other · 57 · Jerusalem
Paul had come with money from the Gentile churches and had been persuaded to pay for four men's vows to show he kept the Law. Near the end of the week, Jews from Asia recognised him in the temple and shouted that he had brought Greeks into it and defiled the place. Luke then explains, flatly and in one sentence, that they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city and supposed Paul had brought him into the temple. He had not. The court beyond which no Gentile could pass was marked by an inscription threatening death, and two copies of it have been dug up, so the crowd's fear was not imaginary — but the accusation was simply wrong. Paul was dragged out, the doors shut behind him, and he was being beaten when the tribune arrived and arrested him on the assumption he was the Egyptian who had led a revolt. Everything after — Caesarea, Felix, Festus, the appeal to Caesar, the voyage, the shipwreck, Rome — follows from a misidentification in a crowd.
To take the collection to Jerusalem and be seen keeping the Law.
An arrest, two years in Caesarea, an appeal to Caesar, and Rome.