Acts 21:24

Acts 21:24. Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads. Better, be at charges for them; pay all the expenses consequent on their Nazarite vow. These charges were, for each of the four persons, an he-lamb for a burnt-offering, a ewe-lamb for a sin-offering, a ram for a peace-offering, together with a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and a drink-offering (see Numbers 6:14-18), in addition to which there was a fee to the priest or Levite for the act of shaving the head. This involved a considerable expense, and we can well conceive that, in many instances, without the help of the rich or comparatively rich, the poor man often would have been unable to complete his Nazarite vow.

Now, James would know from his past history, that Paul, with all his liberal views, with all his anxiety to remove stumbling-blocks out of the way of the Gentile nations willing to become servants of Christ, still reverenced and even loved to share in the ancient time-honoured practices of his people. Only three or four years before, Paul had taken in Cenchrea this very Nazarite's vow (see Acts 18:18). That act of the Gentile apostle was no doubt well known to James and the Jerusalem presbyters. Such a gift, too, from Paul, who was known in all the churches as one who supported himself by the labour of his hands, would, besides testifying to his love for the old Jewish customs, bear striking witness to his generosity and ready self-denial. It would indeed be a notable gift, the paying these poor men's expenses in the temple, for the travelling tentmaker Paul (see Acts 20:34-35, where the generous apostle's words give us some insight into his character). It seems to have been the custom in those times among the Jews, for certain persons who had not, in the first instance, taken the obligation of a Nazarite upon themselves, to associate themselves towards the end of the period for which the vow was taken with Nazarites who had taken the vow, and to join with them in the final process of purification, which lasted apparently, as in this case, for seven days, and then to defray for the whole of the company, many or few, all the cost of the sacrifice. This way of taking on oneself the obligations of a Nazarite was considered a devout and meritorious act.

And all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keenest the law. James thought that nothing would be so likely to conciliate the ‘conservative' party among the Jewish Christians as the sight of the well-known apostle of the Gentiles sharing in, and assisting at his own cost others to take part in one of the cherished Jewish customs. Surely one who could thus publicly by example and teaching maintain the rigid observance of the ceremonial law, would never sanction disloyalty to the national traditions of Israel.

How all this ended, we shall see three or four verses on. The counsel was well meant, and Paul acted kindly and generously in the matter, endeavouring to win the hearts of his bigoted exclusive countrymen. But it does not seem as though his Master smiled upon the transaction. It certainly utterly failed. In Paul's loving heart there was an intense longing to win the covenant people, and so he was ready to make any sacrifice to attain this end. But the party of ‘zealots' among the Jews of the first century were after all right in their estimate of what would result from Paul's teaching. They foresaw that if the Gentiles were freed from the law of Moses and all its burthen-some rites, and at the same time were put, as regards the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven, on a footing of perfect equality with the Jews, the time would surely come when the Jew would ask, ‘To what purpose availeth the keeping of the old law and the hard rites?' and so they surely foresaw that the old order of things would at no distant period give place to the new, and the Jew would no longer be distinguished from the Gentile.