Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Acts 21:13

"Then Paul answered, What do ye, weeping and breaking my heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." — Acts 21:13 (ASV)

While Paul was at Caesarea, the Jerusalemite prophet Agabus (cf. 11:27– 28) came there. With the belt that held Paul’s outer cloak together, he tied his own feet and hands in an act of prophetic symbolism (cf. 1 Kings 11:29–39; Isaiah 20:2–6; Ezekiel 4:1–5:17) and announced that Paul would be bound by the Jews and handed over to the Gentiles. In response to this dramatic prophecy, the Caesarean believers—together with Paul’s own traveling companions—begged him not to go. But Paul’s determination to go to Jerusalem came from an inward spiritual constraint that could not be set aside (cf. 19:21; 20:22), for he was increasingly convinced that he must present the gift from the churches personally for it to be understood as the symbol of unity he intended it to be (cf. 1 Corinthians 16:4 with Ro 15:31). Paul well knew that his reception at Jerusalem might be less than cordial (cf. Romans 15:30–32).