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ii. 5, V. 2 ; in the last two paragi-aphs the succour given by Queen Helena is detailed.
St. Luke, while careful to maintain the position of Agabus as a prophet, here in the sense of one foretelling the future (cf. Ac 21"), himself reviews the situation from a point outside the reign of Claudius, which terminated in A.D. 54. He there- fore could survey the general feature of that reign, viz. as being an age of famine, and at the same time give particular attention to the local famine in Judaea, which involved Barnabas and Saul.
The whole position during the Apostolic Age may be regarded as perilous to the food supply. It was so for the Empire, owing to State policy, and for Palestine because of the insecui-ity of the times, culminating in the siege of Jerusalem, during which famine was extreme. Natural causes may have added to the straits, as the allusions of classical writers show. This matter has been con- sidered from a novel point of view, viz. the relation between famine and the rainfall, by Ellsworth Huntin^on, who concludes that ' the second half of the first century may have been slightly drier than the first half, for at that time famines pre- vailed to an unusual extent ' {Palestine ana its Transformation, 1911, p. 327). He supports his main theory of pulsatory changes in climate by calling in the evidence of inscriptions, and he finds that the decades A.D. 61-70, 91-100, are without inscriptions (true for Syria), and these are taken to be intervals of desiccation and consequent scarcity. While illuminating the general situation, this does not bring us nearer than the historians do to fixing the date of specific famines.
The condition pictured in Rev 6^- ^ is one of scarcity, when wheat and barley are to be weighed out with care to prevent a worse condition arising. In the next vision (v.*) this worse condition is described, when death results from famine, among other evils.
In the rhetorical appeal addressed by St. Paul to the Christians in Rome famine appears in the catalogue of afflictions (Ro 8^). Assuming that Babylon the Great is to be identified with Rome, it is a fitting sequel to the probable experience of the Christians there, that famine should be one of the plagues by which the Imperial city is to be finally overtaken (Rev 18*).
Famines of OT times are recalled : (1) in Egypt and Canaan (Ac 7") ; (2) in Israel ( Ja 5"- 1«, the absence of rain implying lack of earth's fruit ; cf. Lk 4^, where famine is named).
LiTERATtTRE. — HDB, art. ' CHaudius ' ; EBi, art. ' Chronolog^y ' (§ 76) ; E. Schurer, GJV3 \. [1901] 567, EJP i. ii. [1890] 169 n. ; W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, 1895, pp. 48-51 ; J. B. Ligfhtfoot, Bihlical Essays, 1893, p. 216 f. ; A. Hausrath, A History of NT Times, ii. [1895] 186 ff.; O. Pfleiderer, Primi- tive Christianity, ii. [1909J 227 f. ; G. A. Smith, Jerusalem, ii. [1908] 563. W. CRUICKSHANK.
FAST, THE (Ac 27*).— The passage in which the reference occurs is part of the account of the voyage of St. Paul. It reads : iKavoxi 5k XP^''0" Biayevofxivov Kal ovros ifdr) iirtffcpaXovs toD ir\obs dia rb Kal T7]v vTjffTelav ijdT] irapeXTjXvdivai, irapyvei 6 HauXos, ktX. ('Seeing that a considerable time had elapsed, and that already sailing was dangerous, and also the Fast was by this time over, Paul exhorted,' etc.). St. Luke is anxious to emphasize the fact that the period when, according to ancient custom, navi- gation must cease, was imminent. The Romans reckoned the period of rnare clatisum from 11 Nov. to 10 March (Vegetius, de Re Milit. iv. 39 ; Pliny, HN ii. 47). Previous to this was a period (24 Sept. [the autumnal equinox]-ll Nov.) when sailing was regarded as attended with great risk (Caesar, Bell. Gall. iv. 36, v. 23). For the Jew, navigation was possible only from the Feast of Pentecost to the Feast of Tabernacles (Lewin, Life and Epp. of
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FAST, THE
FEAE
St. Paul, 1875, ii. 192 n., quoting Schottgen, HorcB Heb. i. 482). By general consent the ' Fast ' referred to by St. Luke is regarded as tlie great Day of Atonement (Lv 16'-" GS-*^"^^ ; Jos. Ant. XIV. xvi. 4), although unsuccessful attempts have been made to refer it to tlie third day of the Athenian Thesmophoria, or to some nautical mode of ex- pression{=extrc7mt7nautumni) (cf. Knowling, ^'GT, 1900, in loco). This Fast occurred five days before the Feast of Tabernacles, when, according to Jewish reckoning, sailing was no longer possible. The problem to be solved is to account for the emphatic way in which the language is heaped up, so as to imply tliat the situation for those on board was really critical, and to explain the advice given by St. Paul to remain where they were, which was disregarded (Ac 27^"- ^^). The sailing-master and captain were anxious to reach Phoenix, a Cretan port further on, not only because they thought it a safer port to winter in, but also, no doubt, that they might lose less time, and perhaps gain the glory that accrued to the bringing in of the first corn-ship to Rome in the spring (cf. W, M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller, 1895, p. 322 ff., where the whole situation as between St. Paul and the re- sponsible authorities is clearly explained). St. Paul snowed himself not only the more prudent sailor, but as having the greater regard not merely for human life, but also for the guidance of God. This purpose in St. Luke's mind is revealed in his use of Kai before rrjv v-qcxTeiav, ' also the Fast was now gone by.' In other words, less than five days remained from the date (Feast of Tabernacles) when to sail would be contrary to the will of God. The implication is that they actually did set sail within these five days.