Acts 17:11

εὐγενέστεροι : only in Luke and Paul in the N.T., so in classics the word is used of noble birth, Luke 19:12; 1 Corinthians 1:26 (Job 1:3), or of nobility of character as here, cf. also its use in 4MMalachi 3:5; 4Ma 9:23; 4Ma 9:27 (and εὐγενῶς in 2Ma 14:42, and several times in 4 Macc.). We may compare the wide and varying use of the Latin ingenuus in accordance with the context, its meaning here is that the Berœans were far from the strife and envy of the Thessalonian Jews; see Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire, pp. 154, 160, 163, on the less favourable attitude of Codex Bezæ to the Berœans than the T.R., and critical note; see also above on Acts 13:50. προθ.: another word only in Luke and Paul, cf. 2Co 8:11-12; 2 Corinthians 8:19; 2 Corinthians 9:2; not in LXX, but once in Sir 45:23, frequent in classical Greek. τὸ καθʼ ἡμέραν : indicates that St. Paul made a lengthy stay at Berœa also, cf. Luke 11:3; Luke 19:47, but elsewhere without the article, with the article peculiar to Luke (see Plummer's note on Luke 11:3). On the frequency of καθʼ ἡμέραν in Luke's writings see Friedrich, p. 9, and above on Hawkins, Horæ Synopticæ, p. 33. If τό is read, see critical note, it particularises the repetition or constancy of the act. ἀνακρ.: “examining,” R.V. (the word in St.John 5:39, which A.V. also renders “search,” is ἐρευνάω), cf. 1 Corinthians 10:25; 1 Corinthians 10:27, used elsewhere by St. Luke of a judicial inquiry or investigation, Luke 23:14; Acts 4:9; Acts 12:19; Acts 24:8; Acts 28:18. The word is only found in Luke and Paul, once in LXX, 1 Samuel 20:12, in a general sense, and in Susannah, ver 48, 51, where it is connected with a judicial inquiry, as elsewhere in Luke. In classical Greek used also in the general sense of examining closely, questioning, sifting. τὰς γραφάς : Blass explains “locos a Paulo allatos,” but although these were ipso facto included, the term can hardly be so limited, cf. Acts 18:24; Acts 18:28, and Lightfoot on Galatians 3:22. “Character verae religionis, quod se dijudicari patitur,” Bengel. εἰ ἔχοι, Burton, p. 52, cf. Luke 1:29; Luke 3:15. Wendt rightly points out that the positive praise bestowed on the Jews of Berœa tends in itself to contradict the theory that Acts was written to emphasise the unbelief of the Jews, and to contrast their unbelief with Gentile belief.