ACTS 15:36 TO ACTS 16:5. SHORTER ACCOUNT OF PAUL'S JOURNEY IN ASIA MINOR. The editor's hand is apparent throughout this section. We know from Galatians 2:13 the real reason of Paul's difference with Barnabas, which was one of principle; here it is reduced to a personal matter. Instead of Titus, who... [ Continue Reading ]
JOURNEY THROUGH ASIA MINOR TO MACEDONIA. Here we come to the Travel-document, which is followed henceforward. It was till recently the custom to speak of the We-Passages, which are found in Acts 16:10; Acts 20:5; Acts 21:1; Acts 27:1 to Acts 28:16, and to ascribe to these the highest degree of authe... [ Continue Reading ]
PHILIPPI. LYDIA. The voyage from Troas to Samothrace was past Tenedos and Imbros, and Samothrace was about halfway. The voyage back took five days (Acts 20:6); this voyage only two, the wind being favourable. Neapolis on the Strymonian gulf had wharves and gold mines and lay in a fertile district. P... [ Continue Reading ]
EXORCISM OF A POSSESSED GIRL. The walk to the place of prayer is made frequently, and the party comes to be known. A girl who carried on a trade in the fortune-telling of these days notes them; a girl believed to be possessed by a _python,_ a spirit which could on being consulted foretell or warn, p... [ Continue Reading ]
IMPRISONMENT OF PAUL AND SILAS. THE PRISON BROKEN. The rulers (Acts 16:19) are the heads of police; they are afterwards called _Strategi, which_ answers to the Roman _Prœ tores._ Philippi was a colony, its magistrates were Roman, _duoviri,_ and had the _fasces,_ the Roman rods, showing their power t... [ Continue Reading ]
RECKONING WITH THE MAGISTRATES. The legal proceedings are to go no further. But Paul has two grievances to clear up with the magistrates before he will leave the prison. The proceedings of the former day had no form of law; the accused were not properly tried; and the magistrates had no power to bea... [ Continue Reading ]