The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 166

mentioned In the Old Tcstnmont. In 1 conciled? It must bo eithe,r hy snppo,ing ME100. v. 16, 22 and elaowhoro it is co.lied, 11s (1) that the gift of prophecy spoken of hi,ro here, I'tolemais, hnving roccivecl the nElme and in 1 Cor. xi. 5 was exerciHed in pri vat,, from one of the Ptolcmies, probably either only; or (2) that the prohibition did not Soter or Lngi; but in the Mi<lclle Ages it apply to the extraordinary operation of the appears e.e St. Jean d'Acre, and is now com- Holy Spirit speaking by prophet or prophet- monly called Acl'B. It lies on the north esses as the case might be. The latter side of the spacious bay of Carmol, but is not seems the mo~t probable (see eh, xiii. 1, in nil weathers very soJe harbourage. It is note). On the office of propheta in the early an easy day's sail, under thirty miles, from Church, see eh. xi. 27; xiii. 1 ; xv. 32 ; Tyre. When St. Paul was there it hnd xix. 6; Rom. xii. 6; 1 Cor. xii. 10, 28, 29; recently been me.de a Roman colony by the xiii. 2, 8: xiv. 6, 29, etc. ; Eph. iii. 5; iv. Emperor Claudius, and was important as e. 11; I Thess. v. 20 (see Alford, on eh. xi. commercial city. Saluted the brethren. 27). As regards these daughters of Philip, The Ohristie.ns there. We have no account there are conflicting statements in early of the evangelization of Plolemais. Perhaps Church writers. Eueebius (' Eccl. Hist.,' iii. the gospel was first preached there to the 30) quotes Clement of Alexandria. e.e sayin~ Jewish colony by those who travelled "as that both Peter and Philip among tit~ far as Phcanice," after "the persecution that apostles were married and had children, ancl arose about Stephen" (eh. xi. 19): for that Philip moreover gave hia daughters in Ptolemais was reckoned as belonging to marriage to husbands. But in the next Phcanicia (Ptol., v. 15: Strabo, xvi. p. 758: chapter (31) he quotes Polycrates, Bishop Pliny, • Nat. Hist.,' v. 17; all quoted by of Ephesus at the end of the second century, Meyer). as saying that Philip the apostle and his Ver. 8.-On the morrow for the next day two daughters, who had grown olu in their A.V. : we for we that were of Paul'• company, virginity, were buried at Hierapolis: and A.V. and T.R.; entering . . . we for we that another daughter of his, "who had her entered . . . and, A.V. ; who for which, A. V. conversation in the Holy Spirit," was burie,l Unto Cmsarea. They seem to have come a.t Ephesus. Eusebius himself thinks that from Ptolemais to Cmsarea by la.nd, a two these daughters of Philip the evangelist days' journey; the word •~•>..0&ner, ElB were meant. If they were, it does not Howson justly remarks, pointing to a lo.nd- necessarily follow that those who, according journey. Philip the evangelist, When last to Clemens Alexandrinus, were married were we heard of him (eh. viii. 40) he had just of the four mentioned here. They might be reached Cresaree.; apparently he had. been sisters. Polycmtes seems to speak of three working there as an evangelist ever since. sisters who lived a religious life (in the His old home at Jerusalem (eh. vi. 5) had technical sense); the fourth ma.y hn.ve died been broken up by the persecution (eh. viii. young. But it is quite possible that Clemens 5), e.nd thus the deacon had become an may really be speaking of Philip the apostle, evangelist (eh. viii. 12). Evangelists are and Polycrates also; the more so as Philip mentioned by St. Paul(Eph. iv.11) as one of the apostle, nccording to the tradition the higher orders of the Christian ministry ; recordecl by Nicephorus, suffered martyrdom and Timothy is bid "do the work of an at Hierapolis. However, the confusion be- evangelist" (2 Tim. iv. 5). In later times tween the two Philips is quite certain in the the term was restrieted to the four writers Menreum (or Calende.r) of the Greek Church, of the Gospels. Philip's old association with where we read, "On the 4th of September Stephen in the diaconate must have been is the commemoration of Saint Hermionc, keenly remembered by St. Paul. We abode one of the four daughters of the Apostle with him. This seems to imply that Philip Philip, who baptized the eunuch ofCnndnce. was well to do, and had a good house. She and her sister Eutychis came into Asia. Ver. 9.-Now this man for and the same after the death of the Apostle John. She man, A.V. Virgins. This certainly conveys we.e buried at Ephesus." A fragment of the impression tha.t they had dedicated their Ce.ius (in Eueebius, • Ecol. Hist.,' iii. 31) lives to the service of God (1 Cor. vii. 84- increases the confusion by speaking of" the 88). Whiohdidprophesy. Thequestionarieee four de.ughters of Philip, prophetesses, who -Did they exercise their gift of propheoy were buried in Hierapolis" (see Routlt's in the Church or in private? The pe.ssage • Reliq. Sao.,' vol. i. pp. 378-3S0). I Cor. xi. 5 seems to indicnte that in the Ver. 10.-Manydays (;,µ.,pas ,r,\,lovs), In Church of Oorinth women did pro.y and oh. xiii. 31 /,rl ;1µ.epas ,rl\elovs is applied to prophesy in the congregation, while, on the forty days between the Resurrection and the other hand, 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 85 seans pcr- the Ascension. In eh. xviii. 20 ,r,\,iova ~mptorily to fol'bid women to spea.k or teach xp&vov is a longer time-longer, viz. tho.n he 1n Church, us does I 'l'im. ii. 11, 12. How, had intended. In eh. xxv. ti i1µ.dpa, ,r,\,iovs then, is this apparent contrudiclion to be re- ~ 6e1<a is "more tho.n kn clays." Hert', tl,ore-  THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. [cH, XXI, 1-40,