine. On this independent future see Viteau, Le Grec du N.T., p. 81 (1893). καὶ αὐτὸς, i.e., as well as other Jewish Christians. στοιχεῖς : a neutral word, as the walk might be right or wrong, but here to be taken with φυλάσσων, “so walkest as to keep the law,” Grimm-Thayer, sub v., no need for “orderly”.