XXVIII. (1) THEN THEY KNEW THAT THE ISLAND WAS CALLED MELITA. — There is no ground for questioning the current belief that this was the modern _Malta,_ It was the only island known as _Melita_ by the Greeks and Romans. The gale, which had been blowing for fourteen days since the ship left Crete, wou... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BARBAROUS PEOPLE... — It has been urged in favour of _Meleda_ that this description is more applicable to the people of that island than to those of Malta, whom Diodorus Siculus (v. 12) describes as “very rich, practising many trades, manufacturing fine clothes, and dwelling in large and splendi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN PAUL HAD GATHERED A BUNDLE OF STICKS... — The act was characteristic of the cheerful energy which had been shown throughout the previous night. The fact thus mentioned has been dwelt on as militating against the identity of Melita and Malta, no wood being now found in the island except at o... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VENOMOUS BEAST. — The adjective, as the italics show, is not in the Greek, and can scarcely be said to be necessary. NO DOUBT THIS MAN IS A MURDERER. — They knew, we may believe, that St. Paul was a prisoner. It is hardly conceivable, indeed, that he could have come on shore bound by two chains,... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY LOOKED WHEN HE SHOULD HAVE SWOLLEN... — Better, _and they were expecting that..._ The verb for “swollen” implies literally “inflammation,” and one of the enormous serpents of Africa took its name. Prestes (“the inflamer”), from it. Lucan (ix. 790) describes the effect of its bite — “Percussit... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHIEF MAN OF THE ISLAND. — Literally, _the first man._ The term is found both in Greek and Latin inscriptions, at Malta, of the time of Augustus, as an official title. It probably designated the prefect or governor of the island, as distinct from the procurator. In the time of Cicero (_In Verr._... [ Continue Reading ]
LAY SICK OF A FEVER AND A BLOODY FLUX. — Literally, _with fevers and dysentery,_ both words being used by St. Luke with professional precision. The plural, “fevers,” probably indicates the attacks of a recurrent fever, and its combination with dysentery would, according to Hippocrates, who also uses... [ Continue Reading ]
OTHERS ALSO, WHICH HAD DISEASES. — More accurately, _the others who had infirmities._ The Greek gives the article, and states the fact that there was something like a rush, continuing for some length of time, of all the sick people in the island to profit by the Apostle’s power of healing. On the di... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO ALSO HONOURED US WITH MANY HONOURS. — It lies in the nature of the case that the honours took the form of gifts. The very word was, indeed, specially applied, both in Greek and Latin, to the _honorarium,_ or fee, paid to the physician, and its use here is accordingly characteristic of St. Luke’s... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THREE MONTHS. — The date may be approximately fixed. The Fast, falling on the 10th of Tisri, which has been calculated as falling in that year on September 24th, was passed, we are not told how long, when the ship left the Fair Havens (Acts 27:9). Then came the “fourteen days” of Acts 27:27, b... [ Continue Reading ]
AND LANDING AT SYRACUSE... — The city, famous for the memorable siege during the Peloponnesian war, and at all times taking its place among the most flourishing towns of Sicily, was about eighty or a hundred miles from Malta, and might be reached accordingly in from twenty-four to thirty-six hours.... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THENCE WE FETCHED A COMPASS. — The phrase, now somewhat obsolete, was formerly in common use for a circuitous route by land or sea from one point to another. (Comp. 2 Samuel 5:23; 2 Kings 3:9, and — “For ‘tis his custom, like a creeping fool, To fetch a compass of a mile about, “ in Heywood’s... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERE WE FOUND BRETHREN. — The fact is significant as showing, in the absence of any distinct record, the extent to which the new society had been silently spreading. Who had been the agents in preaching the gospel there we can only conjecture, but a city which was _en rapport,_ like Puteoli, with b... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FROM THENCE, WHEN THE BRETHREN HEARD OF US... — Better, _the brethren having heard about us._ The seven days at Puteoli had given ample time for the news of the Apostle’s arrival to reach the disciples at Rome. Among these “brethren” were many, we may believe, of those whom he had known at Corin... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN WE CAME TO ROME. — This journey led them through Aricia (now _La Riccia_)_,_ where they would probably either stop for the night or for their noon-tide meal. From that point, as they neared the city, the Appian Road would present more of its characteristic features — the tall milestones, th... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THREE DAYS PAUL CALLED THE CHIEF OF THE JEWS TOGETHER. — The decree of Claudius had, as has been already stated (see Note on Acts 28:15), been allowed to lapse, and the Jews had settled in their old quarters in the trans-Tiberine region, and in part, perhaps, on the island of the Tiber, and th... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO, WHEN THEY HAD EXAMINED ME... — It is possible that we have here only the summary of a fuller narrative, and that he gave an outline of the proceedings that had taken place between his first seizure and his appeal to the emperor. What he states, however, was fully warranted by the facts. No Roma... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE HOPE OF ISRAEL I AM BOUND WITH THIS CHAIN. — The mention of “chain” in the singular agrees with the fact stated in Acts 28:30, that he was entrusted to the keeping of a single soldier. There is a certain touch of pathos in this appeal to his sufferings as a prisoner. (Comp. Ephesians 3:1; Ep... [ Continue Reading ]
WE NEITHER RECEIVED LETTERS OUT OF JUDSEA CONCERNING THEE... — It seems strange at first that no tidings should have come from Jerusalem of what had passed there in connection with St. Paul’s imprisonment. There was, however, hardly likely to have been time for any letters since his appeal. He had s... [ Continue Reading ]
WE DESIRE... AS CONCERNING THIS SECT... — Better, _we request of thee._ The term is that which had been used by Tertullus when he spoke of the “_sect_ of the Nazarenes” (Acts 24:5). The speakers had clearly heard enough of the prisoner to identify him with that sect, but they treat him personally wi... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE CAME MANY TO HIM INTO HIS LODGING. — The Greek for “many” is a comparative form, implying a larger attendance than might have been looked for. The “lodging” was probably the “hired house,” or apartment, of Acts 28:30. (Comp. Philemon 1:22.) The discourse, or, more properly, the discussion, whi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SOME BELIEVED THE THINGS WHICH WERE SPOKEN. — Better, as expressing the fact that the verb is the passive form of that translated “persuade,” in the previous verse, _some were being persuaded of the things that were spoken. _... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THAT PAUL HAD SPOKEN ONE WORD. — The tone of vehement indignation implies a patience almost exhausted by the long contest with prejudice and unbelief. He cannot refrain from reproducing the conviction which he had already expressed in the Epistle to the Romans, that “blindness in part had happ... [ Continue Reading ]
GO UNTO THIS PEOPLE, AND SAY ... — On the passage thus quoted see Notes on Matthew 13:14. Here we are chiefly concerned with the fact that the words had been cited by our Lord as describing the spiritual state of the Jews of Palestine, and that the record of their citation is found in the first thre... [ Continue Reading ]
BE IT KNOWN THEREFORE UNTO YOU, THAT THE SALVATION OF GOD... — The better MSS. give _“this_ salvation,” the demonstrative adjective having the same force as in “the words of _this_ life,” in Acts 5:20. The Apostle points, as it were, to that definite method of deliverance (the Greek gives the concre... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE HAD SAID THESE WORDS... — The whole verse is wanting in many of the earliest MSS. and versions. It may have been inserted, either by a transcriber, or by the historian himself in a revised copy in order to avoid the apparent abruptness of the transition from Acts 28:28. As far as it goes... [ Continue Reading ]
AND PAUL DWELT TWO WHOLE YEARS... — On the probable incidents of this period, see _Excursus on the Later Years of St. Paul’s Life._ The word translated “hired house” (the exact equivalent for the Latin _meritorium,_ or _conductum_) means rather a _lodging_ (as in Acts 28:23) or _apartment,_ and does... [ Continue Reading ]
NO MAN FORBIDDING HIM. — The fact is interesting as showing the attitude of the Roman empire to the new faith. So far, even under Nero, it was tolerant, and even though the “sect” of the Christians was “everywhere spoken against,” a leading teacher of that sect was allowed free room to propagate his... [ Continue Reading ]