Acts 28:15

κἀκεῖθεν, see on Acts 14:26. τὰ περὶ ἡμῶν : phrase only in Luke and Paul, see above on p. 481. The natural supposition is that there were two companies; one met them in advance at Appii Forum, and the other nearer Rome at the Tres Tabernæ. εἰς ἀπάντησιν, cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:17; Matthew 25:6; Matthew 27:32 (W.H [431] margin), frequent in LXX, cf. Polyb., v., 26, 8. See Plumptre's note on the meeting of Cicero on this same road on his return from exile, Senate and people going out to meet him; for St. Paul's friends in Rome see Lightfoot, Philippians, Introd., and p. 171 ff.; Sanday and Headlam, Romans, 18, 27, 34, 40, etc., Godet, L'Épître aux Romains, ii., 599 ff. Aquila and Priscilla would be amongst them. Ἀππίου φόρου : situated on the great Appian Way, near the modern Treponti, 43 miles from Rome, Cic., Ad Att., ii., 10; Hor., Sat., i., 5, 3, and for the distance, Itin. Ant., p. 107, Itin. Hier., p. 611 (see however on this point Encycl. Bibl., p. 267, 1899). Probably its name was due to Appius Claudius as the constructor of this part of the road, Livy, ix., 29, and even in the time of St. Paul it seems to have been connected in some way with the Appian family. It was situated at the northern end of a canal which ran thither from a few miles apparently above Terracina through the district of the Pomptine Marshes. The boatmen of whom Horace speaks in his lively description, u. s., were employed in conveying passengers in boats towed by mules along this canal. The Appian Way itself was parallel with the canal, so that the centurion and the Apostle might have travelled by either, and this uncertainty as to the route no doubt made the Roman Christians wait at Appii Forum. Night travellers apparently preferred the boat. The R.V. renders “The Market of Appius” (really the Greek is a transliteration of the Latin Appii forum, as the words stood in 1611, “forum” (not Forum), Hastings' B.D.). The word apparently implied what we should call a borough or assize town, cf. Forum Julium, etc. The picture drawn by Horace suggests a sharp contrast between the holy joy of the Christian meeting and the coarse vice and rude revelry which so often filled the wretched little town (Plumptre, C. and H.). Τριῶν Ταβ.: Tres Tabernæ, frequent halting-place, deversorium, about 33 miles from Rome on the Via Appia, probably at the point where the road from Antium crosses it, near the modern Cisterna. At this time it was a place of some importance, cf. Cic., Ad Att., ii., 12. The Latin tabernæ = a shop of any kind, and would require an adjective like deversoria (sc. taberna) to be equivalent to a tavern in the modern sense, Lewin, Saint Paul, ii. 224. εὐχ. τῷ Θεῷ ἔλαβε θάρσος, cf. Job 17:9, whether Ramsay is correct in connecting this encouragement with the chronic disorder of the Apostle, which would often occasion fits of depression, it is evident that St. Paul, who was so full of sympathy, “the heart of the world,” and craved for sympathy from others, may well have felt that he was still a prisoner, and the recent perilous voyage may also have left its mark upon him. Anyhow, the meeting with Christian friends, and the thought that these Christians were not ashamed either of the Gospel of Christ, or of Paul the prisoner, even in Rome, may well have endued his soul with much strength. Bishop Lightfoot, Phil., pp. 16, 17 (so too Hort, Judaistic Christianity, p. 113), thinks that the words may intimate that it was a relief to St. Paul to find that some members at least of the Roman Church were favourably disposed towards him; but, as Zöckler points out, there is certainly no proof here, at least, that the Church was composed preponderatingly of Jewish Christians, or that Paul was glad that he received a welcome in a Church so composed, and we have no direct evidence of the existence of an anti-Pauline Jewish party among the Roman Christians; but in the presence of the brethren St. Paul would see a proof that this love was not merely in word or in letter, but in deed and in truth: “videbat Christum etiam Romæ esse,” Bengel.

[431] Westcott and Hort's The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.