Acts 13:21

And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. AND AFTERWARD THEY DESIRED A KING: AND GOD GAVE UNTO THEM SAUL THE SON OF CIS, A MAN OF THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN - a casual coincidence in the name and in the tribe to which the speaker himself belonged, which would probably flash across his mind while speaking; BY THE SPACE OF FORTY YEARS. With this duration of Saul's reign (not mentioned in the Old Testament) Josephus coincides (Ant. 6: 14. 9)....

21._Afterward they desire. _And this change was all one as if they would quite and manifestly overthrow the government which he had appointed, whereof God himself complaineth in Samuel, (1 Samuel 8:5.) But the stability of the election saved them from being punished as such madness did deserve; yea, the wicked and unlawful desire of the people was to God a new and incredible occasion to erect the kingdom whence Christ should afterward come. For how is it that the scepter came to the tribe of Judah, save only because the people were desirous to have a king? And assuredly the people dealt wickedly; but God, who knoweth how to use evil things well, turned that offense into safety. Whereas Saul was thrown down from the kingdom, it served to reprove the fault of the people, (1 Samuel 15:28,) but immediately when the kingdom is e

14-31 When we come together to worship God, we must do it, not only by prayer and praise, but by the reading and hearing of the word of God. The bare reading of the Scriptures in public assemblies is not enough; they should be expounded, and the people exhorted out of them. This is helping people in doing that which is necessary to make the word profitable, to apply it to themselves. Every thing is touched upon in this sermon, which might best prevail with Jews to receive and embrace Christ as the promised Messiah. And every view, however short or faint, of the Lord's dealings with his church, reminds us of his mercy and long-suffering, and of man's ingratitude and perverseness. Paul passes from David to the Son of David, and shows that this Jesus is his promised Seed; a Saviour to do that for them, which the judges of old could not do, to save them from their sins, their worst enemies....

Verse Acts 13:21. _SAUL THE SON OF CIS_] In all proper names quoted from the Old Testament, we should undoubtedly follow, as nearly as possible, the same orthography: קיש _Kish_, was the name of this king's father, and so we spell it in the Old Testament, and yet have transformed it into _Cis_ in the New, where the orthography is almost entirely lost. _THE SPACE OF FORTY YEARS._] Reckoning from the time of his anointing by Samuel to the time of his death, from A.M. 2909 to 2949....

AND AFTERWARD THEY DESIRED A KING - See 1 Samuel 8:5; Hosea 13:10. It was predicted that they would have a king, Deuteronomy 17:14. SAUL, THE SON OF CIS - is the Greek mode of writing the Hebrew name Kish. In the Old Testament it is uniformly written as “Kish,” and it is to be regretted that this has not been retained in the New Testament. See 1 Samuel 9:1. BY THE SPACE OF FORTY YEARS - During forty years. The Old Testament has not mentioned the time during which Saul reigned. Josephus says (_Antiq._, book 6, chap

EXPOSITION ACTS 13:1 _At Antioch., in the Church that was there _for _in the Church that was at Antioch, _A.V.; _prophets, _etc., for _certain prophets, _etc., A.V. and T.R.; _Barnabas, _etc., for _as Barnabas, _etc., A.V.; _Symeon _for _Simeon, _A.V.; _the foster-brother of _for _which had_ _been brought up with, _A.V. AT ANTIOCH, IN THE CHURCH, etc. Κατὰ τὴν οὖσαν ἐκκλησίαν rather means "the existing Church," just as at αἱ οὖσαι ἐξουσίαι_ _means "the existing powers," "the powers that be," in Romans 13:1, A.V. and T.R. _The then Church _seems mere the meaning than _the Church there. _Luke writes from the standpoint of

AND AFTERWARD THEY DESIRED A KING,.... 1 Samuel 8:5 which the Jews w say, was in the tenth year of Samuel; that is, of his government over Israel, or of his judging them: AND GOD GAVE UNTO THEM SAUL; whose name signifies one that is asked; he was THE SON OF CIS; so the Septuagint read and pronounce the word "Kish", the name of Saul's father, 1 Samuel 9:1 a man of the tribe of Benjamin; not of Judah, from whence the sceptre was not to depart till Shiloh came; the business of their asking a king being resented by God, he gives them their first king of another tribe: BY THE SPACE OF FORTY YEARS. The Jews are very much divided about the years of Saul's reign, some allow him but two years x, and others three, one year that he reigned with Samuel, and two by h

Acts 13:13. _Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down._ They would be noticed as strangers who had come thither. The synagogue did not generally contain a very large assembly, and the Jews of the place would be well known to one another, and they would notice that two or three men had come in whom they had not been accustomed to see in their company. Acts 13:15. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Then Paul stood up, and

PART III The Witness to the Gentiles. The Apostle to the Gentiles; his Ministry and Captivity. Chapter s 13-28 CHAPTER 13 _ 1. The Divine Choice. Barnabas and Saul separated unto the work (Acts 13:1)._ 2. The Beginning of the Journey and the events in Cyprus (Acts 13:4). 3. The Gospel in Galatia. Paul's Address (Acts 13:13). 4. The Gospel rejected by the Jews (Acts 13:42). The thirteenth chapter is the beginning of the third part of this book. The second great center of Christianity comes to the front. It is no longer Jerusalem, but the city of Antioch. The gospel which had been preached in

THE SERMON AT PISIDIAN ANTIOCH. This is a specimen of Paul's missionary practice. In external matters it is true to the facts, yet the sermon is on the one hand so like the sermon of Peter (ch. 2) and of Stephen (ch. 7), and on the other so different from the evidence of Paul's epistles as to what he did say when he broke new ground on such occasions (1 Thessalonians 1:9; Galatians 3:1; 1 Corinthians 2:2), that we can scarcely accept it. The texts quoted are not such as Paul relied on, nor the motives appealed to such as he kept in view. His preaching may not have been the same all through his career; but it must have had a style of its own. [It should be observed, however, that there is considerable di