Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place." (For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.) And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut. Acts 21:27-30
As we pointed out previously, making judgments based on hearsay is dangerous. We need to learn the truth about what we “hear” before we believe and/or act. This passage points out how rumors in small circles grow into much larger circles. Note how a “whole crowd” was now involved and the rumor expanded to charge Paul with “teaching all men everywhere against the people [the Jews], the [Jewish] law, and this place [the temple].” None of that was true. James was right. A tiny spark really can start a forest fire! (James 3:5-6).
Not stopping there, they saw Paul, who consorted with Gentiles, going into the temple, so they “supposed” Paul brought Gentiles “into the temple.” Also untrue. Do we see that assumptions are dangerous and need to be verified before being considered factual? The rumors grew, were assumed to be true, and turned to violence as the people “seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple.”
Besides the important lessons for us all regarding hearing and speaking rumors, what about what we hear and read on the internet and in the media? May we be wise enough not to believe everything we hear. In our day there is as much, and in some cases more, disinformation than facts. Lies motivated mobs to destroy cities during the BLM riots—and the attack on our nation’s capitol.
Our Savior and Lord is “the truth” (John 14:6). God’s “Word is truth” (John 17:17). We must be people of the truth!