XXI. (1) AFTER WE WERE GOTTEN FROM THEM... — The Greek verb is more emphatic, and might almost be rendered, “When we had _torn ourselves away_ from them.” WE CAME WITH A STRAIGHT COURSE UNTO COOS... — The navigation is, as before (Acts 20:14), from port to port. It would hardly be within the scope... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN WE HAD DISCOVERED CYPRUS... — The use of a technical term here is specially characteristic of St. Luke. Here the meaning is that, as soon as they _sighted_ Cyprus, they stood to the southeast, and so had it on their left as they continued their voyage to Syria. At Tyre they had again to change... [ Continue Reading ]
AND FINDING DISCIPLES, WE TARRIED THERE SEVEN DAYS. — The word for “finding” implies a previous search. They inquired, when they landed, amid the crowded streets of the still busy port, whether any Christians were to be found there. It will be remembered that St. Paul had passed through that region... [ Continue Reading ]
WE DEPARTED, AND WENT OUR WAY. — Literally, _and were going on our way,_ the tense bringing before us something like a procession wending its way from the city to the shore. WE KNEELED DOWN ON THE SHORE, AND PRAYED. — The choice of the place was in itself natural enough. It was the spot where the t... [ Continue Reading ]
WE TOOK SHIP. — Literally, _we embarked in the ship._ The article probably, though not necessarily, indicates that they went in the same ship that had brought them, and which, after discharging her cargo at Tyre, was now bound for Cæsarea.... [ Continue Reading ]
WE CAME TO PTOLEMAIS. — This city is memorable both for its antiquity and for the varied fortunes of its city. As Accho it appears in Judges 1:31 as one of the old cities of the Canaanites which the Israelites of the tribe of Asher failed to conquer. It was conquered, rebuilt, and re-named by Ptolem... [ Continue Reading ]
WE THAT WERE OF PAUL’S COMPANY DEPARTED. — Better, simply, _we departed._ The Greek which answers to the intervening five words is wanting in the best MSS., and seems a needless interpolation, there being no apparent reason for any change in the writer’s previous phraseology, or for his distinguishi... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SAME MAN HAD FOUR DAUGHTERS, VIRGINS, WHICH DID PROPHESY. — Both elements of the description are full of interest as throwing light on the life of the Apostolic Church. (1) The four daughters were “virgins.” The word then, as afterwards, probably indicated, not merely the bare fact that they wer... [ Continue Reading ]
AS WE TARRIED THERE MANY DAYS... — The adjective is in the comparative degree, and implies, accordingly, a longer time than had been intended. Probably the voyage had been quicker than the travellers had expected, and there was therefore time to remain at Cæsarea, and yet to arrive at Jerusalem, as... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TOOK PAUL’S GIRDLE, AND BOUND HIS OWN HANDS AND FEET. — The MSS. vary between “his hands” (St. Paul’s) and “his own;” but the latter is by far the best-supported reading. It is interesting to note the revival of the old prophetic manner of predicting by symbolic acts. So Isaiah had walked “naked... [ Continue Reading ]
BOTH WE, AND THEY OF THAT PLACE... — For the first time the courage even of the Apostle’s companions began to fail, and St. Luke admits that he himself had joined in the entreaty. Could not they, who were less known, and therefore in less danger, go up without him, pay over the fund that had been co... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT MEAN YE TO WEEP AND TO BREAK MINE HEART? — Better, _What mean ye weeping and breaking_...? The intense sensitiveness of St. Paul’s nature shows itself in every syllable. It was with no Stoic hardness that he resisted their entreaties. They were positively crushing to him. He adhered to his purp... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WILL OF THE LORD BE DONE. — It is, perhaps, too much to see in these words an acceptance of his purpose as being in accordance with the will of the Lord. They were the natural expressions of resignation to what was seen to be inevitable, possibly used as a quotation from the prayer which the Lor... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THOSE DAYS WE TOOK UP OUR CARRIAGES... — Better, _we took up our baggage._ The English word now used always of the vehicle that carries, was in common use at the time of the Authorised version, for the things carried — the luggage or _impedimenta_ of a traveller. So, in 1 Samuel 17:22, David l... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE MNASON OF CYPRUS, AN OLD DISCIPLE, WITH WHOM WE SHOULD LODGE. — Better, perhaps, _an early disciple._ The word for “old” refers less to personal age than to his having been a disciple from the beginning of the Church’s history. He may accordingly have been among those “men of Cyprus” who came to... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BRETHREN RECEIVED US GLADLY. — This was, perhaps, an informal welcome, given in Mnason’s house, by those who came there to receive the expected guests.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DAY FOLLOWING PAUL WENT IN WITH US UNTO JAMES... — Looking to Acts 20:16, it seems natural to infer that this was on or near the Day of Pentecost. The city would be crowded with pilgrims. The Church would be holding its solemn festival, not without memories of the great gifts of the Spirit, and... [ Continue Reading ]
HE DECLARED PARTICULARLY... — Better, _one by one,_ or, _in detail,_ the adverb of the Authorised version having acquired in modern English a slightly different meaning. This must, it is obvious, have implied a narrative of considerable length, including an outline of all that had passed since the v... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY GLORIFIED THE LORD. — The better MSS. give, “they glorified God.” The tense implies continued action, and although its meaning would be satisfied by assuming mere ejaculations of wonder and praise, it is, at least, not improbable that there was a more formal thanksgiving. HOW MANY THOUSANDS OF... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY ARE INFORMED OF THEE... — This, it is clear, was the current version of St. Paul’s teaching. How far was it a true representation of its tendencies? As a personal accusation it was, of course, easy to refute it. His rule of adaptation led him to be to the Jews as a Jew (1 Corinthians 9:20).... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MULTITUDE MUST NEEDS COME TOGETHER. — More accurately, _at all events a crowd must needs come together._ The report of St. Paul’s arrival was sure to spread, and those who heard of it would be eager to see how he acted. Would he ostentatiously reproduce in Jerusalem that living as a Greek with G... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAVE FOUR MEN WHICH HAVE A VOW ON THEM. — The advice was eminently characteristic. (1) It came from one who himself lived as bound by the Nazarite vow. “No razor came upon his head, and he drank neither wine nor strong drink” (Hegesippus in Euseb. _Hist._ ii. 23). By connecting himself with such... [ Continue Reading ]
PURIFY THYSELF WITH THEM... — This involved sharing their abstinence for the uncompleted term of the vow, and shaving the head at its conclusion. BE AT CHARGES WITH THEM... — Literally, _spend money on them._ This involved payment (1) for the act of shaving the head, for which probably there was a... [ Continue Reading ]
AS TOUCHING THE GENTILES WHICH BELIEVE. — See Note on Acts 15:20. St. James, it will be seen, adheres still to the terms of the _concordat_ sanctioned at the council of Jerusalem. He has no desire to withdraw any concession that was then made, and the Judaisers who in Galatia and elsewhere were, in... [ Continue Reading ]
TO SIGNIFY THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE DAYS OF PURIFICATION... — The process lasted, as the next verse shows, for seven days, which were probably reckoned from the completion of the thirty days, or other term, of the vow itself. St. Paul, having made himself the representative of the Nazarite company,... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE SEVEN DAYS WERE ALMOST ENDED. — Literally, _were on the point to be completed._ St. Luke speaks of _“the_ seven days” as a definite or known period. They cannot refer, as some have thought, either to the duration of the vow, which was never less than thirty days, or to that of the Feast of... [ Continue Reading ]
TROPHIMUS AN EPHESIAN. — See Note on Acts 20:4. His face was naturally familiar to those who had come from the same city. They had seen the two together in the streets, possibly near the entrance of the Temple, and, hatred adding wings to imagination, had taken for granted that St. Paul had brought... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PEOPLE RAN TOGETHER. — Better, perhaps, _there was a rush of the people._ St. Luke brings into something like a mental juxtaposition the pictures of the tumult at Ephesus and that at Jerusalem. The Jews of Asia, among whom we may perhaps think of Alexander the coppersmith, working then as afterw... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHIEF CAPTAIN OF THE BAND. — On the word “band,” and its relation to the Latin “cohort,” see Notes on Acts 10:1; Matthew 27:27. On the word for “chief captain” (literally, _chiliarch,_ or “captain of a thousand men,” the cohort being the sixth part of the legion, which consisted of 6, 000), see... [ Continue Reading ]
COMMANDED HIM TO BE BOUND WITH TWO CHAINS. — Looking to the usual Roman practices in the treatment of prisoners, we may think of each chain as fastened at one end to the Apostle’s arm, and at the other to those of the soldiers who kept guard over him. (See Notes on Acts 12:6; Acts 28:16.) So shackle... [ Continue Reading ]
SOME CRIED ONE THING, SOME ANOTHER. — We note the parallelism with the like confused clamour at Ephesus (Acts 19:32), which is described in exactly the same terms. HE COMMANDED HIM TO BE CARRIED INTO THE CASTLE. — The Greek, which literally means _encampment,_ is translated “armies” in Hebrews 11:3... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN HE CAME UPON THE STAIRS... — This was one of the flights leading, as has been said, from the tower to the Temple area. Here the violence of the crowd became greater as they were more pressed in, and the soldiers had literally to lift him from his legs and carry him in, while the troops lined th... [ Continue Reading ]
AWAY WITH HIM. — We remember that the self-same cry had been raised at the time of the Crucifixion (Luke 23:18; John 19:15), and that it was used now with the same meaning with which it had been used then.... [ Continue Reading ]
CANST THOU SPEAK GREEK? — The chiliarch apparently expected his prisoner to have spoken Hebrew, _i.e.,_ Aramaic, and was surprised to hear Greek; the people expected Greek, and were surprised at Hebrew (Acts 22:2). Nothing could better illustrate the familiarity of the population of Jerusalem with b... [ Continue Reading ]
ART NOT THOU THAT EGYPTIAN? — The Greek has an illative particle which is wanting in the English: _Art not thou then that Egyptian?_ This was the inference drawn by the chief captain from the fact that his prisoner spoke in Greek. The Egyptian was a false prophet, who a short time before this, under... [ Continue Reading ]
A CITIZEN OF NO MEAN CITY. — The boast was quite a legitimate one. In addition to all its fame for culture, the town of Tarsus bore on its coins the word METROPOLIS-AUTONOMOS (Independent).... [ Continue Reading ]
PAUL STOOD ON THE STAIRS. — The position was one which raised him above the people, and the characteristic gesture commanded instant attention. And he spoke, not as they expected in the Greek, which belonged to one who fraternised with Gentiles, but in the Hebrew or Aramaic, which he had studied at... [ Continue Reading ]