Jealousy Follows Paul

Acts 17:1 When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah," he said. 4 Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. 5 But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believers before the city officials, shouting: "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus." 8 When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil. 9 Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go. 10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

Paul would visit the synagogue in a new location if one existed. A synagogue required a quorum of ten adult Jewish males.[1] He was successful for three weeks presenting the scriptures and explaining Jesus can be found in the passages. Jesus is our savior that we were waiting to see. As the message is being received positively, jealous people form mobs to cause issues for Paul. As they could not find Paul, the crowd dragged Jason in his place. As crowds form, Paul finds himself fleeing to another location.

Paul finds himself in uncomfortable situations. With each situation, he uses different methods to remedy the situation. He has been forced to leave in the middle of the night. Paul teaches us to read the situation and make a safe decision to move, explain, or take flight. What about us? It is important to learn when to pause your explaining and move to safety. Trouble will come, seek God for your safe escape. There is a time for everything under the sun (Ecclesiastes 3).

Bibliography

R. Adam Dodd, Robert J. Dean, Charles W. Draper, and Chad Brand, “Synagogue,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2015), 1516.

[1] R. Adam Dodd, Robert J. Dean, Charles W. Draper, and Chad Brand, “Synagogue,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2015), 1516.