Chapter LXXXVII: Part III: Three Apostles (4)

712 ‒ Conybeare and Howson, I. 85. Alexandria was the metropolis
of Hellenistic theology, Philo their great representative.
“The Greek learning was not more repugnant to the Roman
Cato, than it was to the strict Hebrews. They had a saying,
_Cursed is he who teacheth his son the learning of the
Greeks_.” For other illustrations, see Con. and Howson,
I. 85, n.; Biscoe _On the Acts_, p. 60; Lightfoot, _Hor.
Hebr. et Talm._ IV. 60; and compare above, p. 116. The
ill-feeling lasted at least down to the time of Justinian.

713 ‒ “The Jews of Palestine were relatively poor, compared
with those of ‘the dispersion.’ We see this exemplified on
later occasions, in the contributions which St Paul more
than once anxiously promoted; see Acts xi. 29, 30; Rom. xv.
25, 26; Acts xxiv. 17; 1 Cor. xvi. 1–4; 2 Cor. viii. 1–4.”
C. and H., I. 64.

714 ‒ “His Hebrew (or rather Syriac) name is traditionally said
to have been Chelil, or Cheliel (_a crown_);” Smith’s
_Bibl. Dict._

715 ‒ By some supposed, by others denied, to have been the
founder of the sect of the Nicolaitans mentioned in
Rev. ii. 6, 15. See Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._ _sub voc._;
Lightfoot _On the Galatians_, 281 n.

716 ‒ An ancient and familiar practice in (i) pronouncing
a blessing (Gen. xlviii. 14–20), (ii) appointing to
an office (Num. xxvii. 18–21), transferring guilt (Lev.
iii. 2).

717 ‒ It will be noticed that the term “deacons” is nowhere
applied to them. They are called “the Seven” (Acts
xxi. 8), and two of them perform the work of preachers
and evangelists. See Article in Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._;
Stanley’s _Apostolical Age_, p. 62.

718 ‒ Among the conspicuous opponents of the great Hellenist
in the synagogue of Cilicia was doubtless _a young man_
(Acts vii. 58) a citizen of Tarsus, distinguished already
by his zeal and talents among the younger champions of
the Pharisaic party; see Gal. i. 13, 14; Acts xxii. 3;
xxiii. 7; xxvi. 5; Phil. iii. 5, 6.

719 ‒ Of the various explanations of the Λιβερτίνων in Acts
vi. 9, the most probable are (i) that they were the
inhabitants of Libertum, a town in the proconsular
province of Africa, a bishop of which place is mentioned
in the Council of Carthage, A.D. 411; (ii) that they were
Jews, who having been taken prisoners by Pompeius and
other Roman generals during the Syrian wars (see above,
p. 109), were reduced to slavery, and being afterwards
emancipated returned, either permanently or for a time,
to Palestine, and had a synagogue at Jerusalem. Tacitus
states (_Ann._ II. 85) that 4000 of the _libertini
generis_ (said by Josephus to have been Jews, _Ant._ XVIII.
3. 5) were banished by Tiberius, A.D. 19, to Sardinia,
under an edict for the suppression of Egyptian and Jewish
mysteries, and they are thought to have found their way
to Jerusalem. See Humphry _On the Acts_; Smith’s _Bibl.
Dict._; Orellius _in Tac. Annal._ II. 85; Biscoe _On the
Acts_, p. 69.

720 ‒ Although the accusations made against Stephen “are
represented as the depositions of _false_ witnesses, it
does not follow that all they said was a fabrication,
but only that they had, on many points, distorted his
assertions, with an evil intention. Yet he must, by
what he said, have given them some ground for their
misrepresentations, for before this time nothing similar
had been brought against the publishers of the Gospel;
hence we may make use of their allegations to find out
what Stephen really said.” Neander’s _Planting_, I. 51;
compare Milman, I. 364. “Stephen is the acknowledged
forerunner of the Apostle of the Gentiles. He was the
first _to look steadfastly to the end of that which
is abolished_, to sound the death-knell of the Mosaic
ordinances and the temple-worship, and to claim for the
Gospel unfettered liberty and universal rights.” Lightfoot
_On the Galatians_, p. 281.

721 ‒ See above, p. 169.

722 ‒ Comp. above, p. 268.

723 ‒ See above, p. 293.

724 ‒ It is remarkable how completely St Stephen is the
forerunner of St Paul, both in the form and the matter of
his defence. (i) His securing the attention of the Jews
by adopting the historical method, is exactly what the
Apostle did in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia (Acts
xiii. 16–22); (ii) His assertion of his attachment to the
true principles of the Mosaic religion is exactly what
St Paul said to Agrippa (Acts xxvi. 22); (iii) The words
used by Stephen of the Temple call to mind those which
the Apostle used at Athens (Acts xvii. 24); (iv) When
he speaks of the Law as received _by the disposition
of angels_ he anticipates the language of Gal. iii. 19;
(v) When he declares that the Jews had received the Law
and had not kept it, he foreshadows the language of the
great Apostle himself, Rom. ii. 17–29: Con. and Howson,
I. pp. 69, 70: Mr Humphry also in his _Commentary on the
Acts_ compares (a) Acts vii. 44 with Heb. viii. 5; (b) Acts
vii. 5–8 with Rom. iv. 10–19; (c) Acts vii. 60 with 2 Tim.
iv. 16.

725 ‒ Con. and Howson, I. 69.

726 ‒ On this period of the life of Moses, see _Class-Book of
O. T. History_, pp. 81, 82, and note.

727 ‒ On this period of Israel’s history, see _Class-Book of
O. T. History_, pp. 178, 179.

728 ‒ Remphan (Acts vii. 43) and Chiun (Amos v. 26) appear to
be the names of two idols worshipped by the Israelites
in the wilderness, akin probably to _Ken_ and _Rempu_,
two Egyptian divinities; see Article _Remphan_, in Smith’s
_Bibl. Dict._

729 ‒ Comp. Isai. lxvi. 1, 2; Jer. xxiii. 24.

730 ‒ Con. and Howson, I. 69.

731 ‒ Neander’s _Planting_, I. 54.

732 ‒ Διεπρίοντο ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν (Acts vii. 54).

733 ‒ One of the only three passages in the N. T. where the
title _Son of Man_ is applied to the Redeemer by any save
Himself; the two others being Rev. i. 13; xiv. 14.

734 ‒ “In other places (Eph. i. 20; Col. iii. 1; Heb. i. 3,
viii. 1, x. 12, xii. 2) He is represented as _sitting_ at
the right hand of the Father――here alone he is said to be
standing. It is as if (according to Chrysostom’s beautiful
thought) He had risen from His throne, to succour His
persecuted servant, and to receive Him unto Himself.”
Con. and Howson, I. 71.

735 ‒ “It was sentence and execution all at once; an act of
violence without regular judicial examination,” Neander’s
_Planting_, I. 55. “It was a savage and disorderly
condemnation,” Con. and Howson, I. 71.

736 ‒ Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._

737 ‒ Probably the class of Hellenists and proselytes to which
he belonged, οἷ εὐσεβεῖς. Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._

738 ‒ “This persecution must have been more severe and extensive
than the former; for by the manner in which Stephen
entered into conflict with Pharisaism, he had roused to
hostilities against the teachers of the new doctrine the
sect of the Pharisees, who had the most credit with the
common people (see above, p. 117), and were powerful and
active, and ready to leave no means untried to attain
their object whatever it might be,” Neander’s _Planting_,
I. 56.

739 ‒ C. and H., I. 75.

740 ‒ _Ibid._

741 ‒ Ἀναιρουμένων τε ἀυτῶν κατήνεγκα ψῆφον (Acts xxvi. 10),
_vote_, not _voice_, as in our Version.

742 ‒ Lightfoot _On the Galatians_, p. 282. For the Jewish
feeling respecting the Samaritans, see above, pp. 121, 122.

743 ‒ Κατελθὼν εἰς πόλιν τῆς Σαμαρείας (Acts viii. 5) = _to a
city of Samaria_, perhaps Sychar, comp. Jn. iv. 5, and
if so, the readiness of the people to receive Philip is
easily accounted for.

744 ‒ See above, p. 169.

745 ‒ A native of Gittim (Justin Martyr’s _Apol._ I. 26), a
village of Samaria. Educated probably at Alexandria, he
had there become acquainted with the tenets of the Gnostic
school (Clement, _Hom._ II. 22), and had acquired a great
reputation as a magician. He was one of those who at this
period, according both to Greek and Roman testimonies,
travelled about in numbers, and partly as soothsayers,
astrologers, and interpreters of dreams, partly as
jugglers, excited attention and received general regard.
See Dollinger’s _Gentile and Jew_, II. 198, 199; C. and H.,
I. 140.

746 ‒ Our version omits the word καλουμένη, and so renders the
verse imperfectly. “The Samaritans describe the angels
as δυναμεῖς, _i.e._ uncreated influences proceeding from
God. But to distinguish Simon from such an order of beings
they added the words _which is called great_, meaning
thereby the source of all power, in other words, the
Supreme Deity――according to Simon’s own expression, quoted
by Jerome on Mtt. xxiv. 5, _Ego sum Sermo Dei, Ego sum
Speciosus, Ego Paracletus, Ego omnia Dei_.” Smith’s _Bibl.
Dict._

747 ‒ The last time this Apostle is mentioned in the Acts; he is
only once more mentioned (except in Revelation) as having
been present in Jerusalem at St Paul’s visit, Gal. ii. 9.

748 ‒ Neander’s _Planting_, I. 62.

749 ‒ Neander’s _Planting_, I. 63.

750 ‒ The subsequent history of Simon Magus is involved in much
perplexity. Early ecclesiastical historians represent him
as the pertinacious foe of the Apostle Peter, encountering
him at Cæsarea on the sea, and subsequently at Rome,
which latter place he visited either (i) in the reign of
Claudius (Justin Martyr, _Apol._ I. 26. 56), or (ii) in
the reign of Nero. His success in the imperial city is
said to have been so great that he was deified, and a
statue was erected in his honour, with the inscription
_Simoni Deo Sancto_. For various accounts of his death,
see Burton’s _Bampton Lectures_, and Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._
Some identify him with a Simon, a native of Cyprus, whom
Josephus (_Ant._ XX. 7. 2) mentions as a friend of Felix,
the Roman Procurator of Palestine, and as having persuaded
Drusilla, sister of Herod Agrippa, to marry him: see
Neander’s _Planting_, I. 63, and note; Alford on Acts viii.

751 ‒ Contrast this with Lk. ix. 52; see above, p. 229.

752 ‒ See _Class-Book of O. T. History_, pp. 259, 262.

753 ‒ See Robinson’s _Bibl. Res._ II. 514.

754 ‒ Some apply this word to the city of Gaza, in the sense
that it was destroyed and uninhabited, or that it was
unfortified. But this is extremely improbable. Though
often destroyed in the wars, the city had been restored.

755 ‒ That is from the high land to the south of Egypt, and
now comprehending Nubia, Cordofan, and Abyssinia, whose
religious and commercial capital was the island of Meröe.
Candace was not a personal name, but, like Pharaoh of the
older and Ptolemy of the later Egyptian kings, the regular
title of the queens of Ethiopia (Meröe). Lechler _in loc._
The eunuch was probably a proselyte of the Gate.

756 ‒ The Easterns usually go on reading aloud, with a kind of
singing voice, moving their heads and bodies in tune, and
making a monotonous cadence at regular intervals. Kitto’s
_Bibl. Illust._ VIII. 95.

757 ‒ See above, p. 11.

758 ‒ Verse 37 in the received Version is wanting in the Codd.
A. B. C. G. H., the Sinaitic MS., more than 60 cursive
MSS., and several versions. It is omitted by Lachmann,
Tischendorf, Alford, and others.

759 ‒ Robinson would place the scene of the baptism at
_Wady-el-Hasy_, between Eleutheropolis and Gaza, not far
from the old sites of Lachish and Eglon. _Bibl. Res._
II. 514.

760 ‒ See _Class-Book of O. T. History_, 254, 263, 272. Taken by
Judas Maccabæus (1 Macc. v. 68) and destroyed by Jonathan
(1 Macc. x. 84), it had been rebuilt by Gabinius (Jos.
_Ant._ XIV. 5. 3; _B. J._ I. 7. 7), and bequeathed by
Herod to his sister Salome: see above, p. 146.

761 ‒ Ekron, Jamnia, Joppa, Apollonia, perhaps Lydda.

762 ‒ For the foundation of which, see above, pp. 91, 92. On
the undesigned coincidence between the mention of Philip
here and afterwards in Acts xxi. 8, 9, see Birks’ _Horæ
Apostolicæ_, pp. 322, 323.

763 ‒ See Xen. _Anab._ I. 2. 23.

764 ‒ Cæsar, _Bell. Alex._ Cap. LXVI.

765 ‒ The privileges of an _urbs libera_ consisted in (a) being
governed by its own magistrates, (b) being exempted from
the occupation of a Roman garrison, and from taxes. Its
citizens did not necessarily possess the freedom of Rome.

766 ‒ C. and H., I. 44. He was a young man at the time of the
martyrdom of Stephen.

767 ‒ Either (i) after the name of his father, or (ii) as being
a name of traditional celebrity in the tribe of Benjamin,
or (iii) “as intended to denote (in conformity with the
Hebrew derivation of the word) that he was a son who had
long been desired, the firstborn of his parents, the child
of prayer.” C. and H., I. 41.

768 ‒ Paulus, a diminutive of _Pauxillus_, is a Roman name, so
are _Junia_ and _Lucius_; those he calls his kinsmen, Rom.
xvi. 7, 11, 21; the others are Greek.

769 ‒ “Great numbers of Jews were made slaves during the Civil
Wars, and then manumitted. A slave manumitted with due
formalities became a Roman citizen. Thus it is natural to
suppose that the Apostle, with other Cilician Jews, may
have been like Horace (_Sat._ I. vi. 45) _libertino patre
natus_.” C. and H., I. 45, n.; Lewin’s _Life of St Paul_,
I. 4.

770 ‒ For allusions to it, see Acts xviii. 3; xx. 34; 1 Cor.
iv. 12; 1 Thess. ii. 9; 2 Thess. iii. 8.

771 ‒ C. and H., I. 38. “It is observed that when St Paul quotes
from the Old Testament, his quotations are from the LXX;
and that, not only when he cites its very words, but when
(as is often the case) he quotes it from memory.”

772 ‒ Probably during the supremacy of one of the four governors
who preceded Pontius Pilate, i.e. between A.D. 6 and
A.D. 25. See above, pp. 149, 150.

773 ‒ For notices of Gamaliel, see above, p. 360, and note.

774 ‒ “St Paul seems to have belonged to the extreme party of
the Pharisees (Acts xii. 3, xxiii. 7, xxvi. 5; Phil. iii.
5, 6) whose pride it was to call themselves ‘zealots of
the law, zealots of God.’ To this party also had belonged
Simon, one of the Twelve, thence surnamed _the zealot_,
ζηλωτής, or Καναναῖος.” Lightfoot _On the Galatians_,
1. 14. See above, p. 187.

775 ‒ Such as that of Hagar and Sarah in Gal. iv. 21, where see
Lightfoot’s notes.

776 ‒ Hence in his address to the Athenians (Acts xvii. 28) he
could quote from the Cilician poet Aratus,

Τοῦ γὰρ καὶ γένος ἐσμέν;

to the refined Corinthians (1 Cor. xv. 33) from the
_Thais_ of Menander,

Φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρήσθ᾽ ὁμιλίαι κακαί;

he could rebuke the Cretans (Titus i. 12) from the poet
Epimenides,

Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται, κακὰ θηρία, γαστέρες ἀργαί.

777 ‒ On the authority of the Sanhedrin over Jews in foreign
cities, see above, p. 108, note. Damascus since its
capture by Pompeius (see above, p. 67) had been under
Roman rule, and belonged to the province of Syria. Many
Jews had settled in it since the times of the Seleucidæ
(comp. Jos. _B. J._ I. 2. 25; II. 20. 2), hence there was
more than one synagogue there (comp. πρὸς τὰς συναγωγάς,
Acts ix. 2). If A.D. 36 was the date of the conversion
of St Paul, Caiaphas was the high-priest, and the year
would coincide with the deposition of Pilate by Vitellius
prefect of Syria (see above, p. 307, note); if, as
some think, it took place in A.D. 37, the high-priest
was either Jonathan, one of the sons of Annas, and
brother-in-law of Caiaphas, whom Vitellius, on the occasion
of his visit to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover in
this year, appointed to the office in place of Caiaphas
(Jos. _Ant._ XVIII. 4. 3), or Theophilus his brother, whom
he exalted to the pontificate during his second visit at
Pentecost (Jos. _Ant._ XVIII. 5. 3). In the same year,
A.D. 37, Tiberius died, March 16 (Tac. _Ann._ VI. 50), and
was succeeded by Caligula.

778 ‒ Probably near Scythopolis: see C. and H., I. 82: this
route would follow the later Roman itinerary.

779 ‒ The distance was about 136 miles, and Saul and his company
may have performed the journey, like the modern caravans,
in about 6 days, C. and H., I. 81; comp. Lewin, I. 54.

780 ‒ Stanley’s _S. and P._, p. 410.

781 ‒ Compare (i) Jn. xii. 28, and note above, p. 273;
(ii) Acts ii. 12, 13; (iii) Dan. x. 7, and see Baumgarten’s
_Apostolic History_, I. 210. _Audiebant vocem solam, non
vocem cum verbis_, Bengel.

782 ‒ As the language uttered was the same, the sacred language
of Palestine, which the Son of Man had used on earth,
so also was the figurative allusion to which it gave
expression like the parables He had so often delivered. As
the ox rebels in vain against the long sharp-pointed goad
(see _Class-Book of O. T. History_, p. 237, note) of its
master, and as all its struggles do nought but increase
its distress, so did the Apostle vainly struggle against
the power of His grace. C. and H., I. 88.

783 ‒ “The present participle marks the continuity of the effort,
while the genitive expresses the _mechanical_ side of
hearing, the impression of sound, and not the apprehension
of the meaning as a whole. On the other hand, St Paul says
(Acts xxii. 9), _The men who were with me saw the light;
but heard not the voice of Him that spake to me_ (τὴν δὲ
φωνὴν οὐκ ἤκουσαν τοῦ λαλοῦντός μοι): to them the voice
was no articulate utterance of that Saviour who was
speaking to, or rather talking with, St Paul.” Westcott.
On the difference between ἀκούω with the _gen._ and _acc._,
see Viner’s _Gr. Gram._ XXX. 7, Vol. I. 210, E. T.

784 ‒ Generally identified with the “Street of Bazaars,” a long,
wide thoroughfare, penetrating from the southern gate
into the heart of the city which, as in all the Syro-Greek
and Syro-Roman towns, it intersects in a straight line.
Stanley’s _S. and P._, p. 412.

785 ‒ In reference to the three accounts of the Conversion
we notice (i) _the general agreement_ with regard to
the outward details of the narrative: the occasion, the
commission, the place, the time, the light, the company,
are the same in all; but (ii) each account contains some
peculiar details, and these varieties prove that the
descriptions are free and independent, that they are
not studied and servile; “they do not echo each other’s
words, they tell each its own story; there is none of that
elaborate guarding and fencing of expressions, none of
that careful reconciliation of statement with statement,
which every court of justice regards with strong suspicion
as a sure indication of design and falsehood.” Vaughan,
_Church of Jerusalem_, II. 7; Westcott’s _Characteristics
of the Gospel Miracles_, p. 120; Birks’ _Horæ Apostoliæ_,
pp. 324–328.

786 ‒ “A veil of thick darkness hangs over St Paul’s visit
to Arabia. Of the scenes among which he moved, of the
thoughts and occupations which engaged him while there, of
all the circumstances of a crisis which must have shaped
the whole tenour of his after life, absolutely nothing
is known. _Immediately_, says St Paul, _I went away into
Arabia_. The historian passes over the incident without
a mention. It is a mysterious pause. A moment of suspense
in the Apostle’s history, a breathless calm which ushers
in the tumultuous storm of his active missionary life.”
Lightfoot on Gal. i. 17.

787 ‒ See the words of Justin, _Dial. c. Tryph._ p. 305 A,
quoted by Lightfoot, and C. and H., I. pp. 117, 118.
This, however, appears improbable, for (i) it gives to
the term _Arabia_ an extension which does not seem to
have been common; (ii) it distinguishes the Arabia of the
first chapters of Galatians from the Arabia of the fourth;
(iii) it deprives this visit of a significance which, on
a more probable hypothesis, it possesses in relation to
this crisis of St Paul’s life. But if it was the Sinaitic
peninsula then his visit becomes full of meaning; here,
“where Moses had received the tables of the Law amid fire
and tempest and thick darkness, where Elijah, the typical
prophet, listened to the voice of God, and sped forth
refreshed on his mission of righteousness, in the fulness
of time St Paul, the greatest preacher of Him of whom
both the law and the prophets spoke, was strengthened
and sanctified for his great work, was taught the breadth
as well as the depth of the riches of God’s wisdom, and
transformed from the champion of a bigoted and narrow
tradition into the large-hearted Apostle of the Gentiles.”
Lightfoot, _in loc._

788 ‒ Ellicott on Gal. i. 18.

789 ‒ For the origin of the ill-feeling between Aretas and Herod
Antipas, see above, p. 168. In the battle between them
the army of Antipas was utterly routed (Jos. _Ant._ XVIII.
5. 3), and Antipas appealed to Tiberius for assistance. On
this Vitellius, the prefect of Syria, was commissioned to
march against Aretas, and take him dead or alive. But on
his march Vitellius heard of the death of Tiberius, March
16, A.D. 37, and abandoned the expedition. The position of
affairs was now reversed. Antipas was banished to Lyons;
Herod Agrippa received his kingdom from Claudius; and in
A.D. 38 it appears probable that Caligula granted Damascus
to Aretas. See C. and H., I. 97, 98; Art. in Smith’s _Bibl.
Dict._; Milman, I. 372.

790 ‒ This word is used to denote (i) the governor of a
dependent district (1 Macc. xiv. 47; Jos. _Ant._ XVII.
11. 4); (ii) a magistrate or consul allowed to Jewish
residents living under their own laws in Alexandria and
other cities (Jos. _Ant._ XIV. 7. 3).

791 ‒ C. and H., I. 98.

792 ‒ To visit _Cephas_: ἱστορῆσαι is somewhat emphatic. _A word
used_, says Chrysostom, by _those who go to see great and
famous cities_. It is generally said of things and places,
less commonly, as here, of persons: Lightfoot, _in loc._
and Ellicott on Gal. i. 18.

793 ‒ See Lightfoot’s note _in loc._, and Excursus on _St Paul’s
first visit to Jerusalem_. In Acts ix. 23 the time is said
to have been _many days_, but compare 1 Kings ii. 38, 39,
where _many days_ is used to denote a space of _three
years_: Paley’s _Horæ Paulinæ_.

794 ‒ See above, p. 356, n.

795 ‒ “The Apostle James is named three times in the Epistle to
the Galatians, but only here with this distinctive title.
The history supplies a full key. This visit is evidently
the same as in Acts ix. 26–30, while the one in the next
chapter was much later, at or near the time of the Council,
Acts xv. Hence the first was before the death of James the
son of Zebedee, and the other long after it. A distinctive
addition to the name was thus as natural in the one case,
as it would be superfluous and even suspicious in the
other.” The same distinction is observed in the book of
Acts. In the earlier part the two Apostles of this name
are distinguished, _the brother of John_, or _the son
of Alphæus_. But after the elder James was martyred,
the other is three times called _James_ simply, without
any addition. This minute propriety is too delicate and
refined to be easily accounted for, except by the fact
that Luke and Paul were contemporary with the events they
record.” Birks’ _Horæ Apostolicæ_, pp. 197, 198.

796 ‒ On the brevity of this visit, see Paley’s _Horæ Paulinæ_.

797 ‒ Some have thought this was Cæsarea Philippi (see above,
p. 218), “but the words κατήγαγον, ἐξαπέστειλαν, imply
a sea-port and an embarcation, and Cæsarea, without any
addition to distinguish it, is always the principal city
of the name.” Lightfoot, _in loc._: see also Birks’ _Horæ
Apost._ 199.

798 ‒ Probably he now founded those churches greeted in the
Apostolic decree, Acts xv. 23, 41. Perhaps “in his own
family some of those Christian _kinsmen_ (Rom. xvi.) whose
names are handed down to us, possibly his _sister_ and his
_sister’s son_ (Acts xxiii. 16, 23) were by his exertions
gathered into the fold of Christ.” C. and H., I. 104.

799 ‒ St Paul’s words here, _Syria_ and _Cilicia_, are probably
not intended to _describe the order_ in which he visited
the two countries. Cilicia had geographically a greater
affinity with Syria than with Asia Minor. The less
important country is here named after the more important.
Lightfoot on Gal. i. 21; C. and H., I. 103.

800 ‒ As distinguished from that of Jerusalem, whence “he
was hurried off to Cæsarea, and there embarking left
the shores of Palestine. The other churches of Judæa
therefore had no opportunity of knowing him. Judæa is
here distinguished from Jerusalem, as Italy is frequently
distinguished from Rome, _e.g._ probably Hebr. xiii. 24.”
Lightfoot, _in loc._

801 ‒ Note the force of ἀκούοντες ἦσαν in Gal. i. 23 = _they
kept hearing_, just as ἤμην ἀγνοούμενος = _I continued
personally unknown_.

802 ‒ Milman’s _History of Christianity_, I. 373.

803 ‒ See above, p. 307, note.

804 ‒ Jos. _Ant._ XVIII. 6. 10.

805 ‒ See above, p. 383, note.

806 ‒ See above, p. 383, note.

807 ‒ Jos. _Ant._ XVIII. 6. 10. Herod Agrippa, the son of
Aristobulus and Berenice, and grandson of Herod the Great,
was born A.U.C. 743, and was brought up at Rome with
Claudius and Drusus, and on the death of the latter was
banished by Tiberius, A.D. 31, as recalling his memory by
his presence. Retiring to Malatha in Idumæa (Jos. _Ant._
XVIII. 6. 2), he was appointed ædile of Tiberias, and
five years afterwards was readmitted to the court of the
Emperor at Capreæ, and became the intimate friend of Caius
(Caligula), but for an imprudent speech was thrown into
prison. Merivale’s _Romans under the Empire_, VI. 11.

808 ‒ Jos. _Ant._ XVIII. 6. 10. His arrival in Palestine with
royal pomp excited the bitterest jealousy of Herodias the
wife of Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee. She would
not rest till her husband also had obtained a royal title,
and in an unlucky hour he repaired with her to Rome to
solicit it from Caligula (Jos. _Ant._ XVIII. 7. 2). But
Agrippa was beforehand with them, outbid his rival in
bribery, and accused him of intrigues with Sejanus, and
Caligula banished both the tetrarch and his wife to Lyons
in Gaul, A.D. 39.

809 ‒ Merivale, VI. 45. For an account of the indignities
endured by the Jews of Alexandria, see Jos. _Ant._ XVIII.
8. 1, 2; Milman, _History of the Jews_, II. 133–139.

810 ‒ “Josephus, _Ant_ XVIII. 8. 9, states that Caligula at
one moment yielded to Agrippa, and rescinded his orders
to Petronius; but on hearing of the resistance the Jews
were prepared to make, repeated them more vehemently than
ever. The last missive, however, did not reach Petronius
till after the news had arrived of the tyrant’s death.”
Merivale, VI. 50, n.

811 ‒ Jos. _Ant._ XIX. 1. 11.

812 ‒ The modern Lidd or Ludd stands in the great maritime plain
of Sharon (see _Class-Book of O. T. History_, p. 30), and
when covered with its crops of corn, reminds the traveller
of the rich wheat-fields of our own Lincolnshire: Robinson,
_Bibl. Res._, III. 145. Thomson, _The Land and the Book_.
It received its name Diospolis in the reign of Hadrian, in
A.D. 136.

813 ‒ Tabitha is the Aramaic, Dorcas the Greek form, both
meaning _a gazelle_: Δορκάς is used in the LXX. as the
rendering of עְבִי in Deut. xii. 15, 22; 2 Sam. ii. 18; Prov.
vi. 5. We find the name also in Jos. _B. J._ IV. 3. 5.

814 ‒ See above, p. 201.

815 ‒ Like Elisha, 2 Kings iv. 33.

816 ‒ See above, p. 147, n.

817 ‒ As distinct from the legionary soldiers, and hence called
the _Italian cohort_. “As in the army of modern Austria,
the soldiers were drawn from different countries and spoke
different languages.” C. and H., I. 113.

818 ‒ “There is scarcely any room to doubt that he belonged
to the class of _Proselytes of the Gate_ (see above,
p. 118, n.). Nor can we infer the contrary from the
circumstances that Peter and the stricter Jewish
Christians looked on Cornelius as an unclean person, and
in many respects the same as an heathen. The Proselytes of
the Gate were certainly permitted to attend the synagogue
worship ... yet the Jews who adopted the stricter maxims
of the Pharisees, placed all the uncircumcised in the
class of the unclean, and avoided living and eating with
such persons as defiling.” Neander’s _Planting_, I. 68.

819 ‒ Neander’s _Planting_, I. 69.

820 ‒ Comp. the flat roof of the house of Rahab at Jericho,
_Class-Book of O. T. History_, p. 202; of the house of
Samuel at Ramah, _ibid._ p. 280.

821 ‒ “Overlooking the waves of the Western Sea, the Sea of
Greece and Rome――the sea of the isles of the Gentiles.”
See Keble’s _Christian Year, Monday in Easter Week_.
Stanley’s _Apost. Age_, p. 93.

822 ‒ It appears doubtful whether δεδεμένον καὶ are genuine in
Acts x. 11: they are omitted by Lachmann and Tischendorf,
retained but doubtfully by Alford: they are wanting in
the Vulgate, which translates _quatuor initiis submitti
de cælo_. “At all events these four corners are not
unimportant. As they corresponded with the four quarters
of the heavens, they conveyed an intimation that men
from the north and south, the east and west (comp. Mtt.
viii. 11; Lk. xiii. 29), would appear as clean before God,
or be called to a participation of His kingdom.” Neander’s
_Planting_, I. 72, n.

823 ‒ See _Class-Book of O. T. History_, p. 156.

824 ‒ Vaughan, II. 66.

825 ‒ Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._ Art. _Peter_.

826 ‒ “The more rigid Jews looked with jealousy even on the
circumcised proselytes; the terms of admission were made
as difficult and repulsive as possible; on the imperfect
they looked with still greater suspicion, and were rather
jealous of communicating their exclusive privileges than
eager to extend the influence of their opinions.” Milman,
_Hist. Christ._ I. 382, n. “An opprobrious proverb coupled
proselytes with the vilest profligates, as hindering the
coming of the Messiah (Lightfoot, _Hor. Heb._ in Mtt.
xxiii. 15). It became a recognised maxim that no wise
man would trust a proselyte even to the twenty-fourth
generation.” Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._ The belief in the
necessity of circumcision for the full admission of
proselytes is illustrated by the compulsory circumcision
of the Idumæans by John Hyrcanus and of the Ituræans by
Aristobulus (see above, pp. 59, 61, 146 n.).

827 ‒ “As a loyal and believing Hebrew Peter could not have
contemplated the removal of Gentile disqualifications
without a distinct assurance that the enactments of the
law which concerned them were abrogated by the Divine
legislator. The vision could not therefore have been
the product of a subjective impression. It was, strictly
speaking, objective, presented to his mind by an external
influence. Yet the intimation in the state of trance did
not at once overcome his reluctance. It was not _till
his consciousness was fully restored_, and he had well
considered the meaning of the vision, that he learned
that the distinction between cleanness and uncleanness
in outward things belonged to a temporary dispensation.”
Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._, Art. _Peter_.

828 ‒ See above, p. 373.

829 ‒ For its foundation, see above, p. 10, and notes.

830 ‒ Perhaps Mnason was one of the number, see Acts xxi. 16.

831 ‒ C. and H., I. 118.

832 ‒ “In the Acts, and in their own letters, we find them
designating themselves as _brethren, disciples, believers,
saints_ (Acts xv. 23, ix. 26, v. 14, ix. 32; Rom. xv. 25;
Col. i. 2, &c.). Only in two places (Acts xxvi. 28, 1 Pet.
iv. 16) do we find the term _Christians_; and in both
instances it is implied to be a term used by those who are
without.” C. and H., I. 117, and notes; Humphry’s _Comm.on
the Acts_.

833 ‒ Or Galilæans. This last was the contemptuous name by which
the Emperor Julian afterwards enacted that they should be
called. Humphry’s _Comm._

834 ‒ Neander’s _Planting_, I. 99.

835 ‒ Comp. Tac. _Ann._ XV. 44, quos _vulgus_ Christianos
appellabat: they were sometimes miscalled _Chrestiani_;
Tertull. _Apol._ III.

836 ‒ Their office did not always or necessarily include that of
predicting future events. Compare the remarks on the O. T.
Prophets, _Class-Book of O. T. History_, pp. 276, 277.
More generally it indicated extraordinary powers of
exposition of the Divine Word.

837 ‒ Tac. _Ann._ XII. 13; Jos. _Ant._ III. 15. 3, XX. 2. 5.

838 ‒ Four local famines are mentioned during the reign of
Claudius, (1) in his first and second year, A.D. 41, 42,
at Rome; (2) in his fourth year, A.D. 44, in Judæa; (3) in
his ninth year, A.D. 49, in Greece; (4) in his eleventh
year, A.D. 51, at Rome.

839 ‒ In this verse occurs the first mention of the Christian
πρεσβύτεροι, rendered in the Vulgate _seniores_, in the
E. V. _elders_. In Acts xx. 28 they are termed ἐπίσκοποι;
the last expression pointing to their office, the former
to their age and character. For the ancient Jewish
Elders, see Numb. xi. 16, and _Class-Book of Old Testament
History_, p. 170.

840 ‒ Merivale’s _Romans under the Empire_, VI. 102.

841 ‒ Jos. _Ant._ XIX. 5. 1; _B. J._ II. 11. 5. Merivale, VI. 115.

842 ‒ See above, p. 393, n.; Jos. _Ant._ XIX. 6. 1.

843 ‒ Jos. _Ant._ XIX. 6. 1; 7. 3. Comp. Acts xxi. 23.

844 ‒ Jos. _Ant._ XIX. 6. 3. He exercised, however, his supreme
authority by continually displacing the high-priest.
Having deposed Theophilus, son of Annas (see above, p.
382, n.), he substituted Simon son of Boethus (Jos. _Ant._
XIX. 6. 2); he then offered the pontificate to Jonathan
son of Annas (Jos. _Ant._ XIX. 6. 4), and on his declining
it, bestowed it upon his brother Matthias; in A.D. 43 he
deposed Matthias, and appointed Elionæus, son of the Simon
mentioned above, to the post (Jos. _Ant._ XIX. 8. 1).

845 ‒ Jos. _Ant._ XIX. 7. 2. The prefect of Syria, however,
compelled him to desist.

846 ‒ Milman, _Hist. Christ._ I. 374.

847 ‒ See above, p. 257.

848 ‒ “The popular feeling, which from Pentecost till Stephen’s
death was in favour of the Gospel, now set in in the
contrary direction.” Humphry’s _Comm._

849 ‒ “One quaternion for each watch of the night; of the four
men forming the quaternion, two were stationed before the
door (Acts xii. 6), and to two the Apostle was chained
according to the Roman custom.” Veget. _Res Milit._ III. 8,
quoted in Humphry’s _Comm._

850 ‒ Comp. Col.iv. 10. Thus while the brother gave up his land
and brought its value into the common treasury of the
Church, the sister gave up her house for the use of the
early Christians. Peter seems to have been on terms of
intimacy with her, and this is confirmed by 1 Pet. v. 13.

851 ‒ Ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐκείνου (Claudius) σωτηρίας, Jos. _Ant._ XIX.
8. 2. Compare the language of Philo, _Leg._ 45, alluding to
Caligula’s safe return from Gaul, quoted in Lewin’s _Fasti
Sacri_, p. 280. Another opinion is that the festival was
held in honour of the birthday of Claudius, August 1.

852 ‒ Jos. _Ant._ XIX. 8. 2.

853 ‒ See above, p. 92.

854 ‒ See the quotation from Kenrick’s _Phœnicia_, in _Class-Book
of O. T. History_, p. 355, and comp. Ezek. xxvii. 17;
1 Kings v. 9; Ezra iii. 7.

855 ‒ Jos. _Ant._ XIX. 8. 2. Δευτέρᾳ δὲ τῶν θεωριῶν ἡμέρᾳ στολὴν
ἐνδυσάμενος ἐξ ἀργύρου πεποιημένην πᾶσαν ... παρῆλθεν εἰς
τὸ θέατρον ἀρχομένης ἡμέρας.

856 ‒ Luke _the physician_ is more accurate than Josephus in
his description of the disease that caused the death of
Agrippa. Comp. the deaths of Antiochus Epiphanes, above,
p. 38, and of Herod the Great, above, pp. 104, 105.

857 ‒ Jos. _Ant._ XIX. 8. 2, i.e. from A.D. 37 to A.D. 44.

858 ‒ Jos. _Ant._ XIX. 9. 1; Milman, _Hist. of the Jews_, II.
161. The unexpected death of Herod Agrippa “seems to have
unhinged the plans of the Roman government. So important a
charge as the sovereignty of Palestine could be intrusted
only to a tried servant of the Emperor; and even Agrippa
had given cause of jealousy by the relation he had
cultivated with the princes of the frontier. None of
his family merited to succeed him. His brother Herod
was allowed to continue in the obscure dignity of his
petty chiefdom, and his son Agrippa, already resident
as a hostage at Rome, was retained there in honourable
custody; while the dominions of the great Idumæan reverted
once more to the control of the prefect of Syria, and
acquiesced, with a few uneasy murmurs, in its full
incorporation with the empire.” Merivale, VI. 116, 117.
Cassius Longinus was now appointed, A.D. 44, to the
presidency of Syria, while Cuspius Fadus was sent out as
governor of Judæa. Jos. _Ant._ XIX. 9. 2; XX. 1. 1.

859 ‒ Lightfoot _On the Galatians_, p. 285.

860 ‒ He was the son of that Mary, a person of some means and
influence, to whose house Peter went after his miraculous
release from prison (Acts xii. 12). He was probably,
therefore, born at Jerusalem, and is by some identified
with the “young man” mentioned in Mk. xiv. 51, 52. Hence
he was the nephew of Barnabas (Col. iv. 10), and had
possibly been converted by St Peter (1 Peter, v. 13).

861 ‒ Nothing further is known of this Simeon. His first name
shews that he was a Jew by birth, his second, that, as in
other cases, he took another name as more convenient for
intercourse with foreigners.

862 ‒ By some identified with the kinsman or fellow-tribesman of
St Paul, mentioned in Rom. xvi. 21.

863 ‒ Manaen = _consoler_, the same name as that of the 16th
king of Israel (2 K. xv. 14–22).

864 ‒ Σύντροφος, Vulgate _collactaneus_ = ὁμογάλακτος,
_foster-brother_, i.e. Manaen’s mother (or the woman
who reared him) was also Herod’s nurse. Others would
interpret the word as = _comrade, associate, educated
with_, according to a not unusual custom of associating
other children with the sons of persons of rank, to share
their amusements and excite them to emulation. Comp. Xen.
_Cyrop._ I. 3. 14, and the passages cited in Wetstein
on Acts xiii. 1. The Herod alluded to was probably Herod
Antipas, who beheaded John the Baptist, and if so, Manaen
could hardly have been altogether unacquainted with the
circumstances of the Redeemer’s life. Josephus (_Ant._ XV.
10. 5) mentions a Manaen, an Essene, who foretold to Herod
the Great his future elevation to royal dignity, and who
was held by him in high esteem. He may therefore have been
the father of the companion of his children, Antipas and
Archelaus, who were educated at Rome: Comp. Jos. _Ant._
XVII. 1. 3, Ἀρχέλαος δὲ καὶ Ἀντίπας ἐπὶ Ῥώμης παρά τινι
ἰδιώτῃ τροφὰς εἶχον.

865 ‒ The sea-port and fortress of Antioch, and connected with
it by the river Orontes. Seleucus had named his metropolis
after his father (see above, p. 10), and the maritime
fortress after himself. It became a place of great
importance, and was made a _free city_ by Pompey for its
bold resistance to Tigranes. See Smith’s _Dict. Geog._

866 ‒ See above, p. 356, n. Cyprus was (1) near; (2) contained
the nucleus of a church; (3) was the birthplace of
Barnabas; (4) contained many Jews.

867 ‒ A city on the eastern coast of Cyprus, said to have been
founded by Teucer (Hor. _Od._ I. 7. 29). The farming of
the copper-mines of the island to Herod (Jos. _Ant._ XVI.
4. 5), as also the wine, flax, and honey which it yielded,
probably increased the numbers attracted by its harbour
and trade. On the revolt of the Jews in the reign of
Trajan, when the populous city became a desert, see Milman,
_Hist. Jews_, III. 111, 112.

868 ‒ Notorious for the worship of Venus or Aphrodite, fabled
here to have risen from the sea (Hom. _Od._ VIII. 362),
whose temple was at “Old Paphos,” while the harbour and
chief town were at “New Paphos,” a little distance off.
Titus made a pilgrimage to the shrine (Tac. _Hist._ II.
2. 3).

869 ‒ On the provinces and the difference between the proconsul
and proprætor, see above, p. 147, n. Cyprus originally was
an imperial province, but it was afterwards transferred
to the Senate. See Lardner’s _Credibility of the Gospel
History_, I. 32, &c.: for an engraving of a Cyprian coin
of the reign of Claudius, see C. and H., I. 147.

870 ‒ See above, p. 374. On the influx of Eastern sorcerers,
astrologers, and soothsayers into Rome, and their
influence, see Hor. _Od._ I. 11. 2; Cic. _Div._ II. 42–47;
Juv. VI. 562, XIV. 248. Marius always kept in his camp
a Syrian prophetess; Pompeius, Crassus, Cæsar, were all
addicted to Oriental astrology; the picture of Tiberius
surrounded by his “Chaldæan herd” (Juv. _Sat._ X. 93) is
well known. See C. and H., I. 141, and notes.

871 ‒ After this his old name Saul never recurs in the New
Testament. “It was an ancient conjecture that the change
was made to commemorate the conversion of the Proconsul:
this may have been the _occasion_; but the _reason_
probably was to make the name more familiar to Roman ears.”
Humphry’s _Comm. on the Acts_. That the Apostle probably
had both in his childhood is stated above, p. 380, and
possibly “the name Paulus came from some connection of his
ancestors (perhaps as manumitted slaves) with some member
of the Roman family of the Æmilian Pauli” (C. and H.,
I. 146). It can hardly be believed to be accidental that
the Gentile name rises to the surface at the moment when
St Paul visibly enters on his office as the Apostle of the
Gentiles.

872 ‒ Founded by _Attalus_ Philadelphus, as a port for the trade
between Egypt and Syria. It has lasted till the present
day, and is now called _Satalia_.

873 ‒ It will be remembered that St Paul had already preached
the word in Cilicia (see above, p. 380); he probably now
wished to extend it among the contiguous districts.

874 ‒ An important city of Pamphylia, situated on the river
Cestrus, as Tarsus on the Cydnus, celebrated for the
worship of Artemis (Diana), Cic. _Verr._ I. 20.

875 ‒ On the perils of _robbers_ and _rivers_ incident to the
Pisidian Highlands, see C. and H., I. 154, 155. Some
think he wished to join Peter and those Apostles who were
preaching in Palestine. We shall find him not unwilling
to accompany the Apostles on a second missionary journey
(Acts xv. 37).

876 ‒ See above, p. 10, and notes. Its site was discovered by
Arundell in 1833, at _Valobatch_, six hours distant from
_Akshar_.

877 ‒ The peculiarities of the constitution of a Roman _colonia_
will be treated of when we come to Philippi.

878 ‒ For a description of the synagogue service, see above,
pp. 111, 112.

879 ‒ Comp. above, p. 368.

880 ‒ On the duration here assigned to this period see
Wordsworth’s note _in loc._; Humphry’s _Comm. on the Acts_;
Biscoe’s _History of the Acts_.

881 ‒ Compare the importance attached to these appearances by
the Apostle in 1 Cor. xv. 1–12.

882 ‒ Ps. ii. 7, LXX; Isai. lv. 3, LXX; Ps. xvi. 10, LXX trans.

883 ‒ Compare this address with those of Peter in Acts ii. 27,
&c. and x. 30–43, above, pp. 351, 2. In both the chief
stress is laid on the Saviour’s resurrection (comp. Acts
i. 22, iv. 33). We can hardly fail to observe in Acts
xiii. 39 the first germ of the deeper teaching of St Paul
respecting the insufficiency of the Mosaic Law, developed
afterwards in the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians.

884 ‒ Lachmann and Tischendorf omit the τὰ ἔθνη inserted in Acts
xiii. 42 in the _Textus Receptus_.

885 ‒ Comp. Isai. xlii. 6, xlix. 6; Lk. ii. 32.

886 ‒ Mtt. x. 14, 15; Mk. vi. 11; Lk. ix. 5.

887 ‒ C. and H., I. 195.

888 ‒ Now called _Konieh_, situated on the western part of an
extensive table-land of Asia Minor, not far north of Mount
Taurus. This region was anciently called Lycaonia, and
thus Iconium “was on the great line of communication
between Ephesus and the western coast of the peninsula on
one side, and Tarsus, Antioch, and the Euphrates on the
other.” See C. and H., I. 174, 175. From its position it
was clearly a well chosen spot for missionary operations.

889 ‒ Its site is unknown. There are strong reasons, however,
for identifying its site with that of _Kir-bir-Kilisseh_
at the base of the _Kara-dagh_.

890 ‒ Like Lystra the exact situation of Derbe is unknown. It
is certain, however, that it was in the eastern part of
the great upland plain of Lycaonia, which stretches from
Iconia eastwards along the north sides of the chain of
Taurus. For the various conjectures respecting its site,
see Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._, and C. and H., I. 178, n.
Cicero passed through it on his road from Cilicia to
Iconium. Cic. _ad. Fam._ XIII. 73: Cum Antipatro _Derbete_
mihi non solum hospitium, verum etiam summa familiaritas
intercedit.

891 ‒ According to some a Syrian dialect, according to others
a corrupt form of Greek. Lycaonia is one of those
ethnological rather than political districts of Asia Minor
mentioned in the N. T.; politically it was sometimes in
Cappadocia, sometimes in Galatia.

892 ‒ Compare the story of Baucis and Philemon in Ovid’s
_Metam._ VIII. 611, &c.

893 ‒ Comp. Ovid, _Fasti_, V. 495.

894 ‒ Ἐπὶ τοὺς πύλωνας in Acts xiv. 13, does not denote the
gates of the city, but the vestibule or gate which gave
admission from the public street into the court of the
house. So it is used Mtt. xxvi. 71 (on which see note
above, p. 290); Lk. xvi. 20; Acts x. 17; Acts xii. 13.
C. and H., I. 182, n.; Neander’s _Planting_, 113, n.

895 ‒ Compare the Apostle’s language in Rom. iii. 25.

896 ‒ Comp. Mtt. xii. 24.

897 ‒ This is the occasion alluded to in 2 Cor. xi. 24, 25,
“_Once_ I was stoned.” At Iconium the _design_ had been
formed of stoning him: “Had the assault been completed,
had the history related that a stone was thrown, as it
relates that preparations were made both by Jews and
Gentiles to stone Paul and his companions, or even had the
account of this transaction stopped, without going on to
inform us that St Paul and his companions were _aware of
the danger and fled_, a contradiction between the history
and the Epistle would have ensued. Truth is necessarily
consistent; but it is scarcely possible that independent
accounts, not having truth to guide them, should thus
advance to the very brink of contradiction without falling
into it.” Paley’s _Horæ Paulinæ_.

898 ‒ One was certainly Timothy, the son of a Jewess named
Eunice, his father being a Greek (Acts xvi. 1), whom Paul
afterwards found at Lystra, already a disciple, and of
good report among the brethren (Acts xvi. 2). In 1 Tim.
i. 2, i. 18; 2 Tim. ii. 1, he calls him _his own son in
the faith_, and in 2 Tim. iii. 10, 11, reminds him of his
intimate and personal knowledge of the sufferings he had
endured at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra (note the accurate
order of the places). There is the strongest reason,
therefore, for believing that he was now converted to the
faith. See Birks’ Ed. of Paley’s _Horæ Paulinæ_, p. 153,
and note on p. 155.

899 ‒ See above, p. 404, n.

900 ‒ On the Jewish feeling of jealousy and suspicion even
towards proselytes, see above, p. 400, n. 2.

901 ‒ C. and H., I. 197.

902 ‒ Lightfoot _On the Galatians_, p. 286.

903 ‒ They were converted Pharisees who had imported their
dogmas into the Christian Church.

904 ‒ Compare the words παρεισάκτους, παρεισῆλθον in Gal. ii. 4.
“The metaphor is that of spies or traitors introducing
themselves by stealth into the enemy’s camp.” See the
passages quoted by Lightfoot.

905 ‒ For an exhaustive note on the identity of the journey
mentioned in the Epistle to the Galatians and in Acts xv.,
see Lightfoot, _Com. on the Gal._ 110–113.

906 ‒ The historian St Luke naturally records the external
impulse, which led to the mission; the Apostle himself
states his inward motive: “What I did,” he says, “I did
not owing to circumstances, not as yielding to pressure,
not in deference to others, but because the Spirit of God
told me it was right.” The very stress which he lays on
this revelation seems to shew that other influences were
at work. Lightfoot, _Com._ p. 111.

907 ‒ Compare the combination of the natural and the
supernatural in the case of Peter’s journey to Cæsarea;
see above, pp. 398, 399; and in St Paul’s reasons for
leaving Jerusalem, above, pp. 391, 392.

908 ‒ Neander’s _Planting_, p. 115.

909 ‒ The great Roman road followed the Phœnician coast-line.
On the previous mention of Phœnicia, see Acts xi. 19, 20;
above, p. 373.

910 ‒ Κατ᾽ ἰδίαν δὲ τοῖς δοκοῦσι, Gal. ii. 2.

911 ‒ See Neander’s _Planting_, I. 115, n. “The private
consultation was a wise precaution to avoid
misunderstanding: the public conference was a matter of
necessity to obtain a recognition of the freedom of the
Gentile churches.” Lightfoot _in loc._

912 ‒ Neander’s _Planting_, I. 117; Baumgarten’s _Apostolic History_.

913 ‒ Ἀφ᾽ ἡμερῶν ἀρχαίων, Acts xv. 7, refers to the whole
period of the Gospel up to that day, and especially to
the conversion of Cornelius about 12 years before.

914 ‒ Compare the Lord’s own words, Mtt. xxiii. 4.

915 ‒ See above, p. 410; for indications in the New Testament
of his important position comp. (1) Gal. i. 19; (2) Acts
xii. 17; (3) Gal. ii. 9; (4) Acts xxi. 18.

916 ‒ From 1 Cor. ix. 5 we gather that, like Samuel, he was
married, but in other respects a strict observer of the
Nazarite rule; Euseb. _H. E._ II. 23.

917 ‒ Διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐτοῦ, ἐκαλεῖτο Δίκαιος
καὶ Ὠβλίας· ὅ ἐστι Ἑλληνιστὶ περιοχὴ τοῦ ♦λαοῦ καὶ
δικαιοσύνη. Hegesippus quoted in Euseb. _H. E._ II. 23.

918 ‒ See Stanley’s _Apostolical Age_, pp. 302, 331; Con. and
Howson, I. 205; Smith’s _Bibl. Dict._

919 ‒ He characteristically uses the Jewish form of the
Apostle’s name, Acts xv. 14, as Peter does himself
2 Pet. i. 1.

920 ‒ The citation is made freely from the LXX version.

921 ‒ Only a portion of the victims was offered in sacrifice
to the heathen gods, the rest was consumed by the offerer
with his family and friends, or was sold in the shambles.
Hence most public entertainments and many private
meals were more or less remotely connected with heathen
sacrifices, which, as Thucydides relates (II. 38), became
the chief means of social enjoyment. Such meat the more
scrupulous Jewish converts would not touch, according
to the warning of Malachi (i. 7–12), or the good example
of Daniel (i. 8). See Stanley _On the Cor._ I. 150, 151.
Hence the doubt and the contention between the Gentile and
Jewish converts alluded to in 1 Cor. viii. ix.

922 ‒ See Levit. xvii. 13, 14; Comp. above, p. 118, n.

923 ‒ See _Class-Book of O. T. History_, p. 156.

924 ‒ C. and H., 207; Gibbon, XXIII.

925 ‒ See above, p. 412, n.; Milman, _Hist. of Christianity_,
I. 394; Neander’s _Planting_, I. p. 121.

926 ‒ Ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ Τίτος ὁ σὺν ἐμοὶ Ἕλλην ὢν ἠναγκάσθη περιτμηθῆναι,
Gal. ii. 3. _But not even Titus_, though (1) the pressure
exerted in his case was so great, though (2) as my
fellow-labourer he would be brought constantly in contact
with the Jews, see Acts xvi. 3, though (3) _a Gentile, was
compelled to be circumcised_. See Lightfoot and Ellicott
_in loc._

927 ‒ Στῦλοι, Gal. ii. 9, a title applied by the Jews to the
great teachers of the Law, see Wetstein _in loc._: and,
the Church being regarded as the house or temple of God,
in the New Testament to Christians; comp. Rev. iii. 12;
1 Tim. iii. 15.

928 ‒ This the Apostle had already done, see Acts xi. 29, 30,
above, p. 404; this also he did on the occasion of his
last journey to Jerusalem, Rom. xv. 26, 27; Acts xxiv. 17.

929 ‒ John Mark appears to have accompanied them. Comp. Acts
xv. 37; Neander’s _Planting_, I. p. 125.