21:4 By going to Jerusalem did Paul disobey the Holy Spirit's direction here not to go?
21:4 By going to Jerusalem did Paul disobey the Holy Spirit's direction here not to go?
It is not the Holy Spirit directing Paul here not to go to Jerusalem. Through the Spirit means on account of what the Spirit said. It was the local disciples who knew of the sufferings he would encounter who were urging Paul not to go, not the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit had testified - through prophets - in all the cities that Paul had recently visited, of the danger and hardship that awaited him in Jerusalem, but had never once directed him not to go there (CP 20:22-24).
No verse in scripture states that it was the Holy Spirit Himself directing Paul not to go to Jerusalem. What the Holy Spirit testified about the danger and hardship that awaited Paul in Jerusalem was intended to prepare Paul for what lay ahead, not to warn him off.
Paul was not indifferent to the pleas and the tears of those who tried to dissuade him from going, but he was resolute in his purpose to go, believing that this was the will of God (CP 21:10-15).
See also comments on Ac 20:22 and 21:10-11, and author's study Paul the Apostle - a Chosen Vessel unto God in his book Advanced Studies in the Christian Faith (Volume 2).