The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 120

"lending to execution," eto. (Luke xxi. 12; under the Roman government preserved xxiil. 1: oh. vi. 12: xvii. J!): xviii. 12; their rights and Iiborties, and the privilege Mork xiii. 11). Robbers of temples; l,po<1v• of popular assemblies. The town-clerk, ;>.01, found only here in the New Testament. therefore, gave them their choice of either The verb l,po<1v:>.ii,, ocours in Rom. ii. 22. having the ca.se tried before the proconsuls Bluphemers of our godde11. If the A.V. or having it laid before the ecclesia of the is right, perhaps wo may see in the phraee demos, if they wished it to be gone into on "your goddess " an indication that the town- wider and deeper grounds. olerk himself wae more or less persuaded by Ver. 40.-For indeed for /or, A.V.; St. Paul's preaching, thot "they ore no gods accused for called in question, A. V. ; cancern- which are mode with bonds," and did not inq for for, A.V.; riot for uproar, A.V.; for core to spank of Diana. as his own goddess. it for whereby, A.V. ; and ,u touching it we It appearsa.lso that St. Paul had not la.unched shall not be al,/.e to for we may, A.V. and T.R.: out iuto abu■e of the heathen gods in general, account for an account, A.V. We are in or Diana in partioular, but hnd preached the danger (,c1v6uve60µ,,v: see ver. '1:7, note). To more excellent way by faith in Jesus Christ, be accused concerning this day's riot. The to draw them from their idols (1 Thess. i. 9). Greek cannot well be so construed. The Ver. 38.-If therefore for wherefore if, margin is right; /-y,ca7'..e1<18a, UTa.<1ews is "to A.V.; that for which, A.V.; the courts are be charged with sedition;" ,,.,pl -,-ijs u-111,e- for the law is, A. V.; proco1111uls for depu~ies, pov is for Tijs <Tf/µ•pov 71µ,p,u, "this day," A.V.; accuse for implead, A.V. Agalllst as in eh. u. 26, Tjj qf/µepov 71µ,pq.: only in any man. Ma.rk the skill with which the English we should say, "on account of this town-clerk passes from the concrete to the day," i.e. what has been done this day. The abstraot, and avoids the mention of Paul's R.'1'. pla.ces a stop after µ716oos alTiou lnr&p- name. The oourts are open ; ~,yopafo, (or xoVTos. As touohing it. But "it" must lt-y&pa.io1) a-yovTct. Some supply the word mean "the riot," which is feminine, whereas 0'6vo6oi, and make the sense "judicial as- oi:i is masculine; so that the R.T. is im- semblies," "sessions," coming round at possible to construe. H is much better, proper fixed intervals. But the verb l&-yovTa1, therefore, to adhere to the T.R., which has more naturally suggests 71µ,pa,, as Bengel good manuscript authority, and to construe says (!&-yew -y,v,q111,: .-ms 71µ,pas .-ijs O'lt1/V01rlj• as the A. V. WkeTeby, equivalent to "on -ylas: 'O:>.6µ,r1a: -yevl8>..1ov, eto.), and then the ground of which" (Meyer). the meaning is, " The regular court-da.ys With regard to the great tumult to which are kept, when the proconsul attends to try the foregoing narrative relates, it is certain causes;" there is no need to have an irre- that St. Luke has by no means exaggerated gular trial. So Suidae explains it, 'Hµ,pa lv its importance. In his Second Epistle to the if .;, li.-yopm .-,:,,.,;,.,.., There are proconsuls. Corinthians, written from Macedonia shortly Bengel, with whom Meyer agrees, thinks after his departure from Ephesus, St. Poul the plural denotes the unbroken succession speaks as one still smarting under the of proconsuls. But Lewin thinks it may severity of his sufferings. In the language mark the exa.ct time of these transactions as of trust, yet of a trust sorely tried, he speaks being immediately after the poisoning of of the Father of mercies " who comforteth us the Proconsul Junius Silanus by order of in all our tribulation." He speaks of the Agrippina, when the two proourators, Celer sufferings of Christ as abounding in him. and lElius, exercised the proconsular power And then, referring directly to the trouble till the appointment of another proconsul, which came upon him in Asia, he says, "We according to a low of Claudius to that effect. were pressed out of measure, above strenl{th, Others have other explanations. insomuch that we despaired even of life : Ver. 39.-Seek for inquire, A.V.; about but "'" had the sentence of death in our- for aoncerning, A.V.; settled for determined, selves, that we should not trust in ourselves, A.V.; the regular for a lawful,A.V. It ye but in God which miseth the dead: who de- seek, eto (lir,(71Te1TE). 'E,r1(71Te1v means either livered WI from so great a death" (2 Cor. i. "to make inquiry" or" to desire earnestly." 4-10). And the same tone breaks out again The verb in the next clouse, t!,riJ..u8fiu,.-a,, in 2 Cor. iv. 7-18; vi. 4-10; xi. 23-27; xii. it shall be "settled," or "solved," favours 9, 10. It is also very probable that it was the first sense : '' If you wish to inquire on this occasion that Priscilla and Aquila further into the spread of Paul's doctrine, saved St. Paul's life at the risk of their own, and the best woy of dee.ling with it, the to which he alludes in Rom. xvi. 3, 4, question should be decided in an assembly written after he had reached Corinth from of the Bijµos, legally convened." For ,rep) Macedonia, i.e. before Easter of the year 58 hip.,,,, about other matters, some manu- A.D. So that it is certain t!Jat the riot and scripts read ,,.,pa,.-lp.,, further. The regular the danger to St. Paul's life were even greater B88embly. That summoned by a magistrate than we should have inferred from St. Luke'a in the OOD&titutioD11l Wily, The Greek ciUes narrative alone.  122 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. rem. xa. 1-41. It ehrmld be added, with referenoe to the Oor. xvi. 7, with reference to hie then oomtng three yeRrs' reeidenoe at Ephesus (ob. xx. visit. "I will not eee you now by the we.y; 21) which this nineteenth chapter desoribes, but I tL11et to tarry a while with you." It tbnt one or two important inoidents which is also thought the.t there was another letter oocurred are not rele,ted by St. Luke. The to the Corinthians, written from Ephesus, fin>t ie that encounter with a save,ge rRbble soon 11,fter the.t eeoond visit, whioh is now to which St. Paul refera in l Cor. xv. 32, but lost, but is alluded to in 1 Oor. v. 9. The of which we have no aooonnt in the Actt>. First Epistle to the Corinthians was mani- I~ mn~t have b.ppened in the early part of festly written at this time from Ephesus bis BOJOurn at Ephesus. Another ie a pro- (see 1 Cor. xvi. 8, 19). Some think thnt the bable 'fisit to Corinth, inferred from 2 Cor. Epistle to the Galatians was also written ii. 1; xii. 14, 21; nii. 1, 2; e.nd thou.trht to from Ephesus, a little before the First have been oaused by bad Mcounts of t.he Epistle to the Corinthians (see I Oor. xvi. moral state of the Corinthian Church, sent I; Gal. ii. 10); but Reuan thinks it we.s to him at Ephesus. It was prob11bly a hasty written from Antiooh, before he came to visit, and in oontrast with it he says, in 1 Ephesus,