xi. 23, 25. 1 Thess. ii. 2.

trouble our city, 21 and teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. 22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to y 2 Cor. vi. 5; beat them. 23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: 24 who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. 25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26 z And suddenly there was a great earthquake, SO z ch. iv. 31. that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's a chv. 19: xii. bands were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and open, he drew out his sword, and supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for

seeing the prison doors
would have killed himself,

¶ render, in their prayers, were singing.
rrender, were listening to them.

$ render, was about to kill himself.

them from Rome, ch. xviii. 2, had at this time been enacted) they excite jealousy against them for as far as religion was concerned, the Romans had affinity with any nation rather than the Jews.

:

21. teach customs] "Dio Cassius tells us
that Mæcenas gave the following advice to
Augustus: By all means and in every
way yourself reverence the Divinity after
your country's manner, and compel others
to do so and all who follow strange cus-
toms in this matter, both hate and punish:'
and the reason is alleged, viz. that such
innovations lead to secret associations,
conspiracies, and cabals, which are most
inconvenient for a monarchy" (Conybeare
and Howson, i. p. 356). 22.] The mul-
titude probably cried out tumultuously, as
on other occasions (see Luke xxiii. 18;
ch. xix. 28, 34; xxi. 30; xxii. 22, 23),-
and the magistrates, without giving the
Christians a trial (ver. 37), rent off their
clothes, viz. by the lictors.
24. the

stocks] In the original only the wood.
Eusebius mentions, speaking of the mar
tyrs in Gaul, that their feet were stretched
to the fifth hole in the wood. 25.]
Not as A. V., prayed and sang praises,
--but, as in margin, in their prayers, were
singing praises, or, praying, sing praises.
The distinction of modern times between

7, 10.

prayer and praise, arising from our attention being directed to the shape rather than to the essence of devotion, was unknown in these days: see Col. iv. 2."Their legs in the stocks pained them not, whose souls were in heaven." Tertullian. The prisoners (in the outer prison) were listening to their singing, when the earthquake happened. 26. every one's bands were loosed] i. e. of all the prisoners in the prison: see below (ver. 28), “We are all here." Doubtless there were gracious purposes in this for those prisoners, who before were listening to the praises of Paul and Silas; and the very form of the narrative, mentioning this listening, shews subsequent communication between some one of these and the narrator. — Their chains were loosed, not by the earthquake, but by miraculous interference over and above it. It is some satisfaction to find, that few, even among the rationalist Commentators, have attempted to rationalize this wonderful example of the triumph of 27. was about to kill himself] The law was, that if a prisoner escaped, the keeper was liable to the intended punishment of the fugitive. Mr. Howson notices, by the examples of Cassius, Brutus, Titinius, and many of the proscribed, after the battle,-that Philippi is

prayer.

we are all here. 29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and ch. i. 37: ix. Silas, 30 and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what

e Jobni. 16, must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on 1 John v. 10. the Lord Jesus [Christ], and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. d Luke v. 29: 34 And when he had y brought them into his house, d he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God, with all his house. 35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. 36 And the

* literally, washed them from their stripes.
y render, brought them up.

e

keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace. 37 But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, a being Romans, and ech. xxii. 25. have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out. 38 And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans. 39 And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and 'desired them to depart out of Matt. viii. 84, the city. 40 And they went out of the prison, 8 and 8 ver. 14. entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen

b

the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.

XVII. 1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was

literally, these sayings.

a literally, men who are.

better, exhorted.

the evening before. the serjeants] i. e. the lictors-bearers of the rods,' which, and not fasces, were carried before the colonial duumviri. 36.] Paul and Silas had returned to the prison: whither the jailor goes, accompanied by the lictors (for it was they that he addressed in ver. 37), to announce the order. 37.] openly and privily are opposed: the injury had been public: the reparation, not to Paul and Silas merely, but to the Gospel of which they were the heralds, must be public also.

men who are Romans]

By the Valerian Law, passed in the year
of Rome 254, and the Porcian Law, in the
year of Rome 506, Roman citizens were
exempted from stripes and tortures: by
the former, till an appeal to the people
was decided, by the latter, absolutely.
On the question, how Paul came to be
born a Roman citizen, see note on ch. xxii.
28. Another irregularity had been com-
mitted by the magistrates, in scourging
them uncondemned. Mr. Humphry re-
marks, 'St. Paul submitted to be scourged
by his own countrymen (five times, 2 Cor.
xi. 24): for, though he might have pleaded
his privilege as a Roman, to the Jews he
"became as a Jew," observing their cere-
monies, and submitting to their law.'
38. they feared] For the account which
they might have to give at Rome, or even
for their popularity with the very mob of
Roman citizens who had demanded the
punishment. 39. besought them] viz.
not to make their treatment matter of

legal complaint. In the request to depart from the city, the magistrates seem to shew fear of a change in the temper of the mob. 40.] They do not depart hastily, or as though forced, but wait to reassure the brethren. exhorted is better than 'comforted,' A. V. The one in this case would imply the other. CHAP. XVII. 1.] Here (or rather perhaps at "they exhorted them and departed," in the preceding verse) we have the first person again dropped, implying apparently that the narrator did not accompany Paul and Silas. I should be inclined to think that Timotheus went with them from Philippi,-not, as is usually supposed, joined them at Beroa: see below on ver. 10.

when

they had passed through] The road, on which they travelled from Philippi to Thessalonica, was the Via Egnatia, the Macedonian continuation of the Via Appia, and so named from Egnatia, in the neighbourhood of which the latter meets the Adriatic. It extended from Dyrrhachium in Epirus to the Hebrus in Thrace, a distance of 500 miles. The stages here mentioned are thus particularized in the itineraries; Philippi to Amphipolis, 33 miles: Amphipolis to Apollonia, 30 miles : Apollonia to Thessalonica, 37 miles. See more particulars in Conybeare and Howson, i. pp. 368 ff. Amphipolis] Anciently called Nine Ways, lying in a most important position, at the end of the lake Cercinītis, formed by the Strymon, commanding the only easy pass from the coast of the Stry

a Luke iv. 16.

ch. ix. 20: xiii. 5, 14:

xiv. 1: xvi. 13: xix. 8. b Luke xxiv.

26, 46. ch. xviii. 28.

Gal. iii, 1.

32, 40.

was,

ca synagogue of the Jews: 2 and Paul, as his manner a went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, 3 opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto c ch. xxviii. 24. you, is Christ. 4 And some of them believed, and cond ch. xv. 22, 27, sorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. 5 But the Jews [a which believed not], moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and e gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, e Rom. xvi. 21. and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. 6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers

render, the.

e

domit, with our oldest MSS. and versions.

e render, made a riot.

monic gulf into Macedonia. In consequence of this, the Athenians colonized the place, calling it Amphipolis. It was the spot where Brasidas was killed, and for previously failing to succour which, Thucydides was exiled: see Grote's Hist. of Greece, vol. vi. p. 625 ff., where there is a plan of Amphipolis. After this it was a point of contention between the Athenians and Philip, and subsequently became the capital of Macedonia Prima.-It is now called Emboli.

Apollonia] Its situation is unknown, but was evidently (see the distances above given) inland, not quite half-way from Amphipolis to Thessalonica, where the road crosses from the Strymonic to the Thermaic gulf. Leake saw some ruins at about the right spot, but did not visit them and Cousinéry mentions seeing, on an opposite hill, the village of Polina. It must not be confounded with a better known Apollonia near Dyrrhachium, on the western coast, also on the Via Egnatia. See Conybeare and Howson, i. pp. 376 f.

Thessalonica] At this time the capital of the province Macedonia, and the residence of the proconsul (Macedonia had been an imperial, but was now a senatorial province). Its former names were Emathia, Halia, and Therma: it received its name of Thessalonica, from Cassander, on his rebuilding and embellishing it, in honour of his wife Thessalonica, sister of Alexander the Great. It was made a free city after the battle of Philippi: and every thing in this narrative is consistent with its privileges and state as such. See in my Greek Test. It has ever been an important and

populous city, and still continues such (the
present population is 70,000), being the
second city in European Turkey, under the
slightly corrupted name of Saloniki. For
a notice of the church there, see Introduc-
tion to the first Ep. to the Thessalonians,
§ 2.
the synagogue of the Jews]
The article implies that there was no other
synagogue for the towns lately traversed:
and shews the same minute acquaintance
with the peculiarities of this district as our
narrative has shewn since the arrival at
Neapolis.
2. as his manner was]
See the marginal references. Paul was
most probably suffering still from his
'shameful treatment' at Philippi, 1 Thess.
ii. 2. 3.] The particularity of this
suffering and rising again from the dead is
reproduced in 1 Thess. iv. 14.
4. con-
sorted with] Literally, were added (as if
by lot, that being determined by God, who
gave them the Holy Spirit of adoption:
1 Thess. ii. 13) to the great family of which
Paul and Silas were members.
vout Greeks] See ch. xiii. 43 al.-The
aptitude of women for the reception of the
Gospel several times appears in this book,—
see above, ch. xvi. 13 ff., and below, vv.
12, 34.
5. took unto them] as their
accomplices, to assist them in the making
a riot, which follows. of the baser
sort] Literally, of men out of the markets,
or loungers in the forum: such persons as
are every where known to be the scum of
the population. These may be alluded to
in 1 Thess. ii. 14. (See note on ch. xix.
38.) Jason] With whom (ver. 7) Paul
and Silas lodged. He appears, perhaps (?)

de

:

John xix. 12. 1 Pet. ii. 13.

of the city, crying, These that have turned the world fch. xvi. 20. upside down are come hither also; 7 whom Jason hath received and these all do contrary to the decrees of Cæsar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. & Luke xxii. 2. 8 And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. 9 And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go. 10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul h ch. ix. 25. and Silas by night unto Berca: who coming thither went

ver. 14.

↑ render, for perspicuity (the other is meant to be plural), the rest.

again with Paul at Corinth, Rom. xvi. 21,
but did not accompany him into Asia, ch.
xx. 4.
6.] These rulers are called in
the original by the peculiar title of Polit-
archs, governors of the citizens. The
exact accuracy of the title as existing at
Thessalonica, has been proved by an in-
scription found on the spot, in which it
occurs: and in the same inscription
curiously enough we have three of the
names which occur here, or in the Epistles,
as companions of Paul: viz. Sosipater (of
Beroa, Rom. xvi. 21, see also Acts xx. 4):
Secundus (of Thessalonica, ch. xx. 4);
and Gaius (the Macedonian, note, ch. xix.
29). These that have turned the
world upside down] The words presup-
pose some rumour of Christianity and its
spread having before reached the in-
habitants of Thessalonica.
7. these

all] All these people, i. e. Christians,
wherever found. A wider acquaintance is
shewn, or at least assumed, with the belief
of Christians, than extended merely to
Jason and his friends.

saying that

there is another king, one Jesus] This false charge seems to have been founded on Paul's preaching much at Thessalonica concerning the triumphant coming and kingdom of Christ. This appears again and again in his two Epistles: see 1 Thess. i. 10; ii. 19; iii. 13; iv. 13-18; v. 1, 2; 2 Thess. i. 5, 7-10; ii. 1-12: and particularly 2 Thess. ii. 5, where he refers to his having often told them of these things, viz. the course, and destruction of Antichrist, by whom these Jews might perhaps misrepresent Paul as designating Cæsar.

9. when they had taken security] either by sureties, or by a sum of money, or both. They bound over Jason and the rest (certain brethren, ver. 6) to take care that no more trouble was given by these men in accordance with which security they sent them away; and by night, to avoid the notice of the multitude. 10.] It does not follow, because Timotheus

is not mentioned here, that therefore he did not accompany, or at all events follow, Paul and Silas to Berca. He has never been mentioned since he joined Paul's company at Lystra. The very intermitted and occasional notices of Paul's companions in this journey should be a caution against rash hypotheses. The general character of the narrative seems to be, that where Paul, or Paul and Silas, are alone or principally concerned, all mention of the rest is suspended, and sometimes so completely as to make it appear as if they were absent then, at some turn of events they appear again, having in some cases been really present all the time. I believe Timotheus to have been with them at Thessalonica the first time, because it does not seem probable that Paul would have sent to them one to confirm and exhort them concerning their faith (1 Thess. iii. 2) who had not known them before, especially as he then had Silas with him.--And this is confirmed by both the Epistles to the Thessalonians, which are from Paul, Silvanus, and Timotheus. From these Epistles we learn that, during his residence among them, Paul worked with his own hands (1 Thess. ii. 9; 2 Thess. iii. 8) to maintain himself: and from Phil. iv. 15, 16, that the Philippians sent supplies more than once towards his maintenance. Both these facts, especially the last, seeing that the distance from Philippi was 100 Roman miles, make it very improbable that his stay was so short as from three to four weeks: nor is this implied in the text: much time may have elapsed while the "great multitude" of ver. 4 were joining Paul and Silas. See further in Introd. to 1 Thess. § 2. 2 ff.

Berca] 61, or according to another authority 57 Roman miles (S.W.) from Thessalonica.-Bercea was not far from Pella, in Macedonia Tertia, at the foot of Mt. Bermius. It was afterwards called Irenopolis, and now Kara Feria, or Verria, and is a city of the second rank in Euro