Acts 28:2

Acts 28:2. The barbarous people showed us no little kindness. ‘No common kindness' would be a more correct translation. The Greek word, too, for ‘kindness' (φιλανθρωπι ́ α) is worthy of remark. It denotes the kindness that is shown on the general ground of humanity, irrespective of differences of rank or race. It is the word used above (Acts 27:3; see note there) of the treatment received from Julius at Sidon. The example of Heathens in such matters has often been a rebuke to Christians. In Titus 3:4 it may be said with reverence that the same use of the word is found.

As to the word ‘barbarous' here and ‘barbarian' in Acts 28:4, it is clear that these people did not act as savages. Their generous and sympathetic conduct is strangely contrasted with the cruelty and plunder that have often disgraced wreckers on our own coast. But, indeed, the word has no such meaning. It denoted simply those who did not speak Greek or Latin (see Romans 1:14; 1 Corinthians 14:11; Colossians 3:11). The modern Maltese speak the Arabic, which was introduced at the Mohammedan conquest, with a slight admixture of Italian and English. This condition of things is in some degree parallel to that which existed under the Roman Empire. The Maltese then spoke Phoenician, with a slight admixture of Greek and Latin. Diodorus Siculus (Acts 28:12) tells us that this island was originally colonized by the Phoenicians.

They kindled a fire. Here we touch one of the fantastic objections which have been brought forward against the identification of this Melita with the modern Malta. It is said, and quite truly, that there is now a great absence of wood in the bland. It might indeed be replied that a fire could have been made of driftwood from wrecks. The ‘bundle of sticks,' however, in the next verse points to the presence of brushwood. The true answer to the objection is that it is only in very modern times that the population of Malta has grown so enormously as to lead to the destruction of the natural wood of the island. Persons were recently living who remembered the growth of natural wood near St. Paul's Bay.

Received us every one. The natives of the island welcomed these cold and shipwrecked people to their company and to the warmth of the fire. The phrase ‘every one' expresses a hearty gratitude in St. Luke's remembrance of the scene.

Because of the present rain, and because of the cold. These particulars could hardly have been introduced so naturally, except by one who had been present on the occasion. Whatever the weather had been before, as to dryness or we t, rain was at this moment adding to their distress. The Greek verb is used here in its exact sense, as in Galatians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:2. The ‘cold' of a northeasterly wind at this season must have been extreme; but even if the wind had changed with the coming on of the rain, we must remember that these shipwrecked people had passed through the waves in escaping to the land.