διασωθέντες, see on Acts 27:43. Used by Josephus of his own shipwreck and escape, _Vita_, 3, and in Xen. and Thuc. of coming safely to a place. τότε ἐπέγ.: not imperfect as in Acts 27:39; here denoting the immediate recognition of the place after they had once gained safety (Weiss, Rendall, C.H.). S... [ Continue Reading ]
βάρβαροι, _i.e._, they were not a Greek-speaking population, _cf._ Romans 1:14 (not barbarians in the modern sense of rude and uncivilised); they were of Phœnician descent, and came under the Roman dominion in the second Punic War, Livy, xxi., 51. Ramsay, _St. Paul_, p. 343, sees in the title an ind... [ Continue Reading ]
συστρέψαντος : here only in Acts, but _cf._ Acts 11:27; Acts 16:39, in [425] text; = exemplum αὐτουργίας, Bengel. _Cf._ Matthew 17:22, W.H [426], R.V. margin; of collecting men, 2Ma 14:30. φρυγάνων : brushwood, copse; the furze still growing near St. Paul's Bay would well afford material for a fire... [ Continue Reading ]
τὸ θηρίον : “the beast,” R.V. Although this is the meaning of the Greek word, it is to be noted that St. Luke uses it here exactly as the medical writers, who applied it to venomous serpents in particular, to the viper, ἔχιδνα (so Aristotle), and an antidote made chiefly from the flesh of vipers wen... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀποτ.: only in Luke, Luke 9:5, in parallel in Matt. and Mark, ἐκτ., _cf._ Lamentations 2:7, and in classical Greek, Eur., _Bacch._, 253. ἔπαθεν οὐδὲν κακόν, _cf._ Mark 16:18; Luke 10:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ δέ …: Paul shook off the viper the natives looked for a fatal result. They knew the deadly nature of the bite, and their subsequent conduct shows that they regarded it as nothing short of miraculous that Paul escaped. So St. Luke evidently wishes to describe the action, see on μέν οὖν, Acts 28:5,... [ Continue Reading ]
χωρία : “lands,” R.V. Vulgate, _prædia_. In this passage τόπος and χωρίον occur together, but whilst the former is used of place indefinitely, the latter is used of a definite portion of space enclosed or complete in itself; _cf._ John 4:5; Grimm-Thayer's Syn [427], _sub v._, τόπος. τῷ πρώτῳ : an of... [ Continue Reading ]
πυρετοῖς : the use of the plural for a fever is peculiar to St. Luke in N.T., and quite medical, Hobart, J. Smith, Zahn (_cf._ Luke 4:38-39); although the plural is found in Dem., Lucian in the sense of “intermittent attacks of fever,” but Hobart shows that the term was very common in Hipp., and he... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐθεραπεύοντο : “were cured,” R.V. Lekebusch, pp. 382, 393, and Holtzmann, _in loco_, think that the medical skill of St. Luke may also have been instrumental in effecting these cures, and this is urged on the ground that ἡμᾶς, Acts 28:10, intimates that not only St. Paul received honour in return fo... [ Continue Reading ]
πολλαῖς τιμαῖς : “with many honours,” A. and R.V., used quite generally, so in Vulgate, “multis honoribus”; even in the expression “honos habendus medico,” Cic., _Ad Div._, xvi., 9, we need not limit the word to the _honorarium_; so in 1 Timothy 5:17 τιμῆς is used quite generally, and in Sir 38:1 it... [ Continue Reading ]
τρεῖς μῆνας : no account is given of St. Paul's doings in Malta, or of his preaching or founding a Church, but the writer's interest is centred on the Apostle's journey to Rome, and what immediately concerns it. ἀνήχ., see above on Acts 13:13; in the earlier part of February, as the shipwreck took p... [ Continue Reading ]
καταχ.: “touching at,” R.V., Ramsay, _cf._ Acts 27:3. We are not told that St. Paul landed, but the local tradition makes him the founder of the Sicilian Church, C. and H., p. 663, small edit. Συρ.: (_Siragosa_) about 100 miles distant from Malta, the capital of Sicily, and a Roman colony; in a merc... [ Continue Reading ]
περιελθόντες : so A. and R.V., but latter in margin περιελόντες, see critical note. Ramsay also following T.R. points out that the latter reading could hardly signify more than “cast off” (“cast loose,” margin, R.V.), unnecessary here although important information in Acts 27:40, where τὰς ἀγκ. is a... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀδελφούς, see on Acts 1:15, they may have been from Alexandria, as the commerce between it and Puteoli was so considerable; the absence of the article indicates that the writer knew nothing of their presence previously, but at all events Blass is right when he says, “non magis mirum est Puteolis Chr... [ Continue Reading ]
κἀκεῖθεν, see on Acts 14:26. τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν : phrase only in Luke and Paul, see above on p. 481. The natural supposition is that there were two companies; one met them in advance at Appii Forum, and the other nearer Rome at the Tres Tabernæ. εἰς ἀπάντησιν, _cf._ 1 Thessalonians 4:17; Matthew 25:6; Mat... [ Continue Reading ]
ἤλθομεν, see critical note. They would enter by the Porta Capena. On the words which follow see critical note. They are retained by Blass and Ramsay, although these writers differ as to their interpretation, while Lightfoot, _Phil._, pp. 7, 8, admitting that the balance of existing authorities is ag... [ Continue Reading ]
The whole section Acts 28:17-28 is referred by Hilgenfeld to the “author to Theophilus”. In Acts 28:20 the Paul bound for the hope of Israel belongs only to the “author to Theophilus,” _cf._ Acts 23:6; Acts 26:6; it is only the same author who still supposes him to bear the chain, Acts 26:29, which... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀνακ., _cf._ Acts 24:8; Acts 25:6; Acts 25:26, referring here to the judicial inquiries of Felix and Festus.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀντιλ.: the word is a mild one to describe the bitter enmity of the Jews (“clementer dicit,” Bengel); they are not actually represented as speaking against Paul's acquittal, although they are evidently presupposed as doing so by the proposal of Festus, Acts 25:9, and by the belief that sooner or lat... [ Continue Reading ]
διὰ ταύτην … προσλαλῆσαι : “for this cause therefore did I intreat you to see and to speak with _me_,” R.V. text; in margin a comma is placed after ὑμᾶς, “call for you, to see and to speak with _you_ ”: but the former seems the more likely, for as a prisoner St. Paul would hardly go out into the syn... [ Continue Reading ]
πρὸς αὐτὸν : the emphatic position of the words may indicate, as Weiss suggests, that as Paul had spoken to them up to this point of a personal matter, so they in reply spoke with a like reference. αὔτε γράμματα, _i.e._, no official letters from the Sanhedrim this was practically impossible, for it... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀξιοῦμεν δὲ : “but we think good,” _cf._ Acts 15:38. They acknowledge that no report had reached them to invalidate the statements which Paul had just made as to the causes of his imprisonment, but (δέ) they would hear not from others, but from himself (παρὰ σοῦ). ἃ φρονεῖς : evidently no reference... [ Continue Reading ]
ταξάμενοι : _cf._ Matthew 28:16, and Polyb., xviii., 36, 1, for a similar phrase; a mutual arrangement between the two parties; only here in the middle voice in Acts. τὴν ξενίαν : may = τὸ μίσθωμα, Acts 28:30 (Weiss, Holtzmann), or it may refer to entertainment in the house of a friend, _cf._ Acts 2... [ Continue Reading ]
οἱ μὲν … οἱ δὲ …, _cf._ Acts 14:4; Acts 17:32, whether the verb means simply listened to what was said (Rendall), or simply denotes an attitude of receptivity (Nösgen), the fact that Paul addresses to both classes his final words indicates that the degree of belief to which they attained was not suf... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀσύμφωνοι, _cf._ Wis 18:19 and Dan., LXX, Bel., Acts 28:15; _cf._ for the phrase Diod. Sic., iv., 1, the word is found in Josephus, but also in classical Greek. δέ : the best attested reading marks sharply and emphatically the turn of affairs; there may have been Pharisees among the well-disposed Je... [ Continue Reading ]
πορεύθητι … εἰπέ : the quotation is accurately taken from the LXX, Isaiah 6:9-10, and the first line is additional to the words otherwise given in full by St. Matthew; as the speaker is the messenger to the Jews who condemns this hardness of heart, he applies to himself the word πορ.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἰάσωμαι, see critical note; the indicative future as in R.V. adds to the force and vigour of the passage; after μή it represents the action of the verb as more vividly realised as possible and probable than is the case when the subjunctive is used (Page), see also Winer-Moulton, lvi., 2 _a_; Bethge,... [ Continue Reading ]
γνωστὸν οὖν : for the word similarly used _cf._ Acts 2:14; Acts 4:10; Acts 13:38. τοῦτο τὸ σωτ., see critical note; _cf._ LXX, Psalms 66:2; Psalms 97:2-3. σωτ., adjective, neuter of σωτήριος, used substantively (as in classical Greek), so often in LXX of the Messianic salvation; _cf._ Luke 2:30; Luk... [ Continue Reading ]
See critical note. συζήτησιν, _rixa_, Blass; possibly this may have helped to delay the Apostle's trial, as apparently some of the Jews would not have moved in the matter.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔμεινε δὲ : Blass (so also Hackett, Lekebusch) makes the important remark that the aorist shows that Paul's condition was changed after the two years, _cf._ ἐκάθισε, Acts 18:11 (see also Burton, pp. 19, 20). When, therefore, Luke wrote his history, the inference is that the Apostle had been liberate... [ Continue Reading ]
τὰ περὶ : on the phrase see p. 481. τοῦ Κ. Ἰ. Χ., see critical note, and _cf._ Acts 11:17; Acts 15:26, the full phrase corresponds with the solemn conclusion of the book. μετὰ π. παῤῥ.: the phrase with or without πάσης four times in Acts, and nowhere else in N.T., see on p. 128. In Jerusalem by the... [ Continue Reading ]