The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 406

A.V. (r,a.,.;j.:1.Pov). 8eleuoi11. WAS the ee11.-port to mPnn "the chief of the magi." But in of Antincb, nbout sixteen miles from it, and prO!'es~ of time the word " mRgue " came f!'l"e ruilee north of the mouth of the to mean a sorcerer, a magician, a praotiser Orontes. It wns n fr!'e city by a gmnt of dark arts, as e.g. 8im01i l\fagua (see the fr0m Pompey. It is now in ruins, but "the chaptor on m11.gic ln Pliny, • Nat, His~,' lib, mn~onry of the once mngnificent port of XXX. C!tp. i.). 8elencia is in so good a state 1hflt" it might be repnired and olenred out "for Ver. 7.-The proeomul for the deput11 of abou_t £81.000" (Colonel Chosney, quoted in fM country, A.V.; a man oJ understanding Lewm, 1. p. 119). They se.ilcd to Cyprus, for a prudent man, A.V.; the eame for who, Baranbns, no doubt, took the le11.d, and was A.V.; unf-0 him for /or, A.V.; sought for nA tm-all 'I" drawn to his native isl11.nd of desired, A.V. The prooonsul (.lvOo,ra-ros); Cyprus...:...within a hundred miles of Seleucia, here and vers. 8, 12. This is an insti1nce of and, on e. cl~ar dRy, '\"isible from it. The Luke's grent accuracy. Cyprus had become number of Jews in the island, and the e. proconsular province in the reign of • partial evangelization of it which bad Claudius, having previously been one of already taken plnce (eh. xi. 19, 20), 11.nd the emperor's provinces governed by n which promised them assistance and sup- propraitor, or legntus. 1 A me.n of under- port, no doubt further influenced them. standing ( &v8pl <rvve-r,,.), ::Sv11e-r&s is e. rare John l\fark went with them, os we learn word in the Now Testament, e.nd is always from tlie fifth nnd thirteenth verses, end translated in the A.V. "prudent" (see possibly other brd,Jrcn 11B deacons and Matt. xi. 25 ; Luke x. 21 ; 1 Cor. i. 19). ministers (see next note). Tl,ey eeiled It is common in the LXX., where it repre- straigilt to Salamis, "a convenient and sent.a the Hebrew words r:?P., J\:JJ, ~•:;ii?,:;>, e.nd co.pacions harbour," in the centre of the 0.?1:1, e.1l signifying " intelligence," "skill," ea.;t.em end of the island, e.nd the principal "knowledge," and the like. The sub- or one of the principal towns. lt had a stantive rrw•rr1s has the same soope (see large population of Jews.. It was destroyed Luke ii. 47; Eph. iii. 4; Col. i 9, eto.); in ilie reign of Trajan, in consequence of a a.in',p rrvve-ros, therefore, means something terrible insurrection of the Jews, in which more than "a prudent man." It means e. tiley massacred 240,000 of the Gentile man of knowledge and superior intelligence population. No Jew was ever after e.llowed end understanding, And such was Sergius to land in CyprU& Panlus, e. noble Roman, who is twice named Ver. 5.-I'roclaimed for preached, A.V.; by Pliny in the list of authors placed at the as their attendant for t,o the:i.r minister, A. V. commencement of his work as the authori- ( V'K'T/P<rt/11 ). It is a word taken from the ties from whom he derived the matter synagogne, where it denotes an inferior contained in the severe.I books. It is not Illinii,ter (see Lnke iv. 20). In eh. v. 22 e. little remarkable that the two books, lib. the inrqp.-ra, are the e.pparit.ors of the high ii and lib. xviii,, for which Bergius Paulus priest. Here it is synonymous with lhd.tco11os, is quoted are just those which contain a dee.con. John we.s to Be.rnehas and Saul e.ccountB of the heavenly bodies, e.nd prog- what Joahna w11s to Moses, Elisha to nostications from the sun e.nd moon e.nd Elijah, etc. Peter, when he went to stare, from thunder, from the clouds, and Cmsa.rea., wu e.ooompanied by six brethren such like things, which doubtless ·formed (eh. :::ti.12). the staple of Elymas's science ; eo that there Ver. 6.-The w1w1.e island for fAe isl.e, A.V. can be little doubt that Sergius Paulus had and T.R. Pe.phos; on the south coe.st at the Elymas with him, that he might learn from further extremity of the island, now Baffa. him such matters e.s might bo useful for the It had once a convenient harbour, which is book which he was writing. There is also now choked up from neglect. The chief a curioue passage in lib. :u:x. cap. i. of the temple of the Cyprian Venus was here. A • Hist. Nat.' (quoted by Lewin, vol. i. p. oertein sorcerer. The Greek word ,,_&:yos, 128), in which Pliny, after enumere.ting the whence magic e.nd magician, is the same es most famous teachers of me.gio, Zoroaster, in Matt. ii. I is rendered "wise men." But Orthanee, Pythagoras, and others, e.dds, here, as in eh. viii 9, it has a bad sense. "There is also another school of magio It is e. Persian word, and in its original use whic!J springs from Moses and Jannes, who designnted e. Persian religioWI caste, famous were Jews, but many thouee.nd years later for their knowledge, wisdom, e.nd purity of 1 Howson e.nd Lewin give from Akermon religion£ faith. Tuey were e.ttacbed to the court of the Babylonian monarch~, e.nd a coin of Claudius Cwsar, with the reverse, were deemed to have great skill in 11.Btrology, Kv1rplw11· i1rl Ko,,.,11lov Ilpo1<J\.ov b6v1rd.-rov. iu intapretaiion of dreams, e.nd the like Cominius Proclus is thought to have been (see Dau. i. 20; iv. 7 [4 in the LXX.]). In the successor of Sergiue Pa.ul1.1s in the pro- Jcr.~ S, 13, the uame Bab-mag seeme consulate of Cyprus.  Olr, XIIJ, 1-52,] THE Al'.JTS OF TIIE APOSTLES.