Acts 20:8

And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. AND THERE WERE MANY LIGHTS IN THE UPPER CHAMBER. This not to be regarded as a mere piece of graphic detail by an eye-witness (as Howson and Hackett regard it), but rather as increasing the heat and contributing to drowsiness (as suggested by Webster and Wilkinson); and the next clause seems to confirm this. WHERE THEY WERE GATHERED TOGETHER - but the true reading beyond doubt is, 'where we were gathered together [ eesan (G2258) of the Received Text is supported only by some cursives and later writers; all the Uncials have eemen (G2252)]....

7-12 Though the disciples read, and meditated, and prayed, and sung apart, and thereby kept up communion with God, yet they came together to worship God, and so kept up their communion with one another. They came together on the first day of the week, the Lord's day. It is to be religiously observed by all disciples of Christ. In the breaking of the bread, not only the breaking of Christ's body for us, to be a sacrifice for our sins, is remembered, but the breaking of Christ's body to us, to be food and a feast for our souls, is signified. In the early times it was the custom to receive the Lord's supper every Lord's day, thus celebrating the memorial of Christ's death. In this assembly Paul preached. The preaching of the gospel ought to go with the sacraments. They were willing to hear, he saw they were so, and continued his speech till midnight. Sleeping when hearing the word, is an e...

Verse Acts 20:8. _UPPER CHAMBER_] It was in an _upper chamber_ in the temple that the primitive disciples were accustomed to meet: on that account, they might have preferred an _upper chamber_ whenever they could meet with it. The pious Quesnel supposes that the _smoke_, issuing from the _many lamps_ in this upper chamber, was the cause of Eutychus falling asleep; and this, he says, the apostle mentions, in charity, to excuse the young man's appearing negligent....

AND THERE WERE MANY LIGHTS - Why this circumstance is mentioned is not apparent. It, however, meets one of the slanders of the early enemies of Christianity, that the Christians in their assemblies were accustomed to extinguish all the lights, and to commit every kind of abomination. Perhaps the mention of many lights here is designed to intimate that it was a place of public worship, as not only the Jews, but the Gentiles were accustomed to have many lights burning in such places. IN THE UPPER CHAMBER - See the notes on Acts 1:13....

EXPOSITION ACTS 20:1 _Having sent for_ …_ and exhorted _for _called unto him, _A.V. and T.R.; _took leave of them, and departed _for _and embraced them, and departed, _A.V. DEPARTED FOR TO GO INTO MACEDONIA. This was St. Paul's purpose, as he had written to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 16:5) from Ephesus. He judged it wise, not only with a view to his own safety and that of his companions, but also for the rest and quiet of the Ephesian Church, to take advantage of the lull in the popular storm, and withdraw into quiet waters before any fresh outbreak occurred. Aquila and Priscilla seem to have left Ephesus about the same time, or soon after, since the Epistle to the Romans found them again at Rome ...

AND THERE WERE MANY LIGHTS IN THE UPPER CHAMBER,.... Which were lighted up, both for necessary uses, to see by, to read the word, and to administer the ordinance of the supper, and for the comfort and pleasure of the whole company, both preacher and hearers; as well as to remove all ground of suspicion, or occasion of reproach, as if it was a midnight society met for wicked practices: but this no ways countenances the use of lamps and wax candies in the daytime at divine worship, since this was in the night; of the upper chamber, in which it was usual to meet for religious exercises, see Mark 2:4, where they were gathered together; the Alexandrian copy, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions read, "where we were gathered together"....

ACTS 20:8 lampa,dej Zuntz 360 argues for the originality of the Bezan reading u`polampa,dej, an exceedingly rare word apparently meaning “(small) windows,” or “look-out holes.” 361 ------------------------- 360 _Gnomon,_ XXX (1958), p. 26. 361 See Harold Smith in _Expository Times,_ XVI (1905), p. 478; Moulton-Howard, _Grammar,_ II, p. 328; and Moulton-Milligan, _Vocabulary, s.v_....

CHAPTER 20 __ 1. Paul in Macedonia (Acts 20:1). 2. His abode in Greece, the visit to Troas and what transpired there (Acts 20:3). 3. The journey from Troas to Miletus (Acts 20:13). 4. The farewell to the Ephesian Elders (Acts 20:17). The record before us is very brief. Some have thought the reason is the fact that the Apostle had turned aside from His given ministry, and therefore the Holy Spirit had nothing to report. We believe that this is correct. The object of the Spirit of God is now to lead us rapidly forward to the last visit of the Apostle to Jerusalem, therefore much is passed over in the untiring s

STORY OF EUTYCHUS. Paul speaks of the first day of the week in 1 Corinthians 16:2, but not of a breaking of bread on that day, which appears here as an established usage (_cf. Acts 24:2_). It is Paul's last interview with these people, and he makes the most of it. The lights may be mentioned because of the accusation in early days that the Lord's Supper was partaken of in darkness and was accompanied by excesses. Eutychus (Acts 20:9) is a common name. The treatment is like that by Elijah (1 Kings 17:21), but the incident may be quite natural: it is reported by an eyewitness. It does not interrupt the proceedings nor, except for a shor

SETTING OUT FOR JERUSALEM (Acts 20:1-6)...