Ver.9. ἐθεραπεύοντο: ‘ were cured,” R.V. Lekebusch, pp. 382, 393, and Holtzmann, in loco, think that the medi- cal skill of St. Luke may also have been instrumental in effecting these cures, and this is urged on the ground that ἡμᾶς, ver. 1Ο, intimates that not only St. Paul received honour in return for the cures
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ἐθεραπεύοντο: 10. οἳ καὶ πολλαῖς τιμαῖς ἐτίμησαν ἡμᾶς, καὶ dvayo- µένοις ἐπέθεντο τὰ πρὸς ’ τὴν χρείαν.
II. Meta δὲ τρεῖς µῆνας ἀνήχθημεν ἐν whoiw παρακεχειµακότι ἐν τῇ νήσῳ, ᾽Αλεξανδρινῷ,” παρασήµῳ Διοσκούροις: 12. καὶ καταχθέντες
| For the sing. την χρ. SABI 13, 40, 137 have the plural, so Tisch., W.H., R.V.,
Blass, Weiss, Wendt, Hilg.
2 Blass reads ᾧ ην παρασηµον Διοσκονρων (Vulg., Syr. P., Gig.).
effected. But such a conjecture must remain quite uncertain, although it is no doubt quite possible that as we have here a verb which properly denotes medi- cal treatment (cf. θεραπεία, Luke ix. 11) for the restoration of health, the care (cura) of medical skill was freely added by St. Luke, and enhanced the debt which the sick owed.
Ver. 10. πολλαῖς τιμαῖς: “ with many honours,” A. and R.V., used quite generally, so in Vulgate, ‘“‘ multis honori- bus’’; even in the expression ‘ honos habendus medico,” Cic., Ad Div., xvi., 9, we need not limit the word to the honorarium ; soin 1 Tim. v. 17 τιμῆς is used quite generally, and in Ecclus. Xxxviil. I it is very doubtful whether in the expression “honour a physician,” τίµα ἰατρόν, the verb refers to payment. There is therefore no need to take the word as referring to a physician’s fee in money, as Wordsworth, Humphry, Plumptre, although the word may have been so used by a physician; but it was scarcely likely that St. Paul would have received such a reward for his services, to say nothing of the fact that it was con- trary to Christ’s commands, Matt. x. 8.— καὶ ἀναγ. ἐπέθεντο: “and when we sailed they put on board,” R.V., so Ram- say, ἀναγ., technical term, xxvil. 2, 3.— τὰ πρὸς τὴν χ., See Critical note, fre- quently in Luke and Paul, both in singular and plural, and often in LXX, cf. Acts xx. 34, Rom. xii. 13, used here quite generally; it may have included money, but no doubt things needful, post naufragium, Bengel.
Ver. II. ‘pets µῆνας: no account is given of St. Paul’s doings in Malta, or of his preaching or founding a Church, but the writer’s interest is centred on the Apostle’s journey to Rome, and what immediately concerns ἵε.--- ἀνήχ., see above on xiii. 13; in the earlier part of February, as the shipwreck took place probably before the middle of November (Ramsay), but Blass thinks March, as he places the shipwreck about the com- mencement of December, but with a
favourable wind the ship would risk the voyage, even before the regular sailing season commenced (so Wendt and Ram- say).— Ade§.: very likely a corn ship, driven for refuge by the same gale; on the accent here and in xxvii. 6 see Winer-Schmiedel, p. 73.— παρακεχει- µακότι: only in Luke and Paul in N.T., cf. xxvii. 12, 1 Cor. xvi. 6, Tit. 11. 12, and in classical Greek. — παρασήμφ Διοσκ.: ‘whose sign was the Twin Brothers,’’ R.V., z.e., Castor and Pollux; or perhaps in a ship ‘‘marked with the image or figure of the Dioscuri,” or the latter word in the dative may be a dedica- tory inscription—marked “To the Dios- curi,’’ z.e., in honour of them, so Wendt, Holtzmann, Grimm-Thayer. Others take παρασ. as a noun, so Alford, Page, quot- ing from an inscription found near Lutro and given by J. Smith, in which reference is made to a Dionysius of Alexandria as gubernator navis parasemo Isopharia. Phryn. prefers the form Διόσκοροι. Blass has ᾧ ἦν παράσηµον Διοσκούρων, see critical note and Blass, in loco; cf. for the word 3 Macc. ii. 29. Castor and Pollux were best known as the tutelary gods of sailors, and probably at this date they were both the imsigne and the tutela of the ship. St. Cyril of Alexandria tells us that it was always the Alexandrian method to ornament each side of the prow with the figures of deities, probably in this case Castor and Pollux, one on each side of the vessel; and we may further note that the twin brothers were specially honoured in the district of Cyrenaica, not far from Alexandria (Schol., Pind., Pyth., v., 6). For other classical notices cf. Hor., Od., i., 3, 2; iii., 29, 04; Catull., iv., 27; Ixviii., 65; Eur., Helen., 1663, and “Castor and Pollux,’’ Β.Ὀ.3, and ‘“ Dioscuri,’’ Hastings’ B.D. The mention of the ship’s sign shows the minuteness of the information of an eye- witness, and the fact that an Alexandrian ship thus wintered in the island is a strong piece of incidental evidence in favour of the identification of the island with Malta; the latter would be a natural