Ver. 18. μόλις: used only by Luke and Paul (with one exception of a quota- tion, Pet, iv. 18), Luke ix. 39, W.H. ; four times in Acts, and Rom. v. 7.— κατέπανσαν τοῦ μὴ, x. 47, Burton,
N. T. Moods and Tenses, pp. 159, 184. Ver. 19. ἐπῆλθον δὲ: on readings to
account for the interval see critical notes. Nothing in the narrative forbids some kind of interval, whilst nothing is said as to its duration—’lovdate.: a proof of their enmity in that they undertook a long journey of some one hundred and
18—21.
be πόλεως, νοµίσαντες] αὐτὸν τεθνάναι.
ατα
20.2 κυκλωσάντων δὲ αὐτὸν τῶν
μαθητῶν, ἀναστὰς εἰσῆλθεν cis τὴν πόλιν: καὶ τῇ ἐπαύριον ἐξῆλθε
σὺν τῷ Βαρνάβα εἰς Δέρβην.
21. εὐαγγελισάμενοίὃ τε τὴν πόλιν
> , ‘ η c , ¢ / 3 ‘ , ἐκείνην, καὶ μαθητεύσαντες ἱκανούς, ὑπέστρεψαν εἰς τὴν Λύστραν
Ί1γομιζοντες NABD 13, 40, 61, so Tisch., W.H., Blass, R.V., Weiss, Wendt, Hilg. 2 Ἐ]οτ. reads ‘‘tunc circumdederunt eum discentes et cum surressisset (x) populus
” .
vespere . .
Par.” adds µογις before ανασ., so Blass in B; cf. Belser, p. 71.
3 εναγγελισαµενοι NCBCL 61, Bas., Chrys., so W.H., Blass, R.V.; εναγγελιζοµενοι ADEHP, Lach., Tisch., Weiss, Wendt, Hilg., the aor. part. probably a mechanical
conformity to the following part.
thirty miles.—etoavres τοὺς ὅ.: mobile vulgus. The change in their attitude need not surprise us, cf. the fickleness of the inhabitants of Malta, xxviii. 6, and, more notably still, the change of feel- ing in the multitudes who could cry Hosannah! and Crucify! The Scholiast, Homer, Π., iv., 89-92, has ἄπιστοι γὰρ Auxdoves, ὡς καὶ ᾿Αριστοτέλης µαρ- tupet. These Jews may have received help from their fellow-countrymen, some few of whom were resident in Lystra, xvi. I, or possibly, as McGiffert suggests, it may have been easy to incite the populace against Paul and Barnabas, because of the Apostles’ rejection of the divine honours offered to them. But probably the persuasion implies that they influenced the multitudes to regard the miracle, the reality of which they could not dispute, as the work not of beneficent gods but of evil demons. The form of punishment, λιθάσαντες, would seem at all events to point to Jewish instigation, although the stoning tgok place not out- side but inside the city, cf. 2 Cor. xi. 25, 2 Tim. ili, 11, and Wendt (1888), p. 318, as against Zeller. In Gal. vi. 17 the Apostle may allude to the scars marked on him by these same people (Ramsay, Zahn), cf. also Clem. Rom., Cor., v. 6. λιθασθείς: “ Uti Paulus prius lapidationi Stephani consenserat: ita nunc veterem culpam expiat, 2 Cor. xi. 25) (Wetstein). On the undesigned coincidence between this narrative and the notice in 2 Tim. cf. Paley, Hore Pauline, xii.,5. Hilgen- feld refers this verse to his ‘author to Theophilus,” but the change in the multitude and the hatred of the Jews are not surprising, but perfectly natural. ---ἔσνρον: perhaps as a last indignity, cf. viii. 3, xvii. 6.—voptoavres: St. Luke’s words do not require us to infer that St. Paul was rendered lifeless, and we need not suppose that he was more than stunned. But at the same time the
narrative undoubtedly leads us to recog- nise in St. Paul’s speedy recovery from such an outrage, and his ability to resume his journey, the good hand of God upon him. We may again notice St. Luke’s reserve in dwelling on the Apostle’s sufferings, and his carefulness in re- fraining from magnifying the incident.
Ver. 20. κυκλ.: Bengel says ‘tan- quam sepeliendum,” and others have held the same view, but the word need not imply more than that the disciples surrounded him, to help if human aid
_ could profit, and to lament for him in his
sufferings. Amongst the mourners the youthful Timothy may well have found aplace. On Timothy’s means of knowing of the Apostle’s sufferings here narrated see Paley, Hore Paulina, u. 5.---μαθητῶν: the Apostles’ work had not therefore been unsuccessful: there were converts willing to brave persecution, and to avow them- selves as disciples—rq ἐπαύριον: the journey to Derbe was one of some hours, not free from risk, and the mention of Paul’s undertaking and finishing it on the morrow indicates how wonderfully he had been strengthened in his recovery. The word is found ten times in Acts, and not at all in Luke’s Gospel, but ¢f. αὔριον Luke x. 35, Acts iv. 5 only; Hawkins’ Hore Syn., p. 144. It occurs three times in chap. x., no less than in the second half of the book.—o tv τῷ B. : apparently he had been free from attack, since Paul was the chief speaker, and consequently provoked hostility.