Luke records an interesting incident in Acts 21 involving the Apostle Paul while he was in Jerusalem, where he would ultimately be arrested, sent to Rome for trial, and eventually executed.

While in Jerusalem, Paul decided to visit the Jewish Temple. However, Paul’s reputation had preceded him, and people began accusing him, saying, “This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place.” They then added the trumped-up charge that Paul had brought a gentile into the Jewish temple.

By this time a huge crowd had gathered, and they dragged Paul out of the temple. Luke adds that they started beating Paul and probably would have killed him if the commander, (lit. chiliarch) who oversaw the Roman troops in the city hadn’t intervened. According to Luke, the Roman Commander’s name was Claudius Lysias (Acts 23:26).

When the Lysias asked the Jewish crowd what crime Paul had committed, they were shouting so many stories, that the commander ordered Paul arrested until he could find out what was going on.

As he was being dragged away, Paul began speaking to the commander in Greek, which seemed to surprise Lysias.

The Commander then asked Paul, “Aren’t you the Egyptian (Ha-Mitzri) who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the wilderness some time ago?” (Acts 21:38).

Paul denied this stating that he was born in Taurus and was a Roman citizen.

The Egyptian, that Paul was accused of being, is one of over 30 people mentioned in the New Testament whose identity is confirmed by sources outside the Bible.

The unnamed Egyptian was actually a wanted man by the Romans. The first-century Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, mentions ‘The Egyptian’ twice, once in his book entitled Jewish Wars and again in The Antiquities of the Jews.

Though referred to as ‘The Egyptian’, in fact, the man was a Jew who came from Egypt and was considered a rebel by the Romans, a prophet by some Jews, and a false prophet by others.

In his book, Jewish Wars, Josephus writes, “There was an Egyptian false prophet that did the Jews more mischief than the former; for he was a cheat, and pretended to be a prophet also.”

It appears from Josephus’ description that The Egyptian was a Messianic type of Jewish figure who had gathered a large group of followers with promises to overthrow the Romans. Josephus states his supporters numbered about 30,000.

He eventually convinced a considerably smaller group of followers to attack Jerusalem, so they would overthrow the Romans.

He had taken an army to the foot of Mount Olives. Josephus writes in Antiquities of the Jews that similar to what happened at Jericho under Joshua (Joshua 6), The Egyptian promised that “at his command, the walls of Jerusalem would fall down” allowing them to invade the city.

However, the Romans found out about the insurrection, and Josephus writes that Felix (mentioned in Acts 23:26) sent out soldiers and horsemen against the invaders, killing an estimated 400 and capturing another 200.

The Egyptian, along with his remaining men, fled into the wilderness and was never heard of again. Though Josephus does not provide any details on how many of The Egyptian’s followers had escaped, the Roman commander puts the number at 4,000.

The Egyptian was now a wanted man by the Romans, and the Commander believed he had returned and was again causing trouble.

The Roman commander also used the word ‘terrorist’ to describe this group of men. The Greek word, Sicarii, literally translated as assassins, describes a group of Jewish rebels who would infiltrate Jerusalem armed with small curved knives. They would assassinate Romans and pro-Roman Jews in broad daylight, and then quickly disguise their murder by joining the public outcry against the crime.

It seems that the commander was concerned that something similar was happening in this uproar.

However, Paul provided a convincing defense stating he was a Roman citizen from Taurus, adding that this was “no ordinary city” (Acts 21:39). By using that latter phrase, Paul insinuated it was a large city that would have records of Roman citizenship that could be easily verified.

This argument convinced the commander, that Paul was not The Egyptian.