Acts 13:2

λειτουργούντων δὲ αὐτῶν τῷ κυρίῳ, and as they ministered to the Lord. The verb λειτουργέω is the one usually employed by the LXX. for the ministerial services in the Temple, as it is also Hebrews 10:11, but the parallelism with the next verse, where the service here mentioned is described as ‘fasting and prayer,’ shews us that we are not to attach the former strict signification to it. Such has been the mind of the Church also, for from this verb comes our word ‘Liturgy.’ The old order is giving place to the new, and the terminology is receiving a new sense.

καὶ νηστευόντων, and fasted, i.e. as a solemn act of devotion in the prospect of the work which was before them.

εἶπεν τὸ πνεῦμα τ. ἅ., the Holy Ghost said, speaking to and through the prophets who were there.

ἀφορίσατε δή μοι κ.τ.λ., separate me Barnabas and Saul. Saul had from the first been a ‘vessel of election,’ and so specially severed for this work, and we can see why Barnabas, who had been the first to introduce Saul to the Church at Jerusalem, and whose education may have been very like his own, (for there was much inter-communication between Cyprus and Tarsus,) was appointed to be the sharer of Saul’s labours.

The verb ἀφορίζω is used in the LXX. (Numbers 8:11) of the separation of the Levites for God’s service, and (Exodus 13:12) of living things specially devoted to the Lord.

εἰς τὸ ἔργον κ.τ.λ., for the work whereunto I have called them. As the one portion of this admonition was from the Holy Ghost, we may perhaps be warranted in concluding that the whole course of this first great missionary journey was pointed out also by the Spirit. There is no notice of a deliberation in the Church about the best way for the Apostles to set forth.

ὃ προσκέκλημαι. It is usual in Greek not to repeat with the relative the preposition which stands before the antecedent. Cf. Luke 12:46, ἥξει ὁ κύριος τοῦ δούλου ἐκείνου ἐν ἡμερᾳ ᾗ οὐ προσδοκᾷ.

The middle force of προσκέκλημαι though not possible to be represented in a translation should not be lost sight of. The Holy Ghost says ‘I have called them for myself.’

2. The Babylonian Jews in the 4th century after Christ, and probably much earlier, and all Jews down to this day have the Pentateuch so divided that it is read through once every year, such reading beginning on the Sabbath after the Feast of Tabernacles, and concluding on the so-called last day of that Feast in the next year, the day really being the day of ‘rejoicing in the Law’ (simkhath Torah). Thus they bring their reading to an end in each year, and so of course in the release-year, on the day appointed, and observe the command in this manner.

This comparatively modern, though almost universally prevailing arrangement, accounts for the present larger divisions of the Law for reading, and these divisions have each of them its proper name. For the whole Pentateuch has 54 weekly portions, one for each Sabbath. No year however contains 54 Sabbaths, and beside this, some festivals (or rather, holy convocations) may fall on the Sabbath, and when that happens the Scripture appointed for the festival is read, and not the appointed weekly portion in its sequence. In order that the whole Law may still be read through on the Sabbaths, it is provided that occasionally two weekly sections are combined and read on one Sabbath[5].

[5] Of course there will be less need for this arrangement in an intercalated year, which will have four sabbaths extra.

These weekly sections of the Pentateuch (Parshioth) are each divided into seven portions, and seven readers are called up from the congregation. These are to be (1) an Aaronite (and if such be in the congregation he may not be passed over), (2) a Levite, (3) five ordinary Israelites. These must all be males and at least 13 years and one day old. Practically, in Europe at least, though these are still called up in the congregations, they do not themselves read, but a reader is appointed to read for them. There are congregations in which as a mark of honour more than seven are called up, but this is discountenanced by some Rabbis as likely to lead to abuses.

When the reading of the Law in this manner is concluded the seventh section or part thereof is repeated, and any person may be asked to do this. Such reader is called Maphtir, i.e. the Haphtarist (the person whose reading terminates the reading of the Law). With this is connected the subsequent reading of the selected portions of the Prophets.

In olden times the Haphtarist was also the person invited to be the preacher, and this must have been the position occupied by St Paul at Antioch, and by Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth.
The sections of the Prophets selected for Sabbath reading and called Haphtaroth have always some bearing upon the appointed portion of the Law for that Sabbath, e.g. with the first section of Genesis (Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 6:8), which contains the account of the Creation, there is appointed as the prophetical reading the passage (Isaiah 42:5-21), which begins ‘Thus saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens,’ &c. With the next section of the Law which contains the history of Noah (Genesis 6:8 to Genesis 11:32), the prophetical reading is Isaiah 54:1-10, in which passage is found ‘This is as the waters of Noah unto me.’ The next section of the Law (Genesis 12:1 to Genesis 17:27) contains the history of Abraham, and the reading from the Prophets begins with Isaiah 40:27 to Isaiah 41:16, and in the passage there occurs ‘Who raised up the righteous man from the East, called him to his foot,’ &c., and a like arrangement is observed throughout the year.

On the Sabbath afternoons the Jews in their synagogues read, to three people, the first seventh of the portion of the Law which is set apart for the following Sabbath, and they do the same on Monday morning and on Thursday morning. So that during the week this part is read four times over.
No prophetic portions are read along with this, but (T. B. Shabbath, 116 b) in the old times, as early as the commencement of the 3rd century, we find that on the Sabbath afternoons portions of the Hagiographa were read along with this smaller section of the Law, and we cannot doubt that the same principle would be observed in their selection, and that passages similar in character to the selections from the Pentateuch would be chosen in these cases also, though we have no indication what they were.[6]

[6] Thus would be accounted for many still unexplained divisions in the Hagiographa.

Festivals and Fasts had their own portions of the Pentateuch appointed, and therewith corresponding portions of the Prophets.
On quasi-festival Sabbaths the ordinary portions of the Law were read, but besides this occasionally other additional portions of the Law were chosen for the Haphtarist to read with reference to the festival, and instead of the usual prophetical section appointed for these days, such passages from the Prophets were chosen as bore on the nature of the quasi-festival.
These quasi-festivals are

(1)

Should the Sabbath be (a) the day before the New Moon, or (b) the day coincident with the New Moon.

Partaking of the character of a quasi-festival there is also the so-called ‘great Sabbath,’[7] which is the Sabbath that precedes the Passover. On this day the portion of the Law to be read is neither varied nor increased, but as in (1) the appointed Haphtarah is changed for one of a suitable character. The same sort of change of the Haphtarah, but not of the portion of the Law to be read, takes place for the Sabbath between New Year and the Day of Atonement (1–10 of the month Tishri).

[7] It may be mentioned that the name ‘great Sabbath’ is by the Italian Jews applied also to the Sabbath preceding Pentecost.

(2)

The Maccabæan festival of the Dedication, which as it lasted for 8 days might include two Sabbaths.

(3)

Four semi-festivals which are in one string.

a.

The Sabbath preceding the New Moon of Adar, or coincident with that New Moon. This is called Shekalim (= the shekels), and the special portion of the Law then additionally read is Exodus 30:11-16.

b.

The Sabbath before Purim (the Haman-festival) called Zacor = remember, for which the special additional portion of the Law is Deuteronomy 25:17-19.

c.

The Red Heifer Sabbath. This is a moveable feast, but must fall between (b) and (d). It is a preparation of Purification for Passover, and its special additional portion of the Law is Numbers 19.

d.

Ha-Khodesh = the month. The Sabbath preceding or coincident with the New Moon of Nisan, for which the special portion of the Law is Exodus 12:1-20.

(4)

To the above six must be added two Sabbaths if they fall in the middle holidays of the Feasts of Passover and Tabernacles, for such Sabbaths are even of a higher dignity than the other quasi-festivals.

(5)

The three Sabbaths before the commemoration of the destruction of the city and Temple by Titus, and its previous destruction by Nebuchadnezzar[8]. On these Sabbaths the portion of the Pentateuch appointed for the day is retained, but prophetic portions are selected which suit the circumstances. These are known as the three Sabbaths [commemorative] of Punishment and Troubles.

[8] Both these events are commemorated on the same day (9th of Ab).

(6)

Besides these there are seven Sabbaths called ‘Sabbaths of Consolation,’ for which, in the same way, special prophetic passages are read, which must all be chosen from the latter part of Isaiah (chap. 40 and after), and in one of them probably occurred the passage (Isaiah 61:1), read by Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth[9]. For although at present the Haphtarah from that chapter is marked to begin at Acts 13:10, there are indications in some MSS.[10] that the selected portion formerly commenced at an earlier point, and this for coherence could hardly be elsewhere than at Acts 13:1. It seems probable that in post-Christian times the verses read by our Lord have designedly been cut off from the special prophetic passage. For although any charge against the Jews of altering the words of Scripture on account of Christianity must be dismissed as utterly unfounded, it is on the other hand beyond question that they abolished the most ancient and hallowed custom of reading the ten words during the morning prayers daily, ‘because of the murmuring of the heretics’ (minin), and by this word (minin) the Jews meant the earliest Judæo-Christians (T. B. Berakhoth 12 a) who, after Christ’s example in the Sermon on the Mount, laid great stress on the Ten Commandments of the Moral Law to the depreciation of ceremonial regulations.

[9] That there is no anachronism in supposing that these ‘Sabbaths of Consolation’ were observed in our Lord’s time may be inferred from the strict way in which the Jewish traditions always identify, in everything but time, the destruction of the two temples by Nebuchadnezzar and by Titus, and the observances in connexion therewith. And we take it as a further proof of the antiquity of this observance that though there are slight variations in the ordinary Haphtaroth, in the various Jewish rituals, those for the ‘Sabbaths of Consolation’ are the same in all.
[10] See a South-Arabian (Yemen) Codex, Brit. Museum MSS. Orietal 1470.