3. Opening and alleging. The latter word is rather pro- pounding, ov setting forth (mapatiSéwevos). See on set before, Luke ix. 16; and commét,1 Pet. iv. 19. Bengel remarks, “ Two steps, as if one, having broken the rind, were to disclose and ex- hibit the kernel.”
4. Consorted with (zpocexAnpadIncar). Only here in New Testament. More strictly, “were added or allotted to.”
Chief women. The position of women in Macedonia seems to have been exceptional. Popular prejudice, and the verdict of Grecian wisdom in its best age, asserted her natural inferior- ity. The Athenian law provided that everything which a man
Cu. XVIL] THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 537
might do by the counsel or request of a woman should be null in law. She was little better than a slave. To educate her was to advertise her as a harlot. Her companions were principally children and slaves. In Macedonia, however, monuments were erected to women by public bodies ; and records of male proper names are found, in Macedonian inscriptions, formed on the mother’s name instead of on the father’s. Macedonian women were permitted to hold property, and were treated as mistresses of the house. These facts are borne out by the account of Paul’s labors in Macedonia. In Thessalonica, Beroea, and Phi- lippi we note additions of women of rank to the church; and their prominence in church affairs is indicated by Paul’s spe- cial appeal to two ladies in the church at Philippi to reconcile their differences, which had caused disturbance in the church, and by his commending them to his colleagues as women who had labored with him in the Lord (Philip. iv. 2, 8).
5. Of the baser sort (ayopaiwv). From dyopd, the market- place ; hence loungers in the marketplace; the rabble. Cicero calls them swbrostrani, those who hung round the rostra, or platform for speakers in the forum ; and Plautus, swhdbasilicani, the loungers round the court-house or exchange. The word occurs only here and ch. xix. 38, on which see note,
Gathered a company (dyAozoujcavtes). Rev., better, @ crowd. Only here in New Testament.
6. Rulers of the city (zodutdpyas). Another illustration of Luke’s accuracy. Note that the magistrates are called by a different name from those at Philippi. Thessalonica was nota colony, but a free city (see on colony, ch. xvi. 12), and was gov- erned by its own rulers, whose titles accordingly did not follow those of Roman magistrates. The word occurs only here and ver. 8, and has been found in an inscription on an arch at Thes- salonica, where the names of the seven politarchs are men- tioned. The arch is thought by antiquarians to have been standing in Paul’s time.
538 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. XVII.
7. Contrary to the decrees of Caesar. The charge at * Philippi was that of introducing new customs; but as Thessa- lonica was not a colony, that charge could have no force there. The accusation substituted is that of treason against the em- peror; that of which Jesus was accused before Pilate. “The law of treason, by which the ancient legislators of the republic had sought to protect popular liberty from the encroachments of tyranny, . . . was gradually concentrated upon the em- peror alone, the sole impersonation of the sovereign people. The definition of the crime itself was loose and elastic, such as equally became the jealousy of a licentious republic or of a despotic usurper” (Merivale, “History of the Romans under the Empire ”).
9. Security (ro (xavov). See on Luke vii. 6. Baz, either personal or by a deposit of money. A law term. They en- gaged that the public peace should not be violated, and that the authors of the disturbance should leave the city.
11. Searched. Or examined. See on Luke xxiii. 14. 12. Honorable women. See on ver. 4, and Mark xv. 43.
15. They that conducted (xadicravtes). Lit., brought to the spot. Note the different word employed, ch. xv. 3 (see note there).