Acts 14:6

συνιδόντες, cf. Acts 12:12; Acts 5:2, only in Luke and Paul, 1 Corinthians 4:4; 1Ma 4:21; 2Ma 4:41; 2Ma 14:26; 2Ma 14:30; 3Ma 5:50. κατέφυγον, cf. Matthew 10:23 : “We ought not to run into danger, but to flee from it if needful, like these leaders of the Church wishing to extend their preaching, and to multiply by persecution” Oecumenius; only elsewhere in N.T., Hebrews 6:18; see Westcott, l.c., cf. Deuteronomy 4:42; Numbers 35:26; 1Ma 5:11, etc. So in classical Greek with εἰς, ἐπί, πρός. εἰς τὰς πόλεις τῆς Λ. Λύστραν καὶ Δέρβην, καὶ τὴν περίχωρον : in these words Ramsay sees a notable indication of St. Luke's habit of defining each new sphere of work according to the existing political divisions of the Roman Empire: “Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding Region ”; in going from Antioch to Iconium the travellers entered no new Region (χώρα), but in Acts 14:6 another Region is referred to, comprising part of Lycaonia, consisting of two cities and a stretch of cityless territory; and if this is so, we see also in the words an indication of St. Paul's constant aim in his missionary efforts, viz., the Roman world and its centres of life and commerce; when he reached the limit of Roman territory (Derbe) he retraced his steps. The position of Lystra, about six hours south-south-west from Iconium, near the village Khatyn Serai, is now considered as established by Professor Sterrett's evidence based on an inscription; and from similar evidence of inscriptions it appears that Lystra had been a Roman colonia since Augustus, Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire, p. 47 ff., and Wendt (1899), p. 248; O. Holtzmann, Neutestamentliche Zeitgeschichte, p. 102. The site of Derbe cannot be quite so satisfactorily determined, but probably near the village Losta or Zosta; about three miles north-west of this place, a large mound, by name Gudelissin, is marked by evident traces of the remains of a city, “Derbe,” Hastings' B.D.; Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire, p. 54 ff., and Wendt (1899), p. 249. From 41 72 A.D. Derbe was the frontier city of the Roman province on the south-east. But if St. Paul thus found in Lystra and Derbe centres of Roman commercial life, we must modify our view of the wild and uncivilised nature of the region into which the Apostles penetrated after leaving Antioch and Iconium, cf. C. and H., p. 147, with Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire, pp. 56, 57. If Paul had gone to the ruder parts of Lycaonia, it is very doubtful whether the inhabitants could have understood him, or any one addressing them in Greek (see also Rendall, Acts, p. 263).