Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 8:9

Σίμων. From the verb μαγεύω used in describing the arts of Simon, he is usually spoken of as Simon Magus, i.e. the sorcerer or magician. According to Justin Martyr (Apol. I. 26) he was born at Gitton, a village of Samaria. The history which is given of him after the events mentioned in this chapter describes him as persistently hostile to St Peter and as following that Apostle to Rome to oppose his teaching. But much that is related is of very doubtful authority. He is said to have been deified at Rome, but it seems probable that Justin mistook a tablet, with an inscription ‘Semoni Sanco deo fidio’ which was erected in honour of the Sabine Hercules, for a record of divine honours paid to this Simon Magus. The tablet was discovered at Rome in the sixteenth century.

ἐν τῇ πόλει, in the city. He had made Samaria a sort of headquarters. The sorcery which Simon and men like him used was probably no more than a greater knowledge of some of the facts of chemistry. By this they at first attracted attention and then traded on the credulity of those who came to consult them. From the time of their sojourn in Egypt the Jews had known of such impostors, and in their traditional literature some of the ‘wisdom’ of Moses partakes of this character.

ἐξιστάνων τὸ ἔθνος, amazing the nation. For not only the people of the city, but of the whole district had run after him.

εἶναί τινα ἑαυτὸν μέγαν, that he was some great one (cf. Acts 5:36). The expectation of the Messiah was strong among the Samaritans, and the general expectation that some great person was to arise among the Jews, while it dictated the form in which impostors would proclaim themselves, also aided them in procuring credence for what they said.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Acts 8:9

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