15. Mera
δὲ τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν τοῦ νόµου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν, ἀπέστειλαν οἱ 2 { x > , ” 2 / 3 / ἀρχισυνάγωγοι πρὸς αὐτούς, λέγοντες, Άνδρες ἀδελφοί, εἰ έστι λόγος
and so some MSS. in the passage be- fore us; see critical notes, and Ramsay, ‘«« Antioch in Pisidia,” in Hastings’ B.D., Church in the Roman Empire, p. 25, and Wendt (1899), ix loco; see further on xvi. 6. On the death of Amyntas, B.c. 25, Antioch became part of the Roman province Galatia, and a little later, some time before 6 B.c., it was made a colonia by Augustus, with Latin rights, and as such it became an administrative and military centre in the protection of the province against the Pisidian robbers in their mountain fortresses, Ramsay, 1.5. There can be no doubt that Paul would also find there a considerable Jewish population, as the Jews were trusty supporters of the Seleucid kings, and found a home in many of the cities which they founded.— ἀπὸ τῆς Πέργης: Ramsay supposes that the travellers hurried on from Perga (chief town of Pamphylia on the Cestrus, and an important place of commerce) to Antioch, without any evangelisation on their way, because in Perga the Apostle had been smitten with an attack of malarial fever, which obliged him to seek the higher ground of Antioch. In Gal. iv. 13 Ramsay finds a corroboration of this view, a passage in which Paul him- self states that an illness occasioned his first preaching to the Churches of Galatia, {.6., of the Roman province Galatia. The suggestion has much to recommend it, see St. Paul, p.g2. McGiffert’s remarks, however, should be consulted in_support of the view that the illness overtook the Apostle at Antioch rather than at Perga, Apostolic Age, p. 177, and Weiz- sacker, Apostolic Age, i., 275, E.T.— cis τὴν συναγωγὴν, “to the Jew first,” was Paul’s primary rule, and here amongst those Φοβ. τὸν Θεόν he would find, perhaps, the best soil for his labours, cf. xvi. 14, and also xiii. 5, xiv. I, xvi. 13, xvii. 2, 1Ο, 17, xviii. 4, xix. 8. Against the doubts raised by the Tabingen School as to the historical character of the notice, see especially Wendt, 1888 and 1899 edi- tions. It is inconceivable, as he says, that Paul, who could express himself as in Rom. i. 16, ix. 32, x. 16, xi. 30, should entirely disregard the Jews in his mis- sionary efforts. The notice in xvi. 13, from a “ We-source,” of St. Paul’s first Sabbath at Philippi enables us to form
a correct judgment as to his probable course in other places.—rq ἡμέρᾳ τῶν σαβ.; not necessarily the first Sabbath after their arrival; some time may have been spent previously in mission work before a critical event took place, Ram- say, St. Paul, pp. 99, 1ΙΟοΟ.---ἐκάθισαν : the word may mean that they sat down in the seat of the Rabbis, so J. Lightfoot, in loco, as intimating that they expected to be called upon to preach, or we may infer, ver. 15, that they were called upon on the present occasion because they were well known in the city as men who claimed to have a message to deliver, and the rulers of the synagogue could invite whom they would, Edersheim, Yewish Social Life, p. 281; Lumby, p. 252, ‘on the Jewish Manner of reading the Scrip- tures”’.
Ver. 15. τὴν ἀνάγ. τοῦ v. καὶ τῶν π.: the first and second lesson, Edersheim, u. S., p. 278, History of the Fewish Na- tion, p. 443; Schirer, Fewish People, div. ii., vol. ii., p. 79 ff., E.T., the first from the Pentateuch, and the second a paragraph from the Prophets, including the older historical books. As there is no evidence that the lectionary of the Prophets existed in the time of our Lord, it is precarious to attempt to fix the par- ticular Sabbath for St. Paul’s address. It is however significant that he uses two remarkable words from the LXX, Deut. i. 31: ἐτροφ. (see critical notes), in ver. 18, and from Isa. i. 2: ὕψωσεν in ver. 17, and that in the present table of Jewish lessons that from the Law for the forty-fourth Sabbath in the year is Deut. i.-ili. 22, while the corresponding lesson from the Prophets is Isa. i. 1-22; see Bengel on ver. 18, and Farrar, St. Paul, i., pp. 368, 369 ; Plumptre, in loco. But we cannot safely go beyond the view of Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 100, who points out that the present list of Jewish lessons is of decidedly later origin, but adds that “ probably it was often determined by older custom and traditional ideas of suitable accompaniment ’’,—améorrethay : the words seem hardly consistent with Lumby’s view that St. Paul was him- self the Haphtarist.—ot ἀρχισυνάγωγοι ; generally only one, Luke xiii. 14, but cf. Mark v. 22 (Weiss, in loco), and the pas- sage before us; the office was specially concerned with the care of public worship,