Ver. 5. Σαλαμῖνι: the nearest place to Seleucia on the eastern coast of Cyprus. A few hours’ sail in favourable weather would bring the traveller to a harbour con- venient and capacious. The Jewish colony must have been considerable since mention is made of synagogues.—xatTny- γελλον: “they began to proclaim”... ἐν ταῖς συν., it was St. Paul’s habitual custom to go to the synagogues first, cf. ix. 20, xiv. I, εἴο.--- Ιωάννην: the marked silence about him previously seems to emphasise the fact that he was not selected by the Holy Ghost in the same solemn way as Barnabas and Saul.—
5—6.
τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς τῶν Ιουδαίων: εἶχον δὲ καὶ Ιωάννην ὑπηρέτην.ὶ 6. διελθόντες” δὲ τὴν νῆσον ἄχρι Πάφου, εὗρόν τινα µάγον
1 νπηρετην, D, Par., Syr. Harcl. mg. read νπηρετουντα αντοις (E reads εις δια- κονιαν). Weiss considers that this is in order to avoid describing Mark as υπηρετης.
Ἄδιελθοντες δε, D! reads και περιελθοντων αυτων, and so Blass and Hilg., and D? διελθοντων δε αυτων. περι may have been changed into δια, as the latter prep. may have been thought to mean that they went straight through, instead of going about the island; see also Weiss, Codex D, p. 73. ολην την νησον, so NABCDE 61, Vulg., several vers., so Tisch., W.H., R.V., Blass, Weiss, Wendt, Hilg.—perhaps fell out, as in T.R., because the situation of Paphos was not known, and ολην seemed to contradict αχρι Π. (Wendt). D reads ονοµατι kaXoupevov; w ονοµα is common in Gospels but not elsewhere in Acts, ονοµατι and καλου. are both common; cf. also Luke xix. 1. Βαρϊησοῦς BCE 13, Sah., Chrys., so W.H., Weiss; Βαριησοῦν AD?HLP, Syr. H. mg.; Βαριησοῦ Ν 40, Vulg., Boh., Syr. H. text, Arm., Tisch. ; Βαριησουα D, so Blass, Hilg. with v or μ. added (D*)—other variations. E, Gig., Wer., Lucif. add ο µεθερµηνενεται Ετοιμας (see on ver. 8) according to Blass in β (E reading EAvpas, Gig., Wer., Lucif. reading paratus = Erowos). In ver. 8 almost all authorities read EAvpas, but D, Lucif. have Erowmas (not Gig., Par.). This reading is defended by Klostermann, Prob. im Aposteltexte, p. 21, and adopted by Blass (although he is not satisfied with Kloster- mann’s derivation) and also by Ramsay. Blass holds that this name Ἐτοιμας, what- ever it is, must be interpretation of Βαριησους--ΠΟῖ payos of zt. It is possible that some desire may have been at work to avoid any connection between the name of the Magian and the name of Jesus, and thus the words ουτος yap ped. . . . αντου in νετ, 8, which are omitted by Blass without any authority, simply because of the reading in ver. 6 in E, etc., may have crept into ver. 6 as more appropriate. See also ‘‘ Barjesus,” Hastings’ B.D. Weiss, Codex D, p. 74, points out that Ετοιµας.
may be an old corruption for EAvpas, and this seems very probable.
Schmiedel, Enc. Bibi., i., 478 ff.
ὑπηρέτην, cf. Luke iv. 20, and many ee it here a kind of official sense (although the word may be used of any kind of service), ‘ velut ad baptizan- dum,” cf. x. 48 (x Cor. i. 14), Blass; so Alford, Felten, Overbeck, Weiss. But the word may express the fact that John Mark was able to set the Apostles more free for their work of evangelising.
Ver. 6. διελθόντες δὲ (ὅλην) τὴν ν.: 6 απά they made a missionary progress through the whole island,” Ramsay, Sz. Paul, pp. 72 and 384, and “ Words de- noting Missionary Travel in Acts,” Ex- positor, May, 1890; on ὅλην, see critical notes. Ramsay gives nine examplesin Acts of this use of διέρχεσθαι or διελθεῖν with the accusative of the region traversed, the only other instance in the N.T. being 1 Cor. xvi. 5. In each of these ten cases the verb implies the process of going over a country as a missionary, and it is remarkable that in i.-xii. this construction of διέρχοµαι never occurs, though there are cases in which the idea of a missionary tour requires ex- pression. Ramsay therefore sees in the use of the word in the second part of the book a quasi technical term which the writer had caught from St. Paul himself, by whom alone it is also employed.—