Acts 16:13

Acts 16:13. By a river side. The Gangas, a small river which flows close to the city. It is possible that the Jews worshipped there outside the gates of the city, because the military inhabitants (Philippi was never a commercial centre) would not allow them to worship within. A more probable reason, however, is the quiet and seclusion of the spot, which was especially chosen on account of its proximity to the river Gangas, which served for the ablutions connected with Jewish worship.

Where prayer was wont to be made. The Greek here should be translated, ‘where was wont to be a place of prayer.' The word προσευχή (proseucha) is well known as the designation of a slight and temporary structure, frequently open to the sky, erected for the purposes of Jewish worship; in some cases the ‘proseucha' seems simply a space or inclosure set apart for this solemn purpose. There was evidently but a very small colony of Jews resident at Philippi, owing no doubt to the fact that Philippi was rather a military than a commercial city. This accounts for there being no regular synagogue there; the ‘proseucha,' or place of prayer by the river side, was the substitute for the ordinary Jewish meeting-house.

Unto the women which resorted there. These were very probably proselytes, not Jews. We have alluded to the fact that the number of Jews resident at Philippi was evidently very small. There may, however, have been a fair number of strangers resident, or sojourners for a time in the place, who, like Lydia of Thyatira, had learned to know the God of Israel in other cities.