Acts 14:19

ἐπῆλθον δὲ : on readings to account for the interval see critical notes. Nothing in the narrative forbids some kind of interval, whilst nothing is said as to its duration. Ἰουδαῖοι : a proof of their enmity in that they undertook a long journey of some one hundred and thirty miles. πείσαντες τοὺς ὄ.: mobile vulgus. The change in their attitude need not surprise us, cf. the fickleness of the inhabitants of Malta, Acts 28:6, and, more notably still, the change of feeling in the multitudes who could cry Hosannah! and Crucify! The Scholiast, Homer, Il., iv., 89 92, has ἄπιστοι γὰρ Λυκάονες, ὡς καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης μαρτυρεῖ. These Jews may have received help from their fellow-countrymen, some few of whom were resident in Lystra, Acts 16:1, or possibly, as McGiffert suggests, it may have been easy to incite the populace against Paul and Barnabas, because of the Apostles' rejection of the divine honours offered to them. But probably the persuasion implies that they influenced the multitudes to regard the miracle, the reality of which they could not dispute, as the work not of beneficent gods but of evil demons. The form of punishment, λιθάσαντες, would seem at all events to point to Jewish instigation, although the stoning took place not outside but inside the city, cf. 2 Corinthians 11:25; 2 Timothy 3:11, and Wendt (1888), p. 318, as against Zeller. In Galatians 6:17 the Apostle may allude to the scars marked on him by these same people (Ramsay, Zahn), cf. also Clem. Rom., Cor [271], Acts 14:6. λιθασθείς : “Uti Paulus prius lapidationi Stephani consenserat: ita nunc veterem culpam expiat, 2 Corinthians 11:25 ” (Wetstein). On the undesigned coincidence between this narrative and the notice in 2 Tim. cf. Paley, Horæ Paulinæ, xii., 5. Hilgenfeld refers this verse to his “author to Theophilus,” but the change in the multitude and the hatred of the Jews are not surprising, but perfectly natural. ἔσυρον : perhaps as a last indignity, cf. Acts 8:3; Acts 17:6. νομίσαντες : St. Luke's words do not require us to infer that St. Paul was rendered lifeless, and we need not suppose that he was more than stunned. But at the same time the narrative undoubtedly leads us to recognise in St. Paul's speedy recovery from such an outrage, and his ability to resume his journey, the good hand of God upon him. We may again notice St. Luke's reserve in dwelling on the Apostle's sufferings, and his carefulness in refraining from magnifying the incident.

[271] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.