Chapter IX

PAUL AT ROME.
THE SEVEN CHURCHES.
COLOSSE AND HIERAPOLIS.

=1. After their arrival= at Rome, Paul was permitted to dwell by himself with a soldier who kept him and to whom he was bound with a chain, Acts 28:20. For two years Paul remained at Rome in a hired house, Acts 28:30, teaching and preaching to all those who came to visit him, and no one forbade him, for the Jews at Rome were under so great fear of the Government that they were exceedingly cautious to cause no uproar. They had not long before been expelled from the city in consequence of an uproar, and they were forced to express any objections to the new faith in a very quiet way.[204]

=2. We can learn nothing= of the subsequent life of the apostle except from notices which occur in the various epistles. It appears that the Jews were unable to gather any definite charge sufficient to sustain them in any plea against Paul. But during this long residence at Rome several epistles were written and many converts were made through the apostle’s efforts.

=3. For his success in preaching= see Phile. 14. It is evident that Luke was with him, Col. 4:15; Phile. 24; Timothy also, Phile. 1; Col. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; and others; see Col. 4:7; Eph. 6:21; and John Mark was found “profitable to him,” Col. 4:10; 2 Tim. 4:1; Phile. 24; Col. 4:14; 2 Tim. 4:10, wherein we see that Demas afterward forsook him; Col. 1:7.

At this time the case of Onesimus is interesting; see Epistle to Philemon. Onesimus had escaped to Rome and had been converted to the true faith, but after his conversion returned with a letter from Paul to his master.

The Epistle to the Colossians was now written and sent probably by Onesimus and Tychicus, the latter being charged with another epistle, namely, to the Ephesians.

These letters were written probably in the spring of A. D. 62. About this time Paul was cheered by an offering sent from the church in Philippi, who remembered the apostle in his confinement, Phil. 4. This Epistle to the Philippians was also written from Rome and sent by the same one that brought the gift from the church, namely, Epaphroditus.

=4. All we know= of the apostle after this is from ecclesiastical writers of the early Christian church. From these it has been supposed that he was tried and acquitted of the charges against him and that after this he visited some of the churches he had been instrumental in planting.

In this route it is thought that from Rome he went by Brundusium, thence to Dyrrachium and onward to Macedonia and to the churches there. It is even thought that now he visited Spain, A. D. 64, in accordance with an expression in Rom. 15:24, 28. But these visits are only conjectural.

=5. It seems however= that he was again arrested and sent to Rome, some think while spending a time at Nicopolis, on the Bay of Actium. In this second imprisonment he was confined as a malefactor, 2 Tim. 2:9, and none would visit him or stand by him, 2 Tim. 1:16; 4:16, and now it is said the second Epistle to Timothy was written. Whether Timothy ever arrived in Rome after this is not known. But the second trial came on, and the history states that he was condemned to be beheaded; and beyond the city walls, along the road to Ostia, the port of Rome, he was led out and executed, a Roman swordsman beheading him.

=6. Besides the apostle Paul=, only three appear as =writers= in the remaining parts of Scripture; these are James, “the Lord’s brother,” Peter, and John. James is author of one of the general epistles, evidently intended for universal use and not sent to any one church, and hence called “The Epistle General of James.” It makes the twentieth of the New Testament books.

Peter is last mentioned when at Antioch, as recorded in Gal. 2:11‒21. It is supposed from 1 Pet. 5:13 that he remained in Babylon in Chaldæa, where at an early period many Jews were settled, as Josephus shows. He wrote two epistles, which form the twenty-first and twenty-second books of the New Testament, and these were written apparently in his old age. The tradition is that he suffered martyrdom in Rome.

THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA.

=7.= The only other writer of the New Testament not yet mentioned is John. He wrote three epistles and the book of Revelation, in which are mentioned the churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, Rev. 1:11.

Ephesus has already been described.

=8. Smyrna= was then “the ornament of Asia, with the finest harbor in the world.” Although no mention is made of it in the book of Acts nor in any of the epistles of St. Paul, it may have been one of the earliest churches founded by St. John. Eratosthenes states that Smyrna was built by the Cumæans B. C. 1015, and according to Pliny it took its name from an Amazon, Smyrna by name, who founded it. In the time of the apostles it had a temple and hot springs.[205] It is at present a populous city, built however a little to the south of the ancient site, and contains about 200,000 inhabitants.

=9. Pergamos= is 50 miles nearly due north from Smyrna. It is described during the Roman period as the finest city of their new province of Asia. Its possession by the Romans was due to the gift of Attalus its king, B. C. 132.

Pergamos was celebrated for its extensive collections of libraries and for the patronage of art and science at its court. All the ruins now found are of the Roman period except a tunnel over the river Selinus, now a small stream. This double tunnel appears to be extremely ancient, and is supposed to be of the time of Attalus. It runs under the present town of Bergamah for 600 feet, with arches of 40 feet diameter and 20 feet high. The present town contains about 30,000 inhabitants. As the artisans were skilled in preparing skins for manuscripts, the skins themselves were known by the name of the place, and hence the name “parchment,” which is only a change of the ancient name of Pergamos.

=10. Thyatira= is now called Ak-hissar, “the white castle,” from a castle on the white hill back of the plain upon which the city is built. The plain has always been inhabited, and was celebrated at and long before the period of the apostles for its manufacture of dyes,[206] and this art is alluded to in Acts 16:14. It never had any reputation otherwise, but was always a busy trading city. It is 52 or 53 miles northeast of Smyrna, and was a Macedonian colony in the time of Strabo,[207] but before his time it was called Pelopia,[208] upon which site the colony was placed by the Syrian king Seleucus Nicator, a general of Alexander the Great.

=11. Sardis=, the once proud capital of Lydia, the residence of Crœsus, the wealthiest monarch of his age, and “the queen of Asia,”[209] is now utterly desolate. The site is about 50 miles east of Smyrna, and the river Pactolus is on the west. It is now called Sart, and there are to be found only two or three huts and a water-mill.

If Smyrna be taken as a centre of a great circle, the three cities last mentioned will be nearly on the circumference: Pergamos north, Thyatira northeast, and Sardis east, each about 50 miles from the centre.

=12. Philadelphia=, the next in order as mentioned in Revelation, is east of Sardis about 30 miles, on the northeastern slope of Mt. Tmolus, near the little stream of the Cogamus, which winds about on the plain and falls into the Hermus near Sardis. It received its name from its founder, Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamos, B. C. about 140 years. Strabo says that the city was subject to frequent earthquakes,[210] and Tacitus says that Philadelphia was nearly entirely destroyed by an earthquake in the reign of Tiberius.[211] Although never a city of much prominence, it has outlasted Ephesus, Sardis, and Laodicea. One-third of the present population, 15,000, are Christians of the Greek Church. It is still surrounded by walls, but they are very much dilapidated.

=13. Laodicea= was once a rich and flourishing city, but nothing remains of it but a vast stadium, a theatre, and a gymnasium. Laodicea is nearly 100 miles due east of Ephesus, Colosse is 10 or 12 miles southeast, and Hierapolis about the same distance nearly north.

=14.= Besides the seven cities forming the sites of the famous seven churches of Asia, there are two others to be noticed, =Colosse= and =Hierapolis=. The former was written to by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians. Nothing remains but a few fragments of broken columns and building stones.

=Hierapolis= received its name from its remarkable hot springs. At one place the deadly gas (carbonic dioxide) exhaled from the opening of a cave where the spring was located, and this exhalation caused death to animals and men. This fact originated the superstition that some divinity presided over the city, and hence it became called Hierapolis, “the holy city.” About the time of the apostles there was so great an abundance of the water supply that baths were built in every part of the city. The waters are so heavily charged with lime that they deposit stalactites and stalagmites in every direction, and the whiteness of the rock and ground over which the waters flow is so general that the place may be seen at a great distance, and because of its dazzling whiteness it receives the name of Pembouk Kalessi, “Cotton Castle.” It is only mentioned in Col. 4:13.

The apostle John, who outlived the rest of the apostles, seems to have had a special interest in those seven churches of Asia. He is said to have exercised a pastoral care over them all, but at some time after the death of Paul he went to Ephesus and dwelt there. He was banished to Patmos, probably by the Emperor Domitian, A. D. 95, where he wrote the Revelation.

PATMOS.

This little rugged island was used as a place of banishment of Roman criminals. It is 32 miles west of the coast of Asia Minor, and is rocky and barren and about 28 miles in circumference. It has a port on the east where is a deep indentation. The population at present is 4,000, all Greeks and a seafaring people. On a height above the principal town is a large convent, resembling a fortress, where are said to be some valuable manuscripts.

On his return from banishment John went back to Ephesus, where he died at the great age of 95, A. D. 100. He was known to the last as the Holy Theologian, and the present name of the little village, Ayasoluk, near Ephesus, is the Turkish form of the Greek Hagios-Theologos, the Holy Theologian.

MAP: GENERAL MAP OF BIBLE LANDS ILLUSTRATING
THE ORIGIN OF NATIONS

MAP: CANAAN AND ITS TRIBES
_BEFORE THE CONQUEST BY JOSHUA_

_American Tract Society
150 Nassau St
New York_

MAP: ASSYRIA, CHALDEA
MEDIA, ARMENIA, AND SYRIA

_American Tract Society
150 Nassau St
New York_

MAP: CANAAN AND ITS TRIBES
_BEFORE THE CONQUEST BY JOSHUA_

_American Tract Society
150 Nassau St
New York_

MAP: SINAI AND THE DESERT OF THE WANDERINGS

_American Tract Society
150 Nassau St
New York_

MAP: THE HOLY LAND _IN THE_ TIME OF THE KINGS.

MAP: SINAI AND THE DESERT OF THE WANDERINGS

_American Tract Society
150 Nassau St
New York_

MAP: ENVIRONS OF JERUSALEM.

MAP: MAP SHOWING THE MISSIONARY TOURS
OF THE APOSTLE PAUL

_American Tract Society
150 Nassau St
New York_

FOOTNOTES.

1 – “Ancient Empires of the East,” p. 95. PLINY, N. H., VI. 130.

2 – “Lippincott’s Gazetteer,” 1881.

3 – Pronounced Moo-rad’-chi (_chi_ as in China).

4 – Geikie, Vol. I., p. 108.

5 – “Wo lag das Paradies?” Dr. Delitzsch.

6 – Of this manuscript we shall give a description hereafter,
as also of the Septuagint.

7 – Schumann’s “Commentary on Genesis.”

8 – Schaff’s “Bible Dictionary,” p. 184.

9 – Translation of Society of Biblical Archæology, Vol. IV.,
p. 315.

10 – Eichhorn’s “Einleitung,” Vol. I., p. 90.
Geikie, Vol. I., p. 83.

11 – W. F. Wilkinson, “Personal Names in the Bible,” p. 10.

12 – Delitzsch, “Chaldæan Genealogy,” p. 304.

13 – Wilkinson, p. 15.

14 – Trench, “Study of Words.”

15 – Geikie.

16 – Copper is as abundant now as then. There is quite a trade
in copper between Bagdad and Bassora near the head of the
Persian Gulf. All household utensils are made of copper.
When Xenophon arrived with his Ten Thousand, B. C. 400,
in this region (in his time it was called the land of the
Carduchi) he was astonished at the quantity of metallic
utensils. Lenormant, “Ancient History of the East,”
Vol. II., p. 203.

17 – Rawlinson, “The Five Great Monarchies,” Vol. I., p. 98.

18 – Perrot & Chipiez, “Art in Chaldæa.”

19 – See “Speaker’s Commentary,” Vol. I., p. 62. Geikie, Vol. I.,
p. 184.

20 – See Vigouroux and Lenormant, as quoted by Geikie, Vol. I.,
p. 86.

21 – So Schrader in Geikie, Vol. I., p. 208.

22 – Osborn’s “Manual of Biblical Geography.”

23 – Full references in Bochart’s “Geography,” pp. 192, 193.

24 – Schrader in Geikie, Vol. I., p. 234.

25 – Bochart, “Geog. Sac.,” p. 157.

26 – Ibid., p. 586.

27 – “Études de l’antiquité historique.” Paris, 1873.

28 – Geikie, p. 234, Vol. I.

29 – Lenormant, Vol. II., “Ancient History of the East,” p. 236.

30 – Some have recently offered a new reading of this text, as
follows: “From that land he [Nimrod] went into Assyria;”
but, beside what has been above said, Rosenmüller observes
that if this had been the meaning the Hebrew would have
been different. We may add that the Septuagint translators
understood it as it is in our English version, that it was
not Nimrod, but Asshur, who built Nineveh.

31 – It has been supposed by some that the word “Rehoboth”
does not refer to a city, but to the “_wide street_” of
Nineveh. The term is used in that sense in an inscription
of Esar-haddon, in which he says that he paraded the heads
of two kings of Sidon through (Rehoboth) “the streets”
of Nineveh. W. A. I., Vol. I., p. 45; in “History of
Esar-haddon,” Budge, 1881, p. 41.

32 – Herodotus, Vol. II., p. 121.

33 – Geikie, Vol. I., p. 247.

34 – More fully spoken of page 69.

35 – The hieratic is written from right to left, as is the
Phœnician. See Sayce’s “Ancient Empires of the East,”
Scribner, 1886, p. 84.

36 – Bertheau, as quoted by Geikie, Vol. I., p. 251, and
Lenormant, Vol. II., p. 144.

37 – Job 41:6; Prov. 31:24, where the word “merchant” is
Canaanite in the Hebrew.

38 – “Antiquities,” Vol. I., § 6:4.

39 – Maclear, p. 24.

40 – Oppert, “Journal Asiatique,” Vol. X., p. 220; Vol. IX.,
p. 503. Lenormant, “Langue Primitive de la Chaldée,” p. 355.
Geikie, Vol. I., p. 291.

41 – Lenormant, “Ancient History of the East,” p. 445.

42 – Geikie, Vol. I., p. 274.

43 – “Præp Evang.,” IX., 17. Geikie, Vol. I., p. 295.

44 – A. H. Sayce in the “Hibbert Lectures,” 1887. See also in
“Old Testament Student,” 1887, p. 134.

45 – Sayce, translation as referred to in previous note.

46 – See Herzog, article “Ur.”

47 – Pronounced _ha´-i_.

48 – Pronounced _a´-i_.

49 – Hale’s date is B. C. 2078.

50 – Gen. 16:7; 20:1; 25:18; Exod. 15:22; 1 Sam. 15:7; 27:8.
Shur means “wall.”

51 – Pronounced Ke´-ops.

52 – Wilkinson’s date is B. C. 1532, but Brugsch gives it as
B. C. 1433.

53 – Sir Henry Rawlinson.

54 – “La Langue Primitive,” p. 376; in Tomkin’s “Times of
Abraham,” p. 181.

55 – Bir es Seba in the Arabic is the same as Beersheba in the
Hebrew.

56 – Sayce, “Ancient Empires,” p. 200.

57 – We have mentioned them on page 37.

58 – Fourth memoir of “The Egypt Exploration Fund,” 1887,
p. 15.

59 – Osborn’s “Ancient Egypt in the Light of Modern Discovery,”
p. 82.

60 – Ebers’ “Konigstöchter,” Vol. I., p. 22 in the note, 40.

61 – Geikie, Vol. I., p. 468.

62 – See Geikie, Vol. I., p. 462.

63 – For illustrations of this fact see “Ancient Empires of the
East,” Sayce. Preface.

64 – Dynasty was the term given to kings of the same family or
blood relations.

65 – This view appears to be the correct one, although there is
some variation of opinion.

66 – Gray’s “Connection between Sacred and Heathen Authors,”
p. 563. Longinus “On the Sublime.”

67 – Lepsius in Geikie, Vol. II., p. 384.

68 – Supposed to have been Debir, south of Hebron.

69 – Wilkinson in Tomkins’ “Studies of the Times of Abraham,”
p. 86.

70 – Tomkins, p. 86.

71 – Odyssey, Book II., l. 521. Gladstone’s “Hom. Synchron.”
pp. 174, 182.

72 – Now called Ain es Sultan.

73 – Ussher’s time as in the margin of our Bibles.

74 – The Talmud is described hereafter.

75 – Bishop Horsley.

76 – Deut. 27:12; 11:30; Num. 34:13‒29; Exod. 21:13;
Num. 35:6, 11, 14; Deut. 19:2, 9.

77 – The affix “im” to a word was equivalent to the letter _s_
in English.

78 – Lenormant, Vol. II., p. 223.

79 – Geikie, Vol. II., p. 466.

80 – Meaning “hamstrung.” Our version puts horses in italics,
showing that it is not in the original.

81 – Browne in “Ordo Sæculorum,” Vol. I., chap. 5, sec. 3.

82 – For another solution of the chronology of this period see
the “Old Testament Student,” January, 1884.

83 – The place where the courts were held.

84 – Burckhardt’s “Travels,” p. 339.

85 – Osburn’s “Ancient Egypt,” p. 138. London. Samuel Bagster
& Sons.

86 – The place assigned as probable, namely, Astug, is an
impossible site, for Ziklag after the Captivity is located
between Beersheba and Jerusalem, and Astug was at that
time too far off for settlement by returned captives.

87 – 1 Kings 11:42.

88 – “Antiquities,” IX., 11:1.

89 – Strabo, XV., 1:6. Geikie, Vol. V., p. 339.

90 – Jer. 48:40; 49:22.

91 – Ezek. 17:3.

92 – Lenormant, “Ancient History of the East,” 475, in
remarkable corroboration of 2 Kings 24:7.

93 – Also spelled Mizpeh, the meaning being _watch-tower_.

94 – 1 Kings 12:28.

95 – Under the title of Apis; Greek, Ser-apis, for Osiris-Apis.

96 – Ecclus. 36:15 and Maccabees 9:27; 14:41.

97 – T. G. Pinches, in “Trans. Soc. of Biblical Archæology,”
May, 1884. Same as Tiglath-pileser, 2 Kings 15:29.

98 – Lenormant and Chev., “Ancient History of the East,” p. 392.

99 – Lenormant, 392.

100 – Idem, 604.

101 – Lenormant etc., “Ancient History of the East,” p. 406.
Geikie’s date would make it too late, see authorities in
Geikie, V., p. 91., and for the translation of cylinders,
“History of Esar-haddon,” Budge, 1881, Boston, Osgood &
Co., p. 103.

102 – See Rawlinson’s “Five Great Monarchies,” II., p. 477,
English Edition; also Maclear’s “Old Testament History,”
p. 445.

103 – Such as Psalms 79, 102, 126, 137, and others.

104 – Their tendencies were idolatrous from the beginning,
1 King 14:15. For the comparative morality see p. 150.

105 – It is not probable that he went to Babylon, but his
prophecies were taken there, Dan. 9:2; Jer. 29.

106 – The discussion of this matter of Darius of Dan. 5:31
may be found in “Translations of the Society of Biblical
Archæology,” VI., pp. 1‒133; also in Geikie, Vol. VI.,
p. 398.

107 – Some remained in Palestine.

108 – “Old Testament History,” Maclear, p. 476. Ezra 8.

109 – According to Ussher.

110 – Zech. 1:1.

111 – “The Book of Esther,” by Haley, Andover, 1885.

112 – Full description by Dr. M. Jastrow, Jr., “Sunday-school
Times,” Philadelphia, November 17, 1888.

113 – For the critical account, see “The Book of Esther,” by
Haley, Andover, 1885. More recently, “Harper’s Monthly,”
June, 1887. “Revue des Etudes Juives,” Avril‒Juin, 1888.
“Sunday-school Times.” November 17, 1888.

114 – Geo. Rawlinson, “The Religions of the Ancient World,”
p. 79.

115 – Idem, p. 86; the utmost that was allowed was the emblem of
the winged circle.

116 – Keil’s “Comments on Esther,” p. 309, “Book of Esther,”
Haley, p. 81.

117 – Chiefly on the authority of A. H. Sayce, “The Ancient
Empires of the East.”

118 – According to Josephus.

119 – “Introduction to Hebrew Literature,” J. W. Etheridge, M.A.,
London, 1856, p. 20.

120 – B. C. 291, Maclear’s “New Testament History,” p. 11; and
B. C. 310‒290, Westcott’s “Bible in the Church,” p. 300.

121 – Macc. 2:13.

122 – For proofs of spiritual activity of this period, B. C. 536,
read Ezra 6:16‒22. That they had the prophets Haggai and
Zechariah with them, read 6:14. That they were ready to
worship God anywhere before they had a temple, 3:1‒6.
That they called Ezra and caused him to read and explain
the Law to them, Neh. 8:1, etc.

123 – Jos., Contra Apion, lib. I., 8. Euseb., “Eccl. History,”
lib. III., chap. 10. Josephus lived in the time of the
apostles. He was born A. D. 37 and died after A. D. 97 and
made this statement 400 years after the Canon, or list,
had been closed.

124 – These men gave rise to a class of writings called
“Interpretations,” or in their language Targums, which are
also explanations as well as interpretations, and give the
ideas of the earliest writers upon Scripture.

125 – Prideaux, Part I., Book 5.

126 – What is called the Samaritan translation is a translation
of this Pentateuch into the Samaritan language and is not
the Samaritan Pentateuch.

127 – The proofs of the use of the square Hebrew since Ezra are
found given in Conder’s “Handbook to the Bible” (Gemara,
Sanhedrin, f. 21, 22), p. 174. “Horne’s Introd.” II.,
p. 12‒17 for the versions of the Pentateuch (Samaritan),
Smith’s “Dictionary of the Bible,” Vol. III.

128 – In the time of Darius Nothus, B. C. 409, so Prideaux says,
“Connection,” Vol. I., pp. 357‒359.

129 – This is the date of his visit to Jerusalem and profanation
of the Temple. Clinton in Woodward and Cates.

130 – Prideaux, Part II., Book 3.

131 – In Babylon, but formerly in Palestine into 153, for three
years’ reading. “The New Testament Scriptures,” Charteris,
p. 17. Etheridge, “Introduction to Hebrew Literature,”
p. 201.

132 – The year was not so determined in that era that the same
number of weeks, or Sabbaths, would always occur one year
with another, some years having as many as fifty-four
Sabbaths, or thirteen months. Ayres’ Dictionary,
“Chronology.”

133 – “Talmud,” Berokoth, 12; Etheridge, “Introduction to Hebrew
Literature,” p. 201.

134 – Westcott, “Bible in the Church,” p. 29.

135 – Westcott, p. 36.

136 – “The Book of Esther,” Andover, 1885. p. 18.

137 – Described hereafter, p. 204.

138 – The Septuagint gave it the name “Numbers,” but the English
is the translation of the Greek, but in the other case the
Greek words are used in English letters.

139 – The “Book of the Dead” is found in more than one copy,
though originally one, having been added to――hence we
use the plural term. Called also “Ritual of the Dead.”
Rawlinson’s “Religions of the Ancient World,” p. 26, note.

140 – Baedeker’s “Egypt,” p. 210.

141 – Prideaux states that there were 100,000 Jews in Alexandria
at this time, B. C. 270.

142 – Both Josephus and Philo gave descriptions of this class
of Jews under the name of Essenes, holy men. See Prideaux,