τὴν συναγωγὴν τῶν Ιουδαίων ἀπῄεσαν. 11. οὗτοι δὲ ἦσαν 1 εὐγενέσ-
τεροι τῶν ἐν Θεσσαλονίκη, οἵτινες ἐδέξαντο τὸν λόγον μετὰ πάσης προθυµίας, τὸ καθ ἡμέραν ἀνακρίνοντες τὰς ypadds, εἰ ἔχοι ταῦτα οὕτως. 12. πολλοὶ μὲν οὖν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐπίστευσαν,; καὶ τῶν Ἑλληνίδων
1 For ενγενεστεροι D, Par.! read ευγενεις, but not Blass or Hilg. Whether το is to be retained (W.H., Weiss, Blass) before καθ ηµεραν or omitted is difficult to decide (Wendt); it may easily have fallen out, or may have been added, cf. Luke xi. 3, and at end of verse καθως Π. απαγγελλει is added by β, after 137, Gig., Syr. Η. mg., so Hilg.
2 After επιστ. D adds τινες δε ηπιστησαν, cf. xxvilil. 24; see Ramsay, C. R. Ε., Ῥ. 160 (also Corssen, 4. δ., Ρ. 444, who thinks that the addition proceeded from anti- Jewish feeling). In the same verse D reads και των Ἑλληνων και των ευσχηµονων a. Kat γ. ικανοι επιστευσαν. Here Ramsay holds that D misses a characteristic of Macedonia, viz., the prominent part played by the women, C. Κ. E., pp. 160, 161. Blass omits και after EAAnv. Hilg. follows D here and above.
enough to have a synagogue, and thither Paul, according to his custom, went first. —amyeoay: only here in N.T., cf. 2 Macc. xii. 1, 4 Macc. iv. 8; here it may imply that on their arrival Paul and Silas left their escort, and went into the syna- gogue.
Ver. 11. εὐγενέστεροι: only in Luke and Paul in the N.T., so in classics the word is used of noble birth, Luke xix. 12, 1 Cor. i. 26 (Job i. 3), or of nobility of character as here, cf. also its use in 4 Macc. iii. 5, ix. 23, 27 (and εὐγενῶς in 2 Macc. xiv. 42, and several times in 4 Macc.). We may compare the wide and varying use of the Latin imgenuus in accordance with the context, its mean- ing here is that the Berceans were far from the strife and envy of the Thessa- lonian Jews; see Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire, pp. 154, 160, 163, on the less favourable attitude of Codex Beze to the Berceans than the T.R., and critical note; see also above on xill. 50.— προθ.: another word only in Luke and Paul; ο, ος. vili."Er, τα, το, “ix. ο not in LXX, but once in Ecclus. xlv. 23, frequent in classical Greek.—rd καθ) ἡμέραν: indicates that St. Paul made a lengthy stay at Bercea also, cf. Luke xi. 3, xix. 47, but elsewhere without the article, with the article peculiar to Luke (see Plummer’s note on Luke xi. 3). On the frequency of καθ ἡμέραν in Luke’s writings see Friedrich, p. 9, and above on Hawkins, Hore Synoptice, p. 33. If τό is read, see critical note, it particularises the repetition or constancy of the αοῖ.---ἄνακρ.: “examining,” Κ.Υ. (the word in St. John v. 39, which A.V. also renders “search,” is ἐρευνάω), cf. 1 Cor. x. 25, 27, used elsewhere by
St. Luke of a judicial inquiry or investi- gation, Luke xxiii. 14, Acts Iv. 9, xii. το, xxiv. 8, xxviii. 18. The word is only found in Luke and Paul, once in LXX, 1 Sam. xx. 12, in a general sense, and in Su- sannah, vv. 48, 51, where it is connected with a judicial inquiry, as elsewhere in Luke. In classical Greek used also in the general sense of examining closely, questioning, sifting.—ras γραφάς: Blass explains ‘locos a Paulo allatos,” but although these were ipso facto included, the term can hardly be so limited, cf. xviii. 24, 28, and Lightfoot on Gal. iii. 22. “Character verae religionis, quod se di- judicari patitur,” Bengel.—et ἔχοι, Bur- ton, p. 52, ¢f. Luke i. 29, iii. 15. Wendt rightly points out that the positive praise bestowed on the Jews of Bercea tends in itself to contradict the theory that Acts was written to emphasise the unbelief of the Jews, and to contrast their unbelief with Gentile belief. i Ver. 12. See critical note and Ram- say, Church in the Roman Empire, u. s. As at Thessalonica, so here the Apostles’ work extended beyond the limits of the synagogue. Ἑλληνίδων: the term relates to the men as well as to the women—the Jewish men had already been included in the first word πολλοί, see Alford, Weiss, Wendt, Zéckler.—etoyypdvev, see above on xiii. 50. Blass refers the term to ἀνδρῶν also, and points out that Sopater of Bercea alone in Acts is named πατρόθεν according to Greek custom, cf. xx. 4 (R.V., W.H., Weiss, Wendt). See also Orr, Neglected Factors in the Early Progress of Christianity, p. 107. Ver. 13. οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς Θ. Ἰ.: as before in the first journey, the bitter and en- during malice of the Jews followed Paul