Acts 5:12-26 ~ Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

Painting, by Tadema

Acts 5:12-26

Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. 13 None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16 The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

17 But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy 18 they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” 21 And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.

Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council and all the senate of the people of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. 22 But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 23 “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” 24 Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. 25 And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” 26 Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.


Even in the Syrian suburb, the little country of Judea, the Roman Empire flooded vast fortunes into the country. In the plentiful abundance of life, Pontius Pilate regularly had riots with the Jews.

Can you imagine yourselves being a rioter? I can. I once, at the age of 6, joined all my neighborhood children help tear down a lovely home being carefully constructed over an empty lot with a creek. We had enjoyed the lot, with huge Willow trees and large rocks. It was always shady and you would always meet more kids seeking relief from the Texas summer. We were looters and rioters. As we all carried home a chunk of the building materials, I told this group of little kids, teenagers and tweens, we'd had fun. We should do more things together. Everyone agreed. Maybe softball.

The builders of the home hired a guard to protect the property; my three other six-year-old friends and I became very good friends with the kindly, elderly man. After a few weeks, the man asked us did we know who had looted. All 3 little blond heads said no. The man explained to us that it was wrong and it had been an expensive vandalism. I went home to discuss it with my mother.

She said she didn't remember  the board I had dragged home, didn't I put it back. I said yes, we didn't really have a need for a board. She asked me how many teenagers had been involved and I said every kid in the neighborhood had been there. She said something to the effect she knew teenagers were behind it all. I said not really, everyone showed up, for something to do.

Adults were told to look in their backyard for building materials. Some materials returned. It never happened again, even later when more houses were built.

This was parents willing to talk to other parents. It look some frank discussions.


After Hurricane Ike, in Houston, grocery stores opened for minute time frames in the morning. HEB allowed shoppers to go in, in groups of 18 shoppers. If you'd seen the mayhem in the stores before the Hurricane, you'd understand why. So every day, the electricity was off in town, Edward, my husband, would head over to HEB. Then on the third morning, a police cruiser showed up as the forty or so people waited for the store to open. The police car opened the mike and said, "HEB was unable to open this morning." People were a little surprised and looked at the police car in astonishment. No one said a word. So the Police car repeated the message and said it was time to disperse. After a moment's pause, the humorous police said, "Time to disperse, we think you all will riot." The very dangerous suburban engineer types looked at each other in frank astonishment. One man looked at the others and said, "I'm Not Rioting! Are you?"

Are we interested in the multitudes who flooded the Temple?

A model of Solomon's Portico, from the First Temple until the Second Temple fell 70 A.D. And the back corner is Antonia Fortress, Herod's Fortress complete with jail.

Many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles

 

 

Surely the Temple officials, the bureaucracy were stunned. So much so - they let the rabble in to the Temple discussing Jesus. Worshiping Jesus.

Can you imagine this? It's frankly incredible, but accurate. The Temple officials let the followers of Jesus Christ the LORD, meet in the Temple grounds. They had signs up saying foreigners would be killed beyond certain points.

"No foreigner is to enter within the balustrade and embankment around the sanctuary. Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his death which follows." Both Greek (above and there are 2 Greek signs discovered) and Latin versions of this warning were posted at regular intervals around the balustrade).The engraved block of limestone is about 22 inches high by 33 inches long. Each letter was nearly 1 1/2 inches high and originally painted with red ink against the white limestone. Part of another sign was unearthed in 1936. Currently locatated in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul, Turkey. It is a fairly well-known and understood archaeological find, labeled CIJ 2.1400

Rather more obscure is CIJ 2.1404 The Theodotus Inscription. Not all of the Second (or First) Temple is completely understood. 75 centimeters long.
The Theodotus inscription (CIJ 2.1404) was discovered in a Jerusalem cistern by R. Weill in 1913. It dates to the first century AD prior to the Temple's destruction. Significantly, the inscription reveals that three generations of priests served as the "rulers of the synagogue" (archisynagôgoi - the Greek word) mentioned in the dedication. Translation:

Theodotus, (son) of Vettenus, priest and
archisynagôgos, son of an archisynagôgos,
grandson of an archisynagôgos, built
the synagogue for the reading of the law and
the teaching of the commandments, and
the guest-chamber and the rooms and the
water installations for lodging for those needing them
from abroad, which his fathers, the elders
and Simonides founded

And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. 

During the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”

"Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.”


 Light of Jesus Christ - Shine.

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