Acts 28:1. The shipwrecked company hospitably entertained in Malta. Paul, bitten by a viper, feels no hurt. Cure of the father of the chief magistrate 1. _And when they were escaped_ The oldest MSS. give the first person plural in this verse. Render (with _R. V._) "when we were … we knew." _Melita_... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the barbarous people_ [_R. V._barbarians] The word is used in the original, as it was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Those who did not speak their language were to them always "barbarians" not necessarily in our modern sense but as strange and foreign folks. The language spoken in Malta... [ Continue Reading ]
_And_[_R. V._But] _when Paul had gathered_ This is only another sign of the active spirit of the Apostle. Whatever was to be done, if he were able to take a part in it, he was never wanting, whether it was in counselling about a difficulty, in comforting under danger, or helping by bodily labour to... [ Continue Reading ]
_saw the venomous beast_ There is nothing in the Greek to represent "venomous," though it was because the inhabitants knew that such was its character that they were so astonished at what happened. _Vengeance suffereth not to live_ [_R. V._"Justice hath not suffered to live"] This is an instance in... [ Continue Reading ]
_And_[_R. V._Howbeit] _he shook off the beast_ The rendering of the particles by the _R. V._is to be preferred. The verb is the same which is used (Luke 9:5) of shaking off dust from the feet. The idea conveyed is that Paul was quite composed in what he did, and that the beast was no cause of alarm... [ Continue Reading ]
_Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen_ Better (with _R.V._) "But they expected that he would have swollen." Such being the usual effect of the viper's bite, and making itself apparent in a very short time. _but after they had looked a great while_ [_R. V._"but when they were long in expe... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the same quarters were possessions of_&c. The A.V. omits the conjunction, and the indefinite word "possessions" is improved on by _R. V._"Now in the neighbourhood of that place were lands belonging to, &c." The nearest place to what is believed to have been the scene of the wreck is the town now... [ Continue Reading ]
_And it came to pass, that_ [_R.V._"and it was so, that"]. The _R. V._is the better modern rendering. The expression means "It happened that, &c.," not that after the arrival of St Paul the father fell ill, which might be taken as the meaning of the A. V. _of a fever and of a bloody flixe_ [_R. V._... [ Continue Reading ]
_others also_ [_R. V._the rest also] The latter rendering is to be preferred. It was not a few who came, but during the three months of their stay all the others who were in sickness and heard of what had been done for the father of the chief magistrate (and it was sure to be widely noised abroad) c... [ Continue Reading ]
The voyage from Malta and the arrival in Rome 11. _And after three months_ The proper season for sailing having again come round, now that the winter was over. _we departed_ [_R. V._set sail]. The verb is the same as in the preceding verse. _in a ship of Alexandria_ Another vessel employed in the... [ Continue Reading ]
_And landing_[_R. V._touching] _at Syracuse_ The vessel takes the regular road, sailing north from Valetta to Sicily. Syracuse was one of the chief towns of Sicily lying on the south-eastern extremity, and was famous in classical history as the scene of many of the disasters of the Athenian fleet an... [ Continue Reading ]
_we fet a compass_ [_R.V._"made a circuit"] The old English phrase of the A. V. is not uncommon, cp. 2 Samuel 5:23; 2 Kings 3:9. They made this winding course because the favourable wind, for which they had probably been waiting during the three days" stay at Syracuse, did not come. "Fet" is the old... [ Continue Reading ]
_where we found brethren_ i.e. there was a Christian Church established in Puteoli, and it was to such a degree well known, that the Apostle on his arrival at once learnt of its existence. From this we may gather that the Christians in Italy had already spread to a considerable extent, and hence it... [ Continue Reading ]
_when the brethren heard of us_ BETWEEN Puteoli and Rome there was constant communication, and the seven days of the Apostle's sojourn in the port were amply sufficient to make the whole Christian body in Rome aware of his arrival in Italy and of the time when he would set out towards the city. _the... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when we came to Rome_ There was much that might have been said of this land journey from Puteoli to Rome, and the writer of the Acts was one of the fellow-travellers. But it is foreign to his purpose to dwell on anything which does not concern the spread of the Gospel according to the command o... [ Continue Reading ]
St Paul's interview with the Jews in Rome 17. _after three days_ At first the Apostle would naturally desire to learn all he could of the Christian congregations at Rome from those who had been the first to welcome him on his approach to that city. But for this, three days sufficed. Then he set abo... [ Continue Reading ]
_would have let me go_ [_R. V._"desired to set me at liberty"] Alluding most probably to Agrippa's remark (Acts 26:32) and the statement of Festus (Acts 25:25). It seems probable that Felix would have found means to set Paul free had the requisite bribe been offered to him (Acts 24:26). All were con... [ Continue Reading ]
_not that I had ought to accuse my nation of_ St Paul shews himself the patriotic Jew. He knew how many things his fellow-countrymen had suffered at the hands of the Roman power, and he did not wish in any way to bring on them any more trouble. He therefore explains that he had taken the course of a... [ Continue Reading ]
_For this cause therefore have I called for you to see you, and to speak with you_ [_R. V._"did I intreat you to see and to speak with _me_"] As the marginal note in the _R. V._shews, the A. V. may be a correct rendering of the Greek, and it is more probable that Paul would say that _he_wished to sp... [ Continue Reading ]
_letters out of_[_R. V._from] _Judea concerning thee_ This may easily be understood. For no ship starting later than that in which St Paul sailed was likely to have arrived in Rome before he reached that city, and the Jews who conducted the accusation would take a little time for drawing up all the... [ Continue Reading ]
_But we desire to hear of thee_ He was a Jew, one of their own nation, and was likely to be able to put his belief before them in its true light. They professed to be open to reason, but this may have been only because they knew not what else to do. _concerning this sect_ It is clear from this expr... [ Continue Reading ]
_many_ The original is the comparative degree, and implies that the first visitors had been only a small deputation, but that on the set day they and their fellows appeared "in greater numbers." _into his lodging_ From this it would seem that for the first portion of the time that Paul was in Rome,... [ Continue Reading ]
_some believed not_ [_R. V._disbelieved]. No doubt both the Sadducees and the Pharisees had their representatives here as elsewhere among the Jewish population.... [ Continue Reading ]
_agreed not among themselves_ This may have been the real cause of their inaction in the matter of the Apostle's trial. He would not have been without a party of supporters among their own body. _unto our_[_R. V._your] _fathers_ The change of pronoun has the support of the oldest MSS., and is more... [ Continue Reading ]
_saying_, &c. The passage which the Apostle quotes is from Isaiah 6:9, and had already been quoted by our Lord himself against the Jews (Matthew 13:14; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; see also John 12:40) when He was explaining why all His teaching was given in parables. He spake in this wise first because ha... [ Continue Reading ]
_and should be converted_ [_R. V._"and should turn again"] The new rendering is to be preferred on account of the restricted meaning which in modern speech has become attached to the word "convert." In the older language it signified "to turn round and go back again.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the_[_R. V._this] _salvation of God_ The oldest MSS. add "this," and it has been almost surely omitted in later MSS. by the carelessness of the scribes. The Apostle would be anxious to emphasize that the doctrine which he was preaching to them and which they were rejecting, that _this_, was God's v... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when_, &c. This verse is omitted in the oldest MSS. and in _R.V._... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Paul_ The proper name is omitted in the oldest MSS., and this omission supports the rejection of Acts 28:29. It is only the insertion of that verse which rendered the word "Paul" here needful to the sense. _two whole years_ Of these years we have no history, except such as we can gather from th... [ Continue Reading ]