The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 28

you come to in Mnccdonin" (Cony boo.re nnd the R.V., but more nearly o.s the A.V., Howson, Alford, Dengel, etc.). The R. V. where a prayer-meetinlJ (of the Jews) ma• Aoems to trilce 1!-r1r l,nl . , . Ma1«6ovlar accustomerl to be helrl; i.e. this particnlar 1r&A,r togethor, o.nd 1rprfi-r 11 -rijr µ,p/6or as spot was the nsnal place where .such ,Jews or a further description of it-a most o.wkwo.rcl proselytes o.s happened to be at Philippi construction. Alford renders it, "which met for prayer. It also appears from is the first Mncedonio.n city of the district." Epiphe.nius (' Hrer.,'80,§ !,quoted by Alford) Dut the no.Luro.l wny of construing a ibo.t the Jews usually had their r.pot1"evxai, passage is o.lmost o.lwnys the best, nnd whether buildings, or open spaces, l!"' uothiug prevents us from believing that 1ro1'ewr, outside the city. The wayside St. Luke, who knew Philippi intimately, crosses are of the nature of 1rp0<1'euxaL wns strictly o.ccurnte in calling it" the chief Ver. 14.-0ne that for which, A.V.; 1h city nf the district of Macedonia," ,.e. the give heed for that she attended, A. V. ; by for distriot in which it was situated. That of, A.V. A certe.in woman, etc. Whether µ<p« is the technical name of the division her personal name was Lydia, or ..-hether of a province appenrs from the title µ,p,5• she we.s commonly so called on account of d.px71r, applied by Josephus to o. certain her native country and her trade, must Apollouius, governor, under Antiochus remain uncertain. Thyatira was in Lydia. Epiphnnes, of the district in which So.mnrio. Lydio.n women, from the time of Ilomer was included (' Ant. Jud.,' xii. v. 5). The down wards, were famous for their purple ancient name of Philippi was Datos first, dyes; and it !lppears from an inscription then Krenides-the springs, or wells; o.nd found in Thyatira, that there was there a the word used by Li \'Y of the districts of guild of dyers, ea.lied ol f3a4>iir (Lewin, ii. Macedonia, pars prima, secunda, etc., is an 214). One that worshipped God ( <1"efJoµ•V1/ exnct translation of µ,p,r. It recei vecl the -rbv 0elw); i.e. a proselyte. So in eh. xiii. name of Philippi, from Philip, the father 43 we find ol uef36µevo11rpo<1"~>..vro1, the devout of Alexander the Great, who extracted a or religious progelytes. And so al (fe{36µevcu great revenue from its gold-mines. Its ')'VVaiKer, the deoout women. And so, in eh. great historical celebrity arises from the x.viii. 7, Jnstns is described e.s ,;,f36µevor Li1ttle in the plain of Philippi, in which -rbv 0eclv one who worshipped God (see too the republican party, under Brutus and eh. xvii. 4, 17). In eh. x.. 1 Cornelius is Cassius, received its death-blow from spoken of e.s .~1Te{3¾,r l(al <Pof3ovµevor TOV 0,ov. Octavius and Antony. (For a full de- It has been suggested that possibly Euodias sci·iption of Philippi, e.nd of the privileges of and Syntyche (Phil. iv. 2) were of the so.me a colony, see Conybeare and Howson, vol. i. class, e.nd converted e.t the same time as 311, etc., and Lewin, vol. i. eh. x.i.) This. Lydia. There is certainly a coincidence Alford, following certain manuscripts, reads between the mention of the women in ver. aii-rfi, "in the city itself," 11s distinguished 13 and the prominence given to tlle Philip- from the place outside the city, where the pian women in Phil. iv. 2, 3. It is well ob- 1rpo1revxfi was. But, perhaps, St. Luke uses served by Chrysostom, on the le.tter part of the word "this" from Philippi being the this verse, " The opening of the heart was plo.ce of bis own residence, and where he God's work, the attending was hers : so that may have drawn up the narrative on the it was both God's doing e.nd man's'' (comp. spot. Phil. ii. 12, 13). To open (o,a.vo(-ye,v) ii Ver. 13.-Saubath day for sabbath, A.V.; applied as here to the heart (2 Maco. i. 4); we went forth without the gate for we went to the eyes (Luke xxiv. 31); to the ee.rs out of the city, A.V. and 'f.R. (1rvA71r for (M,uk x.vii. 3!, 35); to the understandiac: 1ro1>.lwr); we supposed there was a place of (Luke niv. 45); to the Scriptures (Luke prayer for prayer was wont to be made, A.V.; x:xiv. 32); "Corolausum per se. Dei est id were come together for resorted thither, A.V. aperiro "(Ben)!;el). By a river side, By the river side is tho Ver. 15.-Whcn she was bapti:i:ed; showing natural way of expressing it in Englisl1. that St. Paul, as St. Peter (eh. ii. 38, H ; The river is not the Strymou, which is :r;, 47), as Philip (eh. viii. 38), as Ananio.s 11, day's journey distant from Pl1ilippi, but (eh. xxii. 16), as our Lord himsclt (Mark probo.bly a small stream ca.lled the Gangae xvi.16), had put holy baptism in the very or Gangites, which is orossed by the Via. forefront of his teaching (comp. Heh. vi. 2 ). Egnatio., about e. mile out of Philippi. And her household (comp. ver. 33; l Cor. The neighbourhood of water, either ncor a i. 16; 2 Tim. iv. 19). '.rhis frequent men- stream or on the &eW!hore, was usually pre- tion of whole households e.s received into ferred by the Jews as o. plo.oe for prayer, as the Ohurch eeem.s neoessarily to imply affording fncility for o.blutious (see Josephus, infant be.ptism. The exhortations to 'Ant. Jud.,' xiv. 10,23; and other po.ssuges children ae members or the Church in quoted by Alford). The phl'lllle, oli ivoµl(•-ro Eph. vi. 1, 2, e.nd Col. iii. 20, lee.d to the sama 1",anu~~ ,lv111, 1■liould be ronderorl, p.ot as in infewnoe. Co1111 into m7 hou,e, etc. A  30 'l'HE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.