ST. PAUL A PRISONER AT ROME 1. They.. they] RV 'we.. we.' MELITA] RM 'Melitene.' Melita is certainly Malta, and not (as has been erroneously supposed) Meleda off the Illyrian coast. Tradition correctly locates the shipwreck in St. Paul's Bay, about 8 m. NW. of Valetta.... [ Continue Reading ]
ST. PAUL IN JERUSALEM (CHS 21:17-28:16) 17-40. Disturbances in the Temple. St Paul arrested.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BARBAROUS PEOPLE] RV 'the barbarians.' The Gk. word does not imply that they were uncivilised, but only that they were neither Greeks nor Romans.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Mark 16:18. As St. Paul was arranging the faggot on the fire, the viper, feeling the heat, glided out of the faggot and bit the Apostle's hand. There are now no vipers in Malta, but the clearing of the ancient forests, and the great density of the population, are sufficient to account for their... [ Continue Reading ]
VENGEANCE] rather, 'Justice' (personified as a goddess). A GOD] cp. the events at Lystra (Acts 14:11), which also illustrate the popular levity of judgment.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHIEF MAN] lit. 'the first man.' Inscriptions show that this title is technically correct. Malta was part of the province of Sicily, and Publius was a subordinate of the praetor of Sicily. Tradition places his house at Città-Vecchia.... [ Continue Reading ]
BLOODY FLUX] RV 'dysentery.' Observe in this v. the technical medical language.... [ Continue Reading ]
OTHERS] We have here the firsthand evidence of a competent medical witness to the reality of St. Paul's miraculous cures.... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THREE MONTHS] i.e. probably somewhat early in February, before the usual time of navigation. CASTOR AND POLLUX] (lit. 'the Dioscuri'), the twin sons of Jupiter, and tutelary deities of sailors.... [ Continue Reading ]
LANDING] RV 'touching.' SYRACUSE] 100 m. N. of Malta, the capital of Sicily, and a Roman colony.... [ Continue Reading ]
FETCHED A COMPASS] i.e. made a circuit. RHEGIUM] an ancient Gk. colony situated on the Italian side of the Straits of Messina, near the dreaded rock of Scylla, and the whirlpool of Charybdis. PUTEOLI] also called Dicæarchia, was (with Ostia) the great corn mart of Italy, where the Alexandrian cornsh... [ Continue Reading ]
APPII FORUM] RV 'the Market of Appius,' was 43 Roman m. S. of Rome on the great Appian Road, the main line of communication between Rome and the East. THE THREE TAVERNS] 10 Roman miles from the capital.... [ Continue Reading ]
ST. PAUL IN ROME (28:16-31) 16. The captain of the guard] either the captain of the prætorian guard (_proefectus proetorio_), or, more probably, the captain of the troops called _frumentarii_, whose camp was on the Coelian hill: see on Acts 27:1. TO DWELL BY HIMSELF] This exceptional treatment was... [ Continue Reading ]
CALLED THE CHIEF OF THE JEWS TOGETHER] or, 'called together the Jewish community first,' in accordance with his usual plan of preaching to the Jews before he preached to the Gentiles.... [ Continue Reading ]
JAMES] The Lord's 'brother,' the acknowledged head of the Church of Jerusalem: cp. Acts 15:13, etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
PARTICULARLY] i.e. in minute detail.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD (i.e. Jesus)] RV 'God.' 23, 24. The four men were Nazirites (see Numbers 6), and St. Paul was advised to pay for their sacrifices, and to associate himself with their Nazirite vow during the week that it had still to run (see Acts 21:27). By thus becoming a Nazirite, and defraying the sacr... [ Continue Reading ]
It is somewhat strange that the chief priests did not write. Perhaps they did, but the letter was delayed, or miscarried.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Jews profess no first-hand knowledge of the Christians, hence it is evident that at Rome the Church and the Synagogue were already definitely separated. The expulsion of the Jews from Rome by Claudius is probably the cause of this. There being no Jewish community, the infant Church started as a... [ Continue Reading ]
See Isaiah 6:9. OUR FATHERS] RV 'your fathers.' St. Paul renounces fellowship with the unbelieving Jews. See Acts 15.... [ Continue Reading ]
ENTERED, etc.] We may freely translate this difficult passage thus: 'He entered into the Temple, informing the priests that within seven days (see Acts 21:27) the days of their purification would be accomplished; and he purposed to remain with them in the Temple for a whole week, until the legal sac... [ Continue Reading ]
TROPHIMUS] see on Acts 20:4. 30. They drew him and all his companions 'out of the Temple,' i.e. out of the Court of Israel, and closed the doors of this court, ostensibly to prevent any more Gentiles from entering. This v. is omitted by important ancient authorities, but much is to be said for its... [ Continue Reading ]
TWO WHOLE YEARS] Such delays of justice were not unusual. In this case the delay was apparently caused, (1) by the loss of the official papers in the wreck, (2) by the non-appearance of the accusers, (3) by the difficulty of getting together the witnesses. During this imprisonment St. Paul wrote the... [ Continue Reading ]
WENT ABOUT TO] i.e. were seeking to. The chief captain of the band] rather, 'the tribune of the Roman cohort,' which was stationed in the fortress Antonia, adjoining the Temple.... [ Continue Reading ]
CASTLE] lit. 'encampment.' The fortress Antonia is meant.... [ Continue Reading ]
AWAY WITH HIM] i.e. Slay him.... [ Continue Reading ]
ART NOT THOU] rather, 'Thou art not then the Egyptian,' etc. FOUR THOUSAND MEN] rather, the four thousand men of the Sicarii. The Sicarii (i.e. assassins) were the extreme members of the 'zealot' party. They carried out their 'national' policy by openly assassinating influential Jews supposed to be... [ Continue Reading ]
St. Paul was not without civic pride. Tarsus was the seat of a famous university, and had produced several of the most eminent Stoic philosophers. On its coins it proudly boasted itself 'Self-Governing Metropolis.' Citizenship of Tarsus was confined to a select few of the inhabitants, so that its po... [ Continue Reading ]