xiii. 39 the first germ of the deeper teaching of St Paul

respecting the insufficiency of the Mosaic Law, developed afterwards in the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians.

884 ‒ Lachmann and Tischendorf omit the τὰ ἔθνη inserted in Acts xiii. 42 in the _Textus Receptus_.

885 ‒ Comp. Isai. xlii. 6, xlix. 6; Lk. ii. 32.

886 ‒ Mtt. x. 14, 15; Mk. vi. 11; Lk. ix. 5.

887 ‒ C. and H., I. 195.

888 ‒ Now called _Konieh_, situated on the western part of an extensive table-land of Asia Minor, not far north of Mount Taurus. This region was anciently called Lycaonia, and thus Iconium “was on the great line of communication between Ephesus and the western coast of the peninsula on one side, and Tarsus, Antioch, and the Euphrates on the other.” See C. and H., I. 174, 175. From its position it was clearly a well chosen spot for missionary operations.

889 ‒ Its site is unknown. There are strong reasons, however, for identifying its site with that of _Kir-bir-Kilisseh_ at the base of the _Kara-dagh_.

890 ‒ Like Lystra the exact situation of Derbe is unknown. It is certain, however, that it was in the eastern part of the great upland plain of Lycaonia, which stretches from Iconia eastwards along the north sides of the chain of Taurus. For the various conjectures respecting its site, see Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._, and C. and H., I. 178, n. Cicero passed through it on his road from Cilicia to Iconium. Cic. _ad. Fam._ XIII. 73: Cum Antipatro _Derbete_ mihi non solum hospitium, verum etiam summa familiaritas intercedit.

891 ‒ According to some a Syrian dialect, according to others a corrupt form of Greek. Lycaonia is one of those ethnological rather than political districts of Asia Minor mentioned in the N. T.; politically it was sometimes in Cappadocia, sometimes in Galatia.

892 ‒ Compare the story of Baucis and Philemon in Ovid’s _Metam._ VIII. 611, &c.

893 ‒ Comp. Ovid, _Fasti_, V. 495.

894 ‒ Ἐπὶ τοὺς πύλωνας in Acts xiv. 13, does not denote the gates of the city, but the vestibule or gate which gave admission from the public street into the court of the house. So it is used Mtt. xxvi. 71 (on which see note above, p. 290); Lk. xvi. 20; Acts x. 17; Acts xii. 13. C. and H., I. 182, n.; Neander’s _Planting_, 113, n.

895 ‒ Compare the Apostle’s language in Rom. iii. 25.

896 ‒ Comp. Mtt. xii. 24.

897 ‒ This is the occasion alluded to in 2 Cor. xi. 24, 25, “_Once_ I was stoned.” At Iconium the _design_ had been formed of stoning him: “Had the assault been completed, had the history related that a stone was thrown, as it relates that preparations were made both by Jews and Gentiles to stone Paul and his companions, or even had the account of this transaction stopped, without going on to inform us that St Paul and his companions were _aware of the danger and fled_, a contradiction between the history and the Epistle would have ensued. Truth is necessarily consistent; but it is scarcely possible that independent accounts, not having truth to guide them, should thus advance to the very brink of contradiction without falling into it.” Paley’s _Horæ Paulinæ_.

898 ‒ One was certainly Timothy, the son of a Jewess named Eunice, his father being a Greek (Acts xvi. 1), whom Paul afterwards found at Lystra, already a disciple, and of good report among the brethren (Acts xvi. 2). In 1 Tim. i. 2, i. 18; 2 Tim. ii. 1, he calls him _his own son in the faith_, and in 2 Tim. iii. 10, 11, reminds him of his intimate and personal knowledge of the sufferings he had endured at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra (note the accurate order of the places). There is the strongest reason, therefore, for believing that he was now converted to the faith. See Birks’ Ed. of Paley’s _Horæ Paulinæ_, p. 153, and note on p. 155.

899 ‒ See above, p. 404, n.

900 ‒ On the Jewish feeling of jealousy and suspicion even towards proselytes, see above, p. 400, n. 2.

901 ‒ C. and H., I. 197.

902 ‒ Lightfoot _On the Galatians_, p. 286.

903 ‒ They were converted Pharisees who had imported their dogmas into the Christian Church.

904 ‒ Compare the words παρεισάκτους, παρεισῆλθον in Gal. ii. 4. “The metaphor is that of spies or traitors introducing themselves by stealth into the enemy’s camp.” See the passages quoted by Lightfoot.

905 ‒ For an exhaustive note on the identity of the journey mentioned in the Epistle to the Galatians and in Acts xv., see Lightfoot, _Com. on the Gal._ 110–113.

906 ‒ The historian St Luke naturally records the external impulse, which led to the mission; the Apostle himself states his inward motive: “What I did,” he says, “I did not owing to circumstances, not as yielding to pressure, not in deference to others, but because the Spirit of God told me it was right.” The very stress which he lays on this revelation seems to shew that other influences were at work. Lightfoot, _Com._ p. 111.

907 ‒ Compare the combination of the natural and the supernatural in the case of Peter’s journey to Cæsarea; see above, pp. 398, 399; and in St Paul’s reasons for leaving Jerusalem, above, pp. 391, 392.

908 ‒ Neander’s _Planting_, p. 115.

909 ‒ The great Roman road followed the Phœnician coast-line. On the previous mention of Phœnicia, see Acts xi. 19, 20; above, p. 373.

910 ‒ Κατ᾽ ἰδίαν δὲ τοῖς δοκοῦσι, Gal. ii. 2.

911 ‒ See Neander’s _Planting_, I. 115, n. “The private consultation was a wise precaution to avoid misunderstanding: the public conference was a matter of necessity to obtain a recognition of the freedom of the Gentile churches.” Lightfoot _in loc._

912 ‒ Neander’s _Planting_, I. 117; Baumgarten’s _Apostolic History_.

913 ‒ Ἀφ᾽ ἡμερῶν ἀρχαίων, Acts xv. 7, refers to the whole period of the Gospel up to that day, and especially to the conversion of Cornelius about 12 years before.

914 ‒ Compare the Lord’s own words, Mtt. xxiii. 4.

915 ‒ See above, p. 410; for indications in the New Testament of his important position comp. (1) Gal. i. 19; (2) Acts xii. 17; (3) Gal. ii. 9; (4) Acts xxi. 18.

916 ‒ From 1 Cor. ix. 5 we gather that, like Samuel, he was married, but in other respects a strict observer of the Nazarite rule; Euseb. _H. E._ II. 23.

917 ‒ Διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐτοῦ, ἐκαλεῖτο Δίκαιος καὶ Ὠβλίας· ὅ ἐστι Ἑλληνιστὶ περιοχὴ τοῦ ♦λαοῦ καὶ δικαιοσύνη. Hegesippus quoted in Euseb. _H. E._ II. 23.

918 ‒ See Stanley’s _Apostolical Age_, pp. 302, 331; Con. and Howson, I. 205; Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._

919 ‒ He characteristically uses the Jewish form of the Apostle’s name, Acts xv. 14, as Peter does himself 2 Pet. i. 1.

920 ‒ The citation is made freely from the LXX version.

921 ‒ Only a portion of the victims was offered in sacrifice to the heathen gods, the rest was consumed by the offerer with his family and friends, or was sold in the shambles. Hence most public entertainments and many private meals were more or less remotely connected with heathen sacrifices, which, as Thucydides relates (II. 38), became the chief means of social enjoyment. Such meat the more scrupulous Jewish converts would not touch, according to the warning of Malachi (i. 7–12), or the good example of Daniel (i. 8). See Stanley _On the Cor._ I. 150, 151. Hence the doubt and the contention between the Gentile and Jewish converts alluded to in 1 Cor. viii. ix.

922 ‒ See Levit. xvii. 13, 14; Comp. above, p. 118, n.

923 ‒ See _Class-Book of O. T. History_, p. 156.

924 ‒ C. and H., 207; Gibbon, XXIII.

925 ‒ See above, p. 412, n.; Milman, _Hist. of Christianity_, I. 394; Neander’s _Planting_, I. p. 121.

926 ‒ Ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ Τίτος ὁ σὺν ἐμοὶ Ἕλλην ὢν ἠναγκάσθη περιτμηθῆναι, Gal. ii. 3. _But not even Titus_, though (1) the pressure exerted in his case was so great, though (2) as my fellow-labourer he would be brought constantly in contact with the Jews, see Acts xvi. 3, though (3) _a Gentile, was compelled to be circumcised_. See Lightfoot and Ellicott _in loc._

927 ‒ Στῦλοι, Gal. ii. 9, a title applied by the Jews to the great teachers of the Law, see Wetstein _in loc._: and, the Church being regarded as the house or temple of God, in the New Testament to Christians; comp. Rev. iii. 12; 1 Tim. iii. 15.

928 ‒ This the Apostle had already done, see Acts xi. 29, 30, above, p. 404; this also he did on the occasion of his last journey to Jerusalem, Rom. xv. 26, 27; Acts xxiv. 17.

929 ‒ John Mark appears to have accompanied them. Comp. Acts xv. 37; Neander’s _Planting_, I. p. 125.

930 ‒ Derived from the Latin silva, _a wood_: this seems to hint that he was a Hellenistic Jew, and from Acts xvi. 37 we gather that he was a Roman citizen; by some he is identified with the Silvanus mentioned in 1 Pet. v. 12.

931 ‒ The refusal to eat meat with the impure was one of their leading principles: comp. Lk. xv. 2, and see above, p. 247.

932 ‒ Lightfoot _in loc._, who deems this not altogether improbable, and compares Acts xv. 24, xv. 1. See also Ellicott’s note.

933 ‒ Ὑπέστελλεν καὶ ἀφώριζεν ἑαυτόν, Gal. ii. 12: “the words describe forcibly the cautious withdrawal of a timid person who shrinks from observation, ὑπέστελλεν denoting the partial, ἀφώριζεν the complete and final separation.” Lightfoot _in loc._

934 ‒ Τοὺς ἐκ περιτομῆς, Gal. ii. 12. Comp. Acts x. 45, xi. 2; Rom. iv. 12; Col. iv. 11; Tit. i. 10.

935 ‒ Οἱ λοιποὶ Ἱουδαῖοι See Lightfoot’s note.

936 ‒ Τῇ ὑποκρίσει, their _acting, assuming a part_, which veiled their genuine feelings, and made them appear otherwise than they were.

937 ‒ That is, his conduct, if persevered in, would have this effect.

938 ‒ Almost a synonym for Gentiles: see 1 Macc. ii. 44; and comp. Lk. vi. 32, 33; Mtt. v. 47; Mtt. xxvi. 45; Lk. xviii. 32.

939 ‒ Con. and Howson, I. 215.

940 ‒ Ibid. See Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._, Art. _Peter_.

941 ‒ The breach between them, however, appears to have been but temporary. St Paul afterwards mentions his former friend with commendation, see 1 Cor. ix. 6. At Salamis the tomb of Barnabas is shewn.

942 ‒ Mark, too, though now the cause of this sharp contention, afterwards won the Apostle’s confidence. He appears to have been with Paul during his first imprisonment at Rome (Philem. 24), and was acknowledged to be _profitable to the ministry_ (2 Tim. iv. 11), and a cause of _comfort_ (Col. iv. 10, 11).

943 ‒ Comp. Rom. xv. 20; 2 Cor. x. 16. Neander’s _Planting_, I. 170.

944 ‒ For their planting, see above, p. 391.

945 ‒ The journey was probably undertaken in the early part of the year A.D. 51.

946 ‒ See above, p. 421, n. His father, whose name is unknown, was a Ἕλλην (Acts xvi. 3), a Gentile, and probably died during his son’s infancy. If in any sense a proselyte, he could only have been a _Proselyte of the Gate_. Such mixed marriages, though strictly forbidden by the Mosaic Law (Deut. vii. 3), and always condemned by the stricter Jews, were not uncommon in the later periods of Jewish history. The children of such marriages were termed Mamzerim (bastards). But even such a child, if a wise student of the Law, “was, in theory, above an ignorant high-priest.” Lightfoot, _Hor. Heb._ on Mtt. xxiii. 14, quoted in Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._, Art. _Timothy_. The education, therefore, Timothy received, may possibly “have helped to overcome the prejudice the Jews would have against him on this ground.” “It is not improbable that the mother and grandmother of Timothy may have been connected with those Jews from Babylonia whom Antiochus settled in Phrygia three centuries before.” C. and H., I. 243, and see above, p. 10.

947 ‒ They knew that his father was a Greek, and that he had been allowed to grow up to the age of manhood without the sign of circumcision――that his “condition was that of a negligent, almost an apostate Israelite.” They might “tolerate a heathen, as such, in the synagogue or the church, but an uncircumcised Israelite would be to them a horror and a portent. With a special view, therefore, to their feelings, and making no sacrifice of principle, the Apostle _took and circumcised him_” (Acts xvi. 3). The parents of Titus, on the other hand, _were both Gentiles_, and in his case the Apostle maintained the principle that the Gentiles did not need circumcision (Gal. ii. 3). See Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._ “According to the Jewish rules, the child should follow the mother; and the son of a mixed marriage, whose mother was a Jewess, was bound to be circumcised, otherwise the marriage would not have been recognised by the Jewish law.” Kitto’s _Bibl. Illustr._

948 ‒ Probably at Iconium, C. and H., I. 246. From 1 Tim. vi. 12 we gather that on this occasion he witnessed _a good confession_ before many witnesses; from 1 Tim. i. 18, that _prophecies_ sanctioned his dedication to the work; from 1 Tim. iv. 14, that the bestowal of _gifts_ accompanied the laying on of hands of the Church and the Apostle himself.

949 ‒ Not at this time the large and populous province of Asia Minor, which it afterwards became in the age of Constantine, but a “geographical expression denoting a debateable country of indeterminate extent, diffused over the frontiers of the provinces of proconsular Asia and Galatia, but belonging chiefly to the former.” C. and H., I. 248.

950 ‒ Galatia――the “Gaul of the East”――is a somewhat ambiguous expression, and might denote either (i) the Roman province of that name, or (ii) Galatia proper. The former comprised nearly all the centre of Asia Minor, and was bounded by Bithynia and Pontus on the north, proconsular “Asia” on the west, Pamphylia and Cilicia on the south, and Cappadocia on the east, including south-eastern Phrygia, Lycaonia, Isauria, and part of Pisidia. The latter (and the more probable area of the Galatian churches) was a comparatively small district, having for its three chief towns, Ancyra, Pessinus, and Tavium or Tavia, and occupied by the Gauls, who poured down into Italy and Greece in the third century B.C. Repulsed at Delphi (B.C. 279) a considerable body of these invaders of southern Europe forced their way into Thrace, occupied the coast of the Propontis, crossed over into Asia Minor, and before long conquered the whole of the peninsula north of the Taurus. After ravaging the country far and wide they were signally defeated by Attalus king of Pergamus, B.C. 230, and penned up “in a strip of land in the interior of Asia Minor, about 200 miles in length, and stretching from N.E. to S.W.,” which was divided among the three invading tribes, the Tectosages, the Trocmi, the Tolistoboii. Hence they increased rapidly in numbers and prosperity, took part as mercenaries in all the wars of the time, and acted as body-guards to the king of Syria and Egypt, and even Herod the Great. After their power had been materially curtailed by neighbouring monarchs, they attracted the notice of the Romans during the campaign against Antiochus the Great, and were subjugated by the consul Manlius; during a century and a half they were then governed by native princes, and finally reduced to a Roman province by Augustus. See C. and H., I. 222–225; and the Introduction to Lightfoot’s _Commentary on the Galatians_, pp. 4–7.

951 ‒ Lightfoot, _Galatians_, p. 21.

952 ‒ Comp. 2 Cor. xii. 7 with Gal. iv. 13, 14. Many and various are the opinions respecting the σκόλοψ τῇ σαρκί, the _thorn_, or rather _stake_, here alluded to by the Apostle. The following are the chief: (1) _persecution from his enemies_, the opinion of the Greek fathers; (2) _carnal thoughts_, the opinion of mediæval writers; (3) _spiritual trial_, temptation to despair and doubt, &c., the opinion of the Reformers; (4) _bodily ailment_ of some kind, an opinion first expressed by Irenæus, and since adopted by most modern expositors. Combining the two passages cited above we infer (1) that it was marked by extremely acute pain, whence it could be compared to a “stake driven through the flesh;” (2) that it was of a very humiliating nature; (3) that it could not be concealed from others, and exposed him to contempt and even loathing; (4) that it was a grievous hindrance to his constancy and resolution; (5) that it was (possibly) connected with that meanness of personal appearance to which he alludes, 2 Cor. x. 10; and (6) that it was recurring (comp. Gal. iv. 13, 14 with 1 Thess. ii. 18; 1 Cor. ii. 3; 2 Cor. i. 8, 9). See the interesting reference to the mysterious malady of Alfred the Great, quoted in Lightfoot’s _Galatians_, pp. 173, 174. Amongst bodily afflictions, (a) acute pains in the head, (b) epilepsy, (c) a complaint in the eyes, have found the chief supporters. See Lightfoot’s _Excursus_, and Stanley on 2 Cor. xii. 7.

953 ‒ Δι᾽ ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν τὸ πρότερον = _On account of an infirmity in my flesh I preached the Gospel amongst you on the former of my two visits_.

954 ‒ It is not improbable that St Paul founded the earliest churches of Galatia (Lightfoot, p. 19). Pessinus was the seat of the primitive worship of Cybele, the “Great Mother,” superintended by her fanatical and effeminate priests, the Galli (Cic. _Fam._ II. 12. 2; Pliny, III. 32, 45). Ancyra was the capital of the Roman province, the site of a magnificent temple of marble built by Augustus, the meeting-place of all the great roads in the north of the peninsula, and the resort of many Jews. C. and H., I. 520.

955 ‒ This, however, did not prevent their being afterwards carried away into apostasy. With their wonted fickleness they rapidly changed their sentiments (Gal. i. 6). Compare Cæsar’s words concerning the Gauls, _Mobilitate et levitate animi_, _B. G._ II. 1. _Infirmitatem Gallorum veritus quod sunt in consiliis capiendis mobiles et novis plerumque rebus student, nihil his committendum ratus_, _B. G._ IV. 5. Comp. Tac. _Germ._ XXIX.

956 ‒ C. and H., I. 252.

957 ‒ Ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ: see above, p. 344, n. Paley (_Horæ Paulinæ_, 1 Cor. No. 2) well compares the relation of proconsular Asia to the rest of the peninsula with that of Portugal in relation to Spain.

958 ‒ Ἐλθόντες κατὰ τὴν Μυσίαν = _having come over against Mysia_.

959 ‒ Εἰς τὴν Βιθυνίαν is the reading in the edition of Lachmann and Tischendorf.

960 ‒ Τὸ πνεῦμα Ἰησοῦ is the better reading here.

961 ‒ Vulgate _transeuntes_. This seems to be the force of παρελθόντες here. They _passed along_ the frontier of Mysia, as it was popularly understood, and they _passed by_ the whole district without staying to evangelise it.

962 ‒ This was its full name (Liv. XXXV. 42); sometimes it was called simply Alexandria, sometimes simply Troas. Its first founder, Antigonus, one of the generals of Alexander, called it _Antigoneia Troas_, and peopled it with the inhabitants of some neighbouring cities. Lysimachus, who succeeded to his power on the Dardanelles, increased and adorned it, but altered its name to Alexandria Troas. It was a sea-port town at the north-west corner of Asia Minor, near the site of ancient Troy, and opposite the south-eastern extremity of the island of Tenedos, and its site is now marked by the modern village of _Eski Stamboul_, Old Constantinople. Under the Romans, in consequence partly of the legend of their origin from Troy, partly of its connection by good roads with the interior, and its being the chief point of arrival and departure for those who sailed between western Asia and Macedonia, it became a place of great importance, and Augustus made it a colony, and conferred upon it the _Jus Italicum_, i.e. exempted its land from taxation. Con. and Howson, I. 257, 258; Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._

963 ‒ See Baumgarten’s _Apost. History_, II. 107.

964 ‒ Comp. the vision of St Peter at Joppa, above, pp. 397, 398.

965 ‒ C. and H., I. 260.

966 ‒ Comp. the return voyage, Acts xx. 6.

967 ‒ “The ancient city, and therefore probably the usual anchorage, was on the N. side, which would be sufficiently sheltered from a S.E. wind.” Samothrace is a lofty conspicuous island, visible at Troas towering over Imbros. Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._

968 ‒ The full and proper name was _Colonia Augusta Julia Philippensis_. The father of Alexander built it in a place called Krenides, or _the Place of Fountains_, situated in a plain of extraordinary fertility between the ranges of Pangæus and Hæmus, about nine miles from the sea, and on a spot watered by numerous streams. Augustus made it a _colony_, to be at once a perpetual memorial of his victory over Brutus, and a border-garrison of the province of Macedonia.

969 ‒ The word _first_ denotes the _first_ city in its geographical relation to St Paul’s journey, not the first politically either of Macedonia or a part of it. The chief city of the province was Thessalonica, and that of Macedonia Prima was not Philippi but Amphipolis.

970 ‒ Like Antioch in Pisidia (see above, p. 414), and Alexandria Troas (above, p. 438, n.), Philippi was a Roman colony, a miniature resemblance of imperial Rome. Originally designed as military safeguards of the frontiers, and to check insurgent provincials, the colonies were parts of the fortifications of the empire. The colonists, veteran soldiers, freedmen, or Italians, went thither with all the pomp of a Roman army, and were enrolled in one of the tribes. They were amenable only to their own magistrates, called _duumviri_ or, as they delighted to style themselves, _proprætors_ (comp. Hor. _Sat._ I. v. 34–36; Cic. _de Lege Agr._ II. 34), were governed by Roman laws, and had Latin inscriptions stamped upon their coins. See Art. _Colonia_ in Smith’s _Dict. of Antiquities_.

971 ‒ C. and H., p. 270.

972 ‒ Ἔξω τῆς πύλης is the better reading in Acts xvi. 13.

973 ‒ See above, p. 440, n.

974 ‒ Σεβομένη, τὸν Θεόν, Acts xvi. 14.

975 ‒ A city on the Lycus, founded by Seleucus Nicator, on the confines of Mysia and Ionia, about midway between Pergamus and Sardis; now called _Ak-hissar_. It is mentioned in connection with the dyeing trade in Hom. _Il._ IV. 141, for which it has still a considerable reputation.

976 ‒ Comp. Acts xiii. 14; Lk. iv. 20. Comp. above, p. 112.

977 ‒ High up in Hæmus, among the tribe of the Satræ. Comp. Ὁ Θρῃξὶ μάντις, Eurip. _Hecub._ 1267. Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._, Art. _Philippi_.

978 ‒ Acts xvi. 16, Ἔχουσαν πνεῦμα Πύθωνος (the better reading is Πύθωνα). Πύθων = (1) the prophetic serpent at Delphi, (2) the Pythian Phœbus or Apollo, from whom all who claimed the powers of divination received their title, and were called Pythons, exercising their arts by means of internal mutterings and ventriloquism.

979 ‒ _These men_, said they, _are throwing the whole city into confusion, being Jews to begin with; and they are inculcating new customs, which it is not lawful for us to receive or adopt, being Roman citizens_ (Acts xvi. 21). The force of the accusation that they were _Jews to begin with_ (Ἰουδαῖοι ὑπάρχοντες) will be more fully apprehended by remembering (1) that Judaism was a _religio licita_ for Jews, but that they were forbidden to make proselytes among the Romans; (2) that the Jews had lately been driven out of Rome in consequence of an uproar, and that Philippi would naturally imitate the mother-city; _Judæos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes Roma expulit_; Sueton. _Claud._ xxv.

980 ‒ Ῥαβδίζειν = _to beat with rods_, as in 2 Cor. xi. 25.

981 ‒ Probably like the dungeon into which Jeremiah was let down (comp. Acts xvi. 34, ἀναγαγών) with cords (Jer. xxxviii. 6), or the _Tullianum_ at Rome. C. and H., I. 280, n.

982 ‒ Τὸ ξύλον, Acts xvi. 24. Comp. Aristoph. _Eq._ 1049, 1376; Herod. VI. 75, IX. 37; and the Latin _nervus_, Plaut. _Capt._ III. 5. 71.

983 ‒ “Lex Porcia (A.U.C. 306) virgas ab omnium civium Romanorum corpore amovet.” Cic. _pro Rabirio_, Chap. III. “Facinus est vinciri civem Romanum, scelus verberari.” Cic. _in Verr._ V. 66.

984 ‒ Amphipolis stood on an eminence on the left bank of the Strymon, about 3 miles from the sea and 33 from Philippi. Originally called “Nine Ways,” from the number of Thracian and Macedonian roads meeting here, it was colonised by the Athenians, and named Amphipolis from being nearly surrounded by the Strymon. For the battle fought under its walls during the Peloponnesian war, in which Cleon and Brasidas were killed, see Thuc. v. 6–11.

985 ‒ Apollonia is laid down in the Itineraries as being 30 miles from Amphipolis. Its exact position is not known, but “it lay somewhere in the inland part of the journey, where the Via Egnatia crosses from the Gulf of the Strymon to that of Thessalonica.” C. and H., I. 295.

986 ‒ Thessalonica, 37 miles distant from Apollonia, is still the most important town of European Turkey, next after Constantinople, and retains to this day the name of _Saloniki_. Originally named Therma (whence the _Thermaic Gulf_), it was rebuilt and enlarged by Cassander, son of Antipater, and named Thessalonica after his first wife, the sister of Alexander the Great. Under the Romans, when Macedonia was divided into four governments by Paulus Æmilius, it was made the capital of the second; when the whole was consolidated into one province, it became practically the metropolis of the whole. During the first civil war it was the head-quarters of the Pompeian party and the senate, during the second it took the side of Octavius, by whom it was made a free city (see above, p. 379, n.), a privilege commemorated on some of its coins. Situated on the Thermaic Gulf, and commanding the trade by sea, lying on the Via Egnatia, and connected with other important Roman roads, communicating inland with the wide plains of Macedonia, and possessing all the advantages of a busy commercial town, it formed one of the most appropriate starting points of the Gospel in Europe. Comp. 1 Thess. i. 8; C. and H., I. 295, 297; Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._

987 ‒ Ἡ συναγωγή, Acts xvii. 1, _the synagogue_, not _a_ synagogue, as in our E. V.

988 ‒ A form which the name Joshua seems sometimes to have taken: see 1 Macc. viii. 17; 2 Macc. ii. 23. He was perhaps a Hellenist, and may possibly be alluded to in Rom. xvi. 21.

989 ‒ The general characteristics of a “free city” have been described above, p. 379, n. Their form of government was very various. In some the old magistracies and customs were maintained without any material alteration. In Thessalonica we find an assembly of the people, _demus_, and supreme magistrates called _politarchs_ (Acts xvii. 8), a title still legible on an archway of the town “in an inscription informing us of the number of these magistrates, and mentioning the very names of some who bore that office not long before the day of St Paul.” C. and H., I. 308.

990 ‒ On the severity of the laws respecting treason, see above, p. 307, n.

991 ‒ Λαβόντες τὸ ἱκανόν, apparently a translation of the Latin law-phrase _satis accipere_.

992 ‒ Berœa, 60 miles distant from Thessalonica, said to have derived its name from the abundance of its waters, now called _Verria_, or _Kara-Verria_, was situated on the eastern slope of the Olympian mountain-range south-west of Pella, and commanded an extensive view of the plain of the Axius and Haliacmon. It still contains 18 or 20,000 inhabitants, and stands second in importance of the cities of European Turkey.

993 ‒ As they had pursued him from Iconium to Lystra; see above, p. 420. See Paley’s _Horæ Paulinæ_, 1 Thess. No. 5.

994 ‒ Ὡς ἐπὶ τὴν θάλασσαν, Acts xvii. 14, does not imply that any stratagem was used. The words simply “denote the likelihood that in the first instance they had no fixed plan of going to _Athens_, but merely to the _sea_: their further course was determined by providential circumstances.” C. and H., I. 315, n.

995 ‒ Dium, near the foot of mount Olympus, was “the great bulwark of Macedonia on the south,” and a Roman colony, like Philippi.

996 ‒ Κατείδωλον (Acts xvii. 16), not _given up to idolatry_, but _full of idols_, like κατάδενδρος, _full of trees_, κατάμπελος, _full of vines_. “Replete as the whole of Greece was with objects of devotion, there were more Gods in Athens than in all the rest of the country, and the Roman satirist hardly exaggerates, when he says that it was easier to find a god there than a man.” See Wordsworth’s _Athens and Attica_.

997 ‒ Σπερμολόγος = (1) a bird that picks up seeds from the ground; (2) a pauper prowling about the market-place; (3) a parasite who lives by his wits, “a contemptible and worthless person.” See C. and H., I. 345, n.

998 ‒ For a description of the objects in full view of the Apostle from the summit of Mars’ hill, see Con. and Howson, I. 348, &c.; Wordsworth’s _Athens and Attica_, ch. XI.

999 ‒ It was no formal trial on a charge of introducing foreign religions. Something might have been founded upon it afterwards; for the present it was a hearing only with a view to information. See Neander’s _Planting_, I. 188, n.

1000 ‒ On the Apostle’s expectation of the arrival of Timothy, see Paley’s _Horæ Paulinæ_, 1 Thess. No. 4.

1001 ‒ Ἀγνώστῳ Θεῷ To _the_ unknown god, however, “would be quite as near the sense of the inscription upon any particular one of such altars,” C. and H., I. 350, n. Altars were erected by the Athenians, not only to particular gods, but to Fame, to Modesty, to Energy, to Persuasion, and to Pity; and besides thus deifying abstractions, it was not unusual, on the occurrence of great public calamities, such as the plague at Athens, when they sought aid in vain from their gods of wood and stone, to erect altars to some unknown god, whom they deemed they had offended.

1002 ‒ Δεισιδαιμονεστέρους ὑμᾶς θεωρῶ, Acts xvii. 22. The word is here used not in any offensive sense. It points to the _extreme carefulness_ of the Athenians in matters of religion. See δεισιδαίμων in Trench’s _Synonyms_, Vol. I. pp. 187–197, and Alford _in loc._

1003 ‒ Comp. the language of Stephen, Acts vii. 48; above, p. 369.

1004 ‒ In opposition to the well-known boast of the Athenians that they were αὐτόχθονες, and of a nobler origin than that of the “barbarians,” as they styled the rest of the world.

1005 ‒ The words occur (i) in a poem of Aratus, a native of Cilicia, the Apostle’s own country; (ii) in a hymn of Cleanthes, a Lycian poet. There is some doubt from which the Apostle quoted. See above, p. 382.

1006 ‒ Ὑπεριδών, _i.e._ without inflicting punishment. Comp. Acts xiv. 16; Rom. iii. 25. No such idea as is implied in the words _winked at_ of our version belongs to the original word. See Wordsworth _in loc._

1007 ‒ Of Damaris nothing further is known. Dionysius is said by some to have been the first bishop of Athens.

1008 ‒ The city had the constitution of a _colony_, and was the metropolis of a _province_. At first it was proconsular, afterwards Tiberius placed it under a procurator of its own, but Claudius restored it to its place among the proconsular provinces. Its full name was _Colonia Laus Julia Corinthus_. C. and H., I. 389; Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._

1009 ‒ Suet. _Claud._ XXV. Judæus impulsore Chresto, assiduè tumultuantes, Româ expulit.

1010 ‒ See Milman’s _Hist. Christ._ I. p. 443; Lewin’s _Life of St Paul_, I. 294. The return of the Italian Jews from Rome after the day of Pentecost (see above, p. 345) would account for the spread of Christianity to Rome.

1011 ‒ See above, p. 381. The name Priscilla appears in 2 Tim. iv. 19 under the form _Prisca_, a well-known Roman name. “Livia and Livilla, Drusa and Drusilla, are used by Latin authors of the same person.” C. and H., I. 358, n.

1012 ‒ Or _he was_ engrossed with _the word_; Instabat verbo. Compare Lk. xii. 50. Hitherto he had been labouring day and night with his own hands, determined to be chargeable to no man. Now the pecuniary supplies brought from Thessalonica (2 Cor. xi. 9; and comp. Phil. iv. 15) enabled him to devote himself still more earnestly to his Apostolic work. See Wordsworth’s note _in loc._; Lewin’s _Life of St Paul_, I. 298.

1013 ‒ For illustrations of the Apostle’s feelings at this time, see 2 Thess. iii. 2; 1 Cor. ii.3.

1014 ‒ His original name was Annæus Novatus, and he took the name of Gallio from having been adopted into the family of Junius Gallio.

1015 ‒ Solebam tibi dicere Gallionem fratrem meum (quem nemo non parum amat etiam qui amare plus non potest) alia vitia non nosse hoc etiam odisse.... Nemo mortalium uni tam dulcis est quam hic omnibus. Seneca, _Nat. Quæst._ IV.

1016 ‒ On the proconsular power and the tribunal, see above, p. 147, n.

1017 ‒ The true reading in Acts xviii. 17 appears to be πάντες, without specifying exactly who they were. It seems, probable, however, that they were Greeks.

1018 ‒ See above, p. 111. It is not certain that this is the same Sosthenes mentioned in 1 Cor. i. 1.

1019 ‒ Some would understand this to have been done by ♦Aquila. The form of the sentence is somewhat ambiguous in the original, and the word κειράμενος might be connected either with the nearer Ἀκύλας or the more remote Παῦλος. On the Nazarite vow see Num. vi. 3, 5, 13, 14, 18.――_Class-Book of Old Testament History_, p. 158.

1020 ‒ Now _Kichries_, about 8 or 9 miles from Corinth across the Isthmian plain.

1021 ‒ Silas would seem to have remained behind at Jerusalem. We do not meet with him again in connection with St Paul. He is next mentioned in 1 Pet. v. 12. It is not improbable that Titus also was now with the Apostle Paul.

1022 ‒ An abbreviated form of Apollonius. On the Jews of Alexandria and their theological influence, see above, p. 364, n.

1023 ‒ It is not improbable that he again worked with them at the same trade: comp. Acts xx. 34, 1 Cor. iv. 11, 12.

1024 ‒ That is, probably, the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, such as were bestowed on Cornelius and his company after their baptism, see above, p. 399. Note the force of the aorist here.

1025 ‒ Such as Epaphras, Archippus, and Philemon. See Col. i. 7; iv. 7, 12; Philem. 23. C. and H., II. 13, and note.

1026 ‒ It retained even under the Romans its old democratic constitution, and Josephus (_Ant._ XIV. 10. 12; XVI. 6. 4, 7) mentions the βουλή or γερουσία = the _senate_, the ἐκκλησία = _assembly_, the δῆμος = the _people_. As Thessalonica had its _politarchs_ (see above, p. 447, n., and Athens its _archons_, so Ephesus had its own magistrates, amongst whom the γραμματεύς (Acts xix. 35) = _town-clerk_ or _recorder_, held a high position.

1027 ‒ See generally on Ephesus and its temple, Con. and Howson, I. 73–79; Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._, and _Dict. of Classical Geography_.

1028 ‒ The head was a mural crown, each hand held a bar of metal, and the lower part ended in a rude block covered with figures of animals and mystic inscriptions. Her image resembled an Indian idol rather than the beautiful forms which crowded the Acropolis of Athens. “Like the Palladium of Troy――like the most ancient Minerva at Athens――like the Paphian Venus and the Cybele of Pessinus (see above, p. 437, n.)――like the Ceres in Sicily mentioned by Cicero (_in Verr._ V. 187), it was believed to have fallen down from the sky” (Acts xix. 35). C. and H., I. 78. The ceremonies of her worship were conducted by a troop of virgin priestesses called Melissæ, and a number of priests, eunuchs from the interior of Asia Minor, called Megabizi.

1029 ‒ Both the original words used here are Latin. The first, σουδάριον, _sudarium_, occurs in Lk. xix. 20; Jn. xi. 44, xx. 7, and is translated _napkin_; the latter, σιμικίνθιον, _semi-cinctium_, appears to denote a _shawl_ or _handkerchief_, or perhaps an apron used by workmen. Baumgarten would connect them with the Apostle’s daily labour in his own support. See Wordsworth _in loc._

1030 ‒ Or perhaps the head of one of the 24 courses of Priests.

1031 ‒ The Vulgate here has Jesum _novi_ et Paulum _scio_. Γινώσκω expresses knowledge of a stronger degree than ἐπιστᾶμαι (which only occurs elsewhere in Mk. xiv. 68). The former = _I recognise and own His power_; the latter = _I know, am acquainted with_. See Wordsworth’s note _in loc._

1032 ‒ About £2000 of our money. The coin called ἀργυρίου in Acts xix. 19, and translated _piece of silver_, was probably the silver _drachma_, of the value of about 10d.

1033 ‒ He does not, however, seem to have reached Corinth on this occasion, and St Paul himself doubted whether he would be able to do so. Erastus is probably the “treasurer” of Corinth alluded to in Rom. xvi. 23; 2 Tim. iv. 20.

1034 ‒ From a comparison of 2 Cor. ii. 1, xii. 14, 21, xiii. 1, 2, some would infer that the Apostle paid an unrecorded visit to Corinth during his three years’ stay at Ephesus, and on the authority of 1 Cor. v. 9–12 that he afterwards wrote a short letter to the Church there respecting the exclusion of profligates from the Christian body. See C. and H., II. 18–21.

1035 ‒ April or May, A.D. 57. See C. and H., II. 84; Lewin’s _Life of St Paul_, I. 439; Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._, Art. _Ephesus_.

1036 ‒ It is not certain whether these were models of the whole temple or of the shrine. Such models, however, were eagerly purchased by strangers, and carried by devotees on journeys, or set up in their houses. The material might be wood, or gold, or silver. C. and H., II. 78.

1037 ‒ It is not improbable that it was on this occasion he was rescued by Aquila and Priscilla at the risk of their own lives, as mentioned in Rom. xvi. 3, 4.

1038 ‒ The Asiarchs, Ἀσιάρχαι (Acts xix. 31), were officers, generally ten in number, appointed like the _ædiles_ at Rome, to preside over the games held in different parts of the province of Asia, just as other provinces had their _Galatarchs, Lysiarchs, Bythiniarchs_, &c. “They held for the time a kind of sacerdotal position; and when robed in mantles of purple and crowned with garlands, they assumed the duty of regulating the great gymnastic contests, and controlling the tumultuous crowd in the theatre; they might literally be called the _chiefs of Asia_.” C. and H., II. 83; Lewin’s _Life of St Paul_, I. 350–353.

1039 ‒ This officer “had to do with state-papers; he was keeper of the archives; he read what was of public moment before the senate and assembly; he was present when money was deposited in the temple; and when letters were sent to the people of Ephesus, they were officially addressed to him. Hence we can readily account for his name appearing so often on the coins of Ephesus (see C. and H., II. 89, and p. 79). He seems sometimes to have given the name to the year, like the archons at Athens, or the consuls at Rome.” C. and H., II. 81.

1040 ‒ Νεωκόρον, Acts xix. 35, literally _Temple-sweeper_, was originally an expression of humility, and applied to the lowest menials engaged in the care of the Temple. Afterwards it became a title of high honour, and was applied not only to persons, but to cities and communities. Thus Ephesus was personified as the “devotee” of Diana, and boastifully stamped the name upon her coins.

1041 ‒ Ephesus was an assize-town (_forum_ or _conventus_), which the proconsul would visit at stated seasons, attended by his interpreter, for all legal business was conducted in Latin. C. and H., II. 82.

1042 ‒ See above, p. 461, n.; for the Apostle’s own feelings in respect to the tumult, see 2 Cor. i. 8–11, on which see Paley’s _Horæ Paulinæ_, 2 Cor. No. IV.

1043 ‒ Probably by sea: comp. Acts xx. 13, 14, though it is to be remembered that one of the great roads passed by Smyrna and Pergamus between Ephesus and Troas.

1044 ‒ See above, pp. 438, 439.

1045 ‒ See Birks’ _Horæ Apostolicæ_, p. 237; Neander’s _Planting_, I. 247.

1046 ‒ See above, p. 440.

1047 ‒ Stanley’s _Comm. on 2 Cor. ii. 13_.

1048 ‒ See Paley’s _Horæ Paulinæ_ on this passage. Illyricum was an extensive region lying along the Eastern coast of the Adriatic, and contiguous to Mœsia and Macedonia on the East. It included Dalmatia (2 Tim. iv. 10), which was sometimes used for the whole of the district. Both terms are probably used by the Apostle in their most extended sense.

1049 ‒ See Con. and Howson, II. pp. 141–143.

1050 ‒ See above, pp. 436–438.

1051 ‒ Ἐβάσκανεν = _fascinated_, the metaphor being taken from the popular belief in the power of the evil eye. On the fickleness of the Galatian character, see above, p. 437 and note.

1052 ‒ Professor Lightfoot, while placing the Epistle to the Galatians between the Second to the Corinthians and that to the Romans, and referring its date to the winter of A.D. 57 or the spring of A.D. 58, seems to think it may have been written during the journey between Macedonia and Achaia. See _Proleg. to the Comm._, pp. 48–54.

1053 ‒ She was probably a widow of consideration and wealth, acting as one of the deaconesses of the Church. See C. and H., II. 166; Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._

1054 ‒ On the salutation in Rom. xvi. 3, and the return of Aquila and Priscilla since the dispatch of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, see Paley’s _Horæ Paulinæ_, No. II.

1055 ‒ The Epistles to the Romans and Galatians relate to the same general question. But the Apostle had founded the Church in Galatia, hence he puts the point in a great measure upon personal authority (comp. Gal. i. 6, 11, 12,