Preparations for a gentile mission-the calling of a new apostle

Act . Contradicting and blaspheming.—The best MSS. Omit "contradicting" (Lachmann, Westcott and Hort); but as it is neither superfluous nor Hebraistic (Hackett), and defines more exactly the nature of the opposition (Zöckler), it may be retained.

Act . It was necessary.—Compare Luk 24:47; Rom 1:16; Rom 2:10.

Act . I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles.—This citation from Isa 49:6 (LXX.) represented the apostolic mission as a continuation of Christ's (see Luk 2:32).

Act . Ordained to eternal life.— τεταγμένοι εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Cannot be rendered—those who believed were appointed to eternal life, or those who were disposed, i.e., inclined, to eternal life believed. The words mean what they say—"as many as were ordained to eternal life believed" (Calvin, Kuinoel, Olshausen, Meyer, Winer, De Wette, Hackett, Spence, and others)—the "ordained to eternal life" being those who are "chosen" (Eph 1:4), and "foreordained" (Rom 8:29), though it need not be doubted that this Divine "choosing," "electing," "foreordaining," does not destroy, but is compatible with and realises itself through the complete freedom of the human will.

Act . Implies a certain lapse of time; how long, uncertain.

Act . The devout and honourable women, or devout, honourable women—i.e., devout women of honourable estate (R.V.)—were Gentile females who had embraced Judaism (see on Act 17:4). The influence here attributed to women "is in perfect accord with the manners of the country. In Athens, or an Ionian city, it would have been impossible" (Ramsay). The chief men of the city were probably their husbands or kinsmen.

Act . Shook off the dust of their feet (compare Act 18:6), as directed by Christ (Mat 10:14), for a testimony against their persecutors (Luk 9:5).

Act . The disciples—i.e., at Antioch—were filled with joy, notwithstanding the persecution which raged against them (Act 14:22).

HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act

A Second Sabbath in Pisidian Antioch; or, the Promising Situation changed

I. Fierce opposition to the gospel on the part of the Jews.—Displayed in ascending stages.

1. Indignation.—They were filled with "envy" or "jealousy," or better, boiling wrath, against the multitudes of Gentiles who on this second Sabbath had crowded the synagogue and perhaps overflowed into the street, and who everywhere manifested an eager desire to hear the word of God (Act ).

2. Contradiction. They interrupted the apostles while preaching by declaring what they said about Jesus to be contrary to fact and therefore untrue, possibly asserting that He was not the long-promised Messiah, was not God's Holy One, had never been raised from the dead, and could not be the author of salvation to any.

3. Blasphemy. Either reviling Jesus as an impostor and a malefactor, or declaring Him to have been in league with Satan (compare Joh ). Perhaps also hurling opprobrious epithets and railing accusations against the apostles (Act 13:45).

4. Rejection. Rising into greater heat, they appear to have openly and scornfully intimated their determination not to believe in Christ or accept of salvation through His name, but to thrust away from themselves the offer of eternal life (Act ).

5. Persecution. They stirred up and urged on the devout women of honourable estate who were proselytes, along with the chief men of the city, most likely their husbands, to set on foot a persecution against the apostles—a persecution Paul afterwards alludes to (2Ti ).

6. Expulsion. So successfully did they work that the apostles were forcibly ejected from their "coasts" or "cast out of their borders." The persecution, probably a tumultuous outbreak, obliged the apostles to retire beyond the precincts of the city, to which, however, they returned on their homeward journey (Act ).

II. Solemn decision as to preaching on the part of the apostles.—

1. Its purport. Not that they would henceforth discontinue preaching to the Jews, and turn exclusively to the Gentiles, since they do not appear to have passed by their countrymen in their subsequent ministrations (Act ), but that there and then they would leave their unbelieving brethren to their blind infatuation and self-elected doom, and devote their attention to the Gentile inhabitants of the city.

2. Its reason. It was necessary, both as according with Christ's command (Act ; Rom 1:16) and with their own natural instincts, that their countrymen and kinsmen should obtain the first offer of the gospel; but these, having judged themselves unworthy of the everlasting life, having shown by their unbelief, but more especially by their contradiction and blasphemy, that they loved the darkness rather than the light (Joh 3:19), had thus virtually made their choice to seek no part or lot in the kingdom of God or the salvation of Messiah.

3. Its boldness. It was uttered in no half apologetic tone, but with courageous manliness as became those who were conscious, not only of following the path of duty, but of being guided by the Spirit.

4. Its finality. They shook off the dust of their feet, as Christ had directed them (Mat ), not in contempt for (Meyer), but as a testimony against, the unbelievers, and departed into Iconium, presently called Konieh, a city variously located—at ninety (Plumptre), sixty (Lewin), forty-five miles (Hackett) south-east of Antioch, the capital of Lycaonia, and situated at the foot of the Taurus (see on Act 14:1).

III. Hearty reception of the gospel by the Gentiles.—

1. Eager listening. Almost the whole city—the greater part of the congregation being the native heathen inhabitants—came together to hear the word of God.

(1) A sublime spectac'e, a whole city moved by a common impulse, more sublime when that common impulse is to hear the gospel, most sublime when that common impulse is yielded to. Compare the situation in Samaria (Act ).

(2) A hopeful attitude. When men will not hear their conversion is impossible, or at all events improbable, since "faith cometh by hearing" (Rom ). Those who hear the gospel, if not yet in, are at least near the kingdom. The word of the kingdom received into the understanding may find its way to the heart and conscience.

2. Earnest believing. Those among the listeners who were ordained to eternal life and whose hearts the Lord opened (Act ), believed, received the truth in the simplicity of faith, and were thereby saved.

(1) That any believed was due to grace Divine. Whatever else is signified by being "ordained to eternal life," this is implied, that their faith proceeded not from themselves, but was the gift of God (Eph ).

(2) That all did not believe was due to the natural disinclination of the human heart (1Co ). If it cannot be supposed that all the Antiochians were converted, the impression conveyed by the narrative is that many were. Had the majority been won over, the persecution of the apostles would scarcely have been successful.

2. Triumphant rejoicing. The Gentiles were glad.

(1) At the intimation of the apostles that they were about to bear their gospel message to the heathen.

(2) At the announcement that Christ had been "set for salvation unto the ends of the earth."

(3) At their own personal experience of the blessing of the gospel, "they were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost."

4. Adorirng gratitude. They glorified the word of God, or of the Lord, not simply by listening to, believing in, and making experience of, but also in giving thanks for it—"for the mercy which had embraced them in the plan of salvation and had given them this opportunity to secure its benefits."

Learn.—

1. That the duty of every one to whom the gospel comes is to accord it a hearing, patient, unprejudiced, and respectful.

3. That the first to hear the gospel are often the last to accept it.

4. That none are lost except those who judge themselves unworthy of eternal life.

5. That none believe except those who are ordained to eternal life.

6. That the same gospel which fills some with rage fills others with joy.

7. That joy in a believer's soul arises from the inhabitation of that soul by the Holy Ghost.

Act . A Marvellous Sight. "Almost a whole city gathered together to hear the word of God."

I. Unusual.—Cities or the people in them have so much else to engage their attention, as, e.g., business, pleasure, social duties, political engagements, etc.

II. Wonderful.—Not to see groups of persons assembled to hear the word of God, but to observe a whole city or nearly so gathered for such a purpose.

III. Sublime.—To look upon a vast multitude all absorbed in higher things than those of time and sense, in things pertaining to salvation and eternal life.

IV. Desirable.—Few, who can rightly estimate the value of the gospel as God's word in contradistinction to man's, will deny that such a spectacle as is here described is one greatly to be longed for.

V. Hopeful.—What consequences of good might be expected to result from a whole city or the larger portion of it turning out to hear the word of God! Surely an immediate awakening would follow with not a few, perhaps a multitude of conversions.

Act . Jews and Gentiles; or, Gospel Hearers and their Different Attitudes, Characters, and Destinies.

I. The Jews full of envy, the Gentiles full of gladness.

II. The Jews contradicting, the Gentiles listening.

III. The Jews thrusting from them the word of God, the Gentiles glorifying the word of God.

IV. The Jews condemning themselves as unworthy of eternal life, the Gentiles believing to justification as worthy of and qualified for eternal life.—Stier.

Act . Salvation.

I. Its nature—light.

II. Its medium—"Thee," Christ.

III. Its destination—the Gentiles, the uttermost parts of the earth.

IV. Its source—God.

Act . Ordained to Eternal Life.

I. The goal, eternal life.

II. The way thither, through faith.

III. The impelling power, Divine grace.

IV. The plan in accordance with which it works, foreordination.

Or thus:—

A Sermon on Foreordination.—Foreordination. An act—

I. Divine.—Of necessity whatsoever comes to pass is known beforehand to God. Whether foreordination is grounded on foreknowledge (Arminius) or foreknowledge on foreordination (Calvin), makes no difference to the issue. Whatever comes to pass is and has been divinely arranged, τεταγμένον.

II. Sovereign.—This arrangement has its basis in the good pleasure of God, or the counsel of His own will (Eph ; Eph 1:11). This so, even should it be that God in arranging has had regard to foreseen faith and good works in man.

III. Gracious.—It is ordination, not to condemnation, but to eternal life. If men are lost, it is because they judge themselves unworthy of eternal life; if they are saved, it is because Divine grace has chosen them to eternal life (Eph ).

IV. Rational.—Foreordination is not an arbitrary or mechanical force or decree that overrides the human will and executes itself irrespective of the nature of man, but a counsel of perfection that works towards its end by making use of man's free will and responsible intelligence.

V. Mysterious.—After all has been said that can be said by metaphysical theologians, it remains an impenetrable secret how God can be sovereign and man free. Yet Scripture, providence, and individual consciousness attest that both doctrines are true.

Act . Filled with Joy.

I. Desirable.—Cannot be desirable to live in doubt, sadness, and fear arising from uncertainty as to personal salvation.

II. Possible.—Proved by numerous instances in Scripture; as, e.g., the Samaritans (Act ), the Corinthians (2Co 8:2), the Thessalonians (1Th 1:6), the Eunuch (Act 8:39), the jailor of Philippi (Act 16:34).

III. Attainable.—

1. By being filled with the Holy Ghost (Rom ; Gal 5:22).

2. By believing on Jesus.

Act . How to glorify the Word of God. By—

I. Listening to it.

II. Believing it.

III. Obeying it.

IV. Spreading it.

1. Paul and Barnabas at Iconium; or, continued Opposition from the Jews (Act ).

2. Paul and Barnabas at Lystra; or, the Gospel among Barbarians (Act ).

3. The Homeward Journey of Paul and Barnabas; or, Back to Antioch in Syria (Act ).

Act . Iconium.—Presently styled Konich. Situated south-east of Pisidian Antioch, and according to apocryphal legend the abode of the virgin martyr Thecla, who is said to have been at this time converted by Paul. Whether Iconium was a Lycaonian (Cicero, Strabo, pliny), Phrygian (Xenophon), or Pisidian (Ammianus Marcellinus) city is debated by modern writers (see "Homiletical Analysis"). Together.— κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ, as in Act 3:1, rather than at the same time (Holtzmann), or in the same manner (Wolf). So.—Not with such power, but with this result. The Greeks.—Having been in the synagogue these were most likely proselytes (compare Act 13:43), and therefore a different class from those mentioned in Act 11:20.

Act . But the unbelieving Jews.—Lit., but the Jews having disbelieved, when the others believed, stirred up the Gentiles, etc. Better, stirred up the souls of the Gentiles and made them evil affected. κακόω occurs in the New Testament only here. How the Jews incited the Gentiles is not told; but see Act 13:45-50; Act 18:5-9. Only two of the persecutions recorded in the Acts (Act 16:19; Act 19:23) proceeded from others than Jews. The Bezan text adds, "But the Lord gave peace quickly," which Professor Ramsay is disposed to accept as correct, in order to explain the "long time" of next verse.

Act .—The best authorities omit and between "gave testimony" and "granted." Spitta regards this verse as "a scrap from an independent and complete narrative" Ramsay, as "an early gloss similar to the many which have crept into the Bezan text."

Act . Divided.—The usual result of the gospel (see Joh 7:43; Joh 10:19; Act 23:7).

Act . An assault.—Should rather be an onset (R.V.), or better, "an impulse," or inclination towards such an onset (Meyer, Alford), a hostile agitation (Zöckler), since the words "they were ware of it" seem to imply that the assault had not been made. Besides, Paul was only once stoned (2Co 11:25), whereas had this evil intention been carried out he would have twice suffered that indignity (see Act 14:19).

Act . Lystra.—About six hours south-south-west from Iconium, at Khatyn Serai (Sir C. Wilson), "on a hill in the centre of a valley," "3,777 feet above the sea, and 427 above Iconium" (Ramsay). Derbe.—"The frontier city of the Roman province on the south-east" (Ramsay). The site uncertain, placed by some (Lewin, Conybeare and Howson, Farrar) twenty miles, by others (Sterrett) two miles distant from Lystra. Cities of Lycaonia.—Ptolemæus reckoned these as belonging to Isauria. "Lystra and Derbe were cities of Lycaonia Galatica—i.e., that part of Lycaonia which was attached to the province Galatia, while Iconium reckoned itself as a city of Phrygia, Galatia—i.e., the part of Phrygia which was attached to the province Galatia" (Ramsay).

Act . And there they preached the gospel.—Codex Bezœ adds: "And the whole multitude was moved at their teaching; and Paul and Barnabas abode in Lystra"; but this cannot be accepted as original (Ramsay).

Act . Sat.—No doubt in some public place begging like the lame man in Jerusalem (Act 3:1). Not "dwelt" (Kuinoel).

Act . Steadfastly beholding him.—Or, fastening his eyes upon him, as he did on Elymas (Act 13:9), and as Peter did upon the cripple at the Gate Beautiful (Act 3:4). Faith to be healed.—Or, faith to be saved—i.e., from his lameness, though the larger and higher meaning need not be excluded. He had, no doubt, been listening to Paul's preaching, and given indication by his countenance that he believed the gospel message.

Act . With a loud voice.—Speaking in a tone higher than that in which he had been preaching (compare Act 3:6). Stand upright on thy feet.—Christ's name not mentioned as by Peter (Act 3:6), because probably unnecessary. And he leaped (one act) and walked.—Baur) (Paul, his Life and Works, i. 95) finds in this miracle and that of the judgment on Elymas (Act 13:11 most undoubted tokens of an apologetic parallel with Peter who healed a lame man at the Gate Beautiful (Act 3:1-8) and encountered a sorcerer in Samaria (Act 8:9-24)—i.e., on first stepping out among the heathen. But as lame men and magicians were then plentiful, it is not surprising that both apostles should have met such characters; while, if both apostles were guided by the Holy Ghost, why should it be wonderful that He should lead Paul to work similar miracles with those of Peter? And more especially if (as Baur admits) such miracles were necessary to legitimate Paul's apostleship? The Holy Ghost, one would naturally reason, would be as likely as a second century writer to know what sort of works Paul should do to secure his recognition as a Christian apostle.

Act . The speech of Lycaonia.—Supposed by some to have been an Assyrian dialect (Jablonski), by others a corrupt form of Greek (Guhling), and by a third party a Galatian tongue, has completely disappeared, though Stephen of Byzantium, in the fifth century, reports it as then existing, and gives δέλβεια as Lycaonian for "a juniper" (Farrar, i. 381). For the chief cities of Lycaonia (Act 14:6) see "Homiletical Analysis." The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.—Compare Homer's Odyssey, xvii. 484: καὶ τε θεοὶ ξείνοισιν ἐοικότες ἀλλοδαποῖσιν, παντοῖοι τελέθοντες, ἐπιστρωφῶσι πόληας, etc. "And the gods, like to strangers from foreign lands, coming forth in all sorts of shapes, visit the cities, observing both the insolence and the order (or good behaviour) of men"; and Ovid's Metamorphosis, viii. 626: Jupiter huc, specie mortali cumque parente, venit Atlantiades positis caduciferalis. "Hither comes Jupiter in the form of a mortal, and with his parent comes herald Atlantiades (Mercury) his wings laid aside." Such conceptions were common in New Testament times (Harnack). See further on Act 14:11 "Hints."

Act . Barnabas was designated Jupiter or Zeus, probably because the older and more dignified in appearance. Paul Mercurius.—Or Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.—Lit., the leader of the discourse—i.e., because of his eloquence. "Paul is here the messenger of the Supreme God: he says in Gal 4:14, ‘Ye received me as a Messenger of God" (Ramsay).

Act . The priest.—Most likely the principal or high-priest of Jupiter or Zeus. Professor Ramsay regards the reading "priests" of Codex Bezœ as preferable, on the ground that the oxen and garlands would not be brought by the priest himself, but by his attendants, ministri. Which, rather, who, was.—i.e., had a statue or temple consecrated to him, before their, or the, city. "The temple of the tutelary god stood often outside of the walls" (Hackett). Unto the gates.—Of the house where the apostles lodged (De Wette, Lewin, Olshausen, Plumptre), of the temple, or most probably of the city (Meyer, Alford, Stier, Holtzmann, Hackett, and others). According to the Bezan text which reads ἐπιθύειν, the proposed sacrifice was an extra beyond the ordinary ritual—a sense which though not occurring elsewhere "seems to lie fairly within the meaning of the Compound" (Ramsay).

Act . Rent their clothes.—From the neck downwards; the ordinary Jewish mode of expressing horror at anything seen or heard (see Ezr 9:3; Job 1:20; Job 2:12; Mat 27:65). Ran in, leaped forth.—From the city or from the house in which they were.

Act . Men of like passions, or, natural properties with you.—Compare Peter's address to Cornelius, Act 10:26; and Jas 5:17.

Act . Times should be generations, and all nations, all the nations.

Act .—The best authorities read your instead of our.

Act . That they had not done sacrifice.—Better, from doing sacrifice unto them: τοῦ μὴ θύειν αὐτοῖς. Compare Act 10:47.

Act . Who persuaded, etc.—Should be who having persuaded the multitudes and having stoned Paul—i.e., they persuaded the multitude to stone the apostle (see 2Co 11:25; 2Ti 3:11). This is the only occasion on which Paul was stoned, the intention in Iconium (Act 14:5) not having been carried out. Barnabas appears to have escaped their notice. It is those who advocate their opinions who have to suffer for them.

Act . The disciples.—Among these probably stood Timothy, the apostle's future associate (see Act 16:1; 2Ti 3:11).

Act . Taught many is better rendered made many disciples (Mat 28:19). One of these was probably Gaius of Derbe (Act 20:4). Gaius of Act 19:29 was a Macedonian; he of Rom 16:23 and 1Co 1:14 a Corinthian.

Act . We must through much tribulation (many tribulations, R.V.) enter, etc. "This is one of the few personal touches of the Acts," which can in no way be accounted for "than by supposing that Luke was composing his history during the time of special persecution," viz., during that of Domitian (Ramsay, St Paul, the Traveller, etc., p. 123). An interesting remark but by no means a conclusive argument, since "we" might have been used by Paul and only quoted by Luke.

Act . Ordained.— χειροτονεῖν (2Co 8:10) signifies properly to stretch out or hold up the hand, as in voting, hence generally to appoint (see Act 10:41). Whether the election was made by the apostles (Olshausen, Holtzmann, Hackett, Spence, Plumptre), or by the Church (Alford, Lechler, Calvin, Brown, Ramsay), is debated; though the example of Act 6:2-6 would seem to indicate that the apostles admitted into office by ordination those whom the people had chosen by show of hands. Elders, presbyters.—Those appointed in each Church to watch over the disciples, and thence called "overseers" (Act 20:28). In Jewish Churches these officials were mostly styled "presbyters" or "elders," in Gentile Churches "overseers" or "bishops"; but that the two were exactly synonymous appears from their interchangeability (Act 20:17; Act 20:28; Tit 1:5; Tit 1:7). Elsewhere (Eph 4:11) they are designated pastors or shepherds and teachers. Prayed with fasting does not point to later liturgical use as its origin (Holtzmann), but later liturgical use rests on apostolic practice, as here exemplified.

Act . When they had preached the word (some MSS. add of the Lord) in Perga.—This they did not do on their outward journey (Act 13:13). What success, if any, attended Paul's labours is not stated, perhaps because it was not encouraging (Hackett). Attalia or Attaleia (see "Homiletical Analysis") was sixteen miles distant from Perga.

Act . A door of faith.—A favourite metaphor with Paul (compare 1Co 16:9; 2Co 2:12; Col 4:3) which Luke may have derived from him (Alford).

Act . Long time.—Lit., no little time. Calculations show this period to have embraced the year A.D. 48 and 49 (see "Homiletical Analysis").

Verses 1-7

Paul and Barnabas in Iconium; or, continued Opposition from the Jews

I. Their occupation in Iconium.—

1. The town and its population. The town. Compelled to retire from Antioch in consequence of the threatening attitude of the Jews, who stirred up against them the principal inhabitants of the city and their wives—in fact, expelled by these from their coasts, the apostles, Paul and Barnabas, not without shaking off the dust from their feet as a testimony against their co-religionists (Mat ), directed their steps towards Iconium, now called Konieh, a city lying on the road between Antioch and Lystra, at a distance of ninety (others say sixty) miles south-east from the former city and forty north-west from the latter" (Plumptre). Whether it belonged to the province of Lycaonia, or of Phrygia, or of Pisidia, appears to be as much disputed by modern as by ancient writers (see "Critical Remarks"). Perhaps the truth is that Iconium belonged originally to Phrygia but afterwards became a city of Lycaonia. Professor Ramsay thinks it may have been in 63 B.C. that according to Pliny (Nat. Hist., Act 14:25), "a tetrarchy of Lycaonia containing fourteen cities, with Iconium as capital, was formed," and that it was "given to King Polemo in 39 B.C. by Mark Antony" (The Church in the Roman Empire, p. 41). If so, Luke's statement that Paul and Barnabas, on leaving Iconium, fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, will require explanation; and this Professor Ramsay furnishes by saying that, while between 100 B.C. and 100 A.D. for administrative purposes Iconium was reckoned to Lycaonia, in all probability the Iconians, true to their tribal feelings, and adhering to their old nationality, "continued to count themselves Phrygian" (Ibid., 38). In any case, Iconium was the principal city of that district which was called by the Romans Lycaonia, and was situated at the foot of the Taurus, like a green oasis in the middle of bleak plains that were "scoured by wild asses and grazed by countless herds of sheep." The modern city Konieh, says Captain Kinneir, "extends to the east and south over the plain far beyond the walls, which is about two miles in circumference.… Mountains covered with snow rise on every side, excepting towards the east, where a plain as flat as the desert of Arabia extends far beyond the reach of the eye" (quoted by Conybeare and Howson, i. 174).

(2) Its population. These, according to the writers just named, were a mixed company: "A large number of trifling and frivolous Greeks, whose principal place of resort would be the theatre and the market-place; some remains of a still older population, coming in occasionally from the country, or residing in a separate quarter of the town; some few Roman officials, civil or military, holding themselves proudly aloof from the inhabitants of the subjugated province; and an old established colony of Jews who exercised their trade during the week and met on the Sabbath to read law in the synagogue (Ibid., i. 174). 2 The apostles and their ministry.

(1) The place where this was exercised was in the first instance at least the synagogue of the Jews on the Sabbath days and afterwards during week days, probably in public thoroughfares and other places of resort.

(2) The form in which it was exercised was twofold—preaching or speaking in the Lord, i.e., in the power of His Spirit—the theme of their preaching being as elsewhere the doctrine of Jesus as Israel's Messiah and God's Son, proved through His rising from the dead; and working miracles, though none of these have been recorded—doing signs and wonders through which God gave testimony to the word of His grace.

(3) The time during which it was exercised cannot be determined, though the words "long time "point to a considerable stay, perhaps of some months, in this important town.

(4) The manner in which it was exercised is described as "boldly," their confidence increasing as their convictions of the truth of the gospel deepened and as their observation of its saving power widened.

(5) The efficiency with which it was exercised was revealed by the success which attended it. The apostles so spake, in such a manner and with such a result, that "a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed," so great a multitude indeed that the city seemed to be split in twain (Act ).

II. Their experience in Iconium.—

1. The minds of the heathen population were turned against them. Not of their own accord, but through the misrepresentations of the unbelieving Jews, who, no doubt, employed similar tactics to those employed by their co-religionists at Antioch (Act ), perhaps vilifying the persons of the apostles, putting a false colour on the object of their mission, and, above all, traducing the character and name of Jesus whom they preached.

2. A threefold combination was formed against them. The Gentiles, the Jews (in both cases the unbelieving portion of them—"the carnal mind is enmity against God" (Rom ), and their rulers—i.e., both the civic and the ecclesiastic, the magistrates of the town and the officers of the synagogue conceived a design to set on foot active measures of hostility against the apostles even to the length of maltreating and stoning them—measures, however, which were never carried out (see "Critical Remarks").

III. Their departure from Iconium.—

1. Prompted by their knowledge of what was being concerted against them. How they became acquainted with the evil designs of their adversaries, though not related, need occasion no difficulty, since they had numerous friends in the city who were interested in their safety, and above all Him upon their side of whom it had been written, "He preserveth the souls of His saints, and delivereth them out of the hands of the wicked" (Psa ). Advised of their peril, like prudent men they fled (Pro 22:3), acting on the counsel Christ had given to His disciples (Mat 10:23).

2. Effected with complete success. In this case, as in a former (Act ), Paul's enemies had been outwitted. Whatever annoyance he and Barnabas had suffered, they were not on this occasion stoned. Nor did they deem it necessary by remaining longer in Iconium to become martyrs before their time.

3. Directed towards the two adjoining cities of Lystra and Derbe. The exact sites of these cities are unknown, "Lystra," says Lewin (The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, i. 163), "lay about forty miles to the south of Iconium, and was still upon the highroad to Syria. It was situate in a hollow on the north side of a remarkable isolated mountain rising out of the great plain, and now called Kara Dagh, or Black Mountain. Lofty peaks looked down upon the town on all sides, except on the north, where the valley opened into the plain of Iconium. The ruins of it remain, and are called Bin-Bir-Kilisseh or the Thousand and One Churches, from the traces still visible of the numerous sacred edifices with which it was once adorned." "Lystra," says Hausrath (Der Apostel Paulus, p. 219), "must have lain hard upon the confines of Isaurica, since Ptolemaus reckoned it to Isaurica, and, indeed, according to him it was eight hours' distant from Iconium." Professor Ramsay (The Church in the Roman Empire, pp. 47, 50) locates Lystra "about six hours south-south-west of Iconium," and identifies it with the village of Khatyn Serai or ‘The Lady's Mansion,' situated "about 3777 feet above the sea and 427 feet above Iconium." "As a Lycaonian town Lystra had been quite undistinguished; as a Roman garrison it was a bulwark of the province of Galatia, and a sister city to the great Roman centre at Antioch." Derbe, according to Lewin, was "about twenty miles distant from Lystra, at the south-eastern corner of the great Lycaonian plain, and where commence the highlands which run up to Mount Taurus." "Near by, but deeper in the, mountain, on the boundaries of Cappadocia, find we Derbe," writes Hausrath. "Derbe was the frontier city of the Roman province on the south-east," reports Professor Ramsay, who inclines to locate it at Gudelissin, three miles north-north-west from Zosta, adding, "Gudelissin is the only site in this district where a city of the style of Derbe, the stronghold of ‘the robber Antipater,' could be situated."

Learn.—

2. The unsleeping hostility with which the gospel and its ministers, when these are faithful, are pursued by the unbelieving world.

3. The watchful providence that continually guards Christ's servants and Christ's cause.