r Luke i. 68. ch. ii. 47.

8 ch. ix. 35.

t ch. ix. 27.

somit.

20 t And some

word to none but unto [the] Jews only.
of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when
they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians,
preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord

г

the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem : and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. 23 Who, trender, But.

u render, Grecians also.

I render, which believed.

y render, them: it applies to the persons just mentioned, not to the things.

vol. i. pp. 149 ff., is a minute and in-
teresting description of the city and its
history, ancient and modern. See also Mr.
Lewin's Life and Epistles of St. Paul, vol.
i. p. 108 ff.
20. some of them] not,
of these, last-mentioned Jews: but of those
who were scattered abroad. This both
the sense and the form of the sentence
require. men of Cyrene] of whom
Lucius mentioned ch. xiii. 1, as being in
the church at Antioch, must have been
one. Symeon called Niger (black), also
mentioned there, may have been a Cyrenean
proselyte.
Grecians] Many retain
and advocate here the reading Hellenists,
or Grecian Jews. It appears mainly to
have arisen from a mistaken view that the
baptism of Cornelius must necessarily have
preceded the conversion of all other Gentiles.
But that reading gives, in this place, no
assignable sense whatever: for (1) the
Hellenists were long ago a recognized part
of the Christian church-(2) among these
who were scattered abroad themselves in
all probability there were many Hellenists,
-and (3) the term Jews includes the
Hellenists, the distinctive appellation of
pure Jews being not Jews but Hebrews,
ch. vi. 1. Nothing to my mind can be
plainer, from what follows respecting Bar-
nabas, than that these Grecians were GEN-
TILES, uncircumcised; and that their con-
version took place before any tidings had
reached Jerusalem of the divine sanction
given in the case of Cornelius. See below.

21. the hand of the Lord was with
them] By visible manifestations not to be
doubted, the Lord shewed it to be His
pleasure that they should go on with
such preaching; the word them implying,
the preachers to the Gentiles, whose work
the narrative now follows.
22. Bar-

nabas] himself a Cyprian, ch. iv. 36.His mission does not seem exactly to have been correspondent to that of Peter and John to Samaria (nor can he in any dis

tinctive sense, be said to have been an
Apostle, as they were: see ch. xiv. 14, and
note): but more probably, from what fol-
lows, the intention was to ascertain the
fact, and to deter these persons from the
admission of the uncircumcised into the
church:
: or, at all events, to use his discre-
tion in a matter on which they were as yet
doubtful. The choice of such a man, one
by birth with the agents, and of a liberal
spirit, shews sufficiently that they wished
to deal, not harshly, but gently and cau-
tiously,-whatever their reason was.
23, 24.] It is on these verses principally
that I depend as determining the character
of the whole narrative. It certainly is im-
plied in them that the effect produced on
Barnabas was something different from
what might have been expected: that to
sympathize with the work was not the
intent of his mission, but a result brought
about in the heart of a good man, full of
the Holy Ghost and of faith, by witnessing
the effects of divine grace (the force of the
original can hardly be given in an English
version. It is not merely, the grace of
God,' but the grace which [evidently]
was that of God, which he recognized as
that of God). And this is further con-
firmed to my mind by finding that he
immediately went and sought Saul. He
had been Saul's friend at Jerusalem: he
had doubtless heard of the commission
which had been given to him to preach
to the Gentiles: but the church was wait-
ing the will of God, to know how this was
to be accomplished. Here was an evident
door open for the ministry of Saul, and,
in consequence, as soon as Barnabas per-
ceives it, he goes to fetch him to begin
his work in Antioch. And it was here,
more properly, and not in Cæsarea, that
the real commencement of the Gentile
church took place, although simulta-
neously, for the convincing of the Jewish
believers at Jerusalem, and of Peter, and

when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad,

u

u ch. xiii. 43:

with purpose of heart they ".22.
24 For he was a good man,

y

y ver. 21. ch. v. 14.

z ch. ix. 30.

and exhorted them all, that would cleave unto the Lord. and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith; and a much ch. vi.. people was added unto the Lord. 25 b Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: 26 and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught a much people: and the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. 27 And in these days d came a prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.

bread and render, And he departed.
render, and that the.

for the more solemn and authorized stand-
ing of the Gentile church, the important
events at Cæsarea and Joppa were brought
about.
23. exhorted them all] in
accordance with his name, which (iv. 36)
was interpreted son of exhortation.
25.] This therefore took place after ch.
ix. 30: how long after, we have no hint
in the narrative, and the question will be
determined by various persons according
to the requirements of their chronological
system. Some chronologers make it not
more than from half a year to a year:
others, placing the conversion of Saul in
A.D. 31,-nine years. Speaking from pro-
bability, it seems very unlikely that any
considerable portion of time should have
been spent by him before the great work
of his ministry began. Even supposing
him during this retirement to have preached
in Syria and Cilicia,-judging by the
analogy of his subsequent journeys, a few
months at the most would have sufficed for
this. For my own view, see Introduction
to Acts, § 6. 26. Christians] This
name is never used by Christians of them-
selves in the N. T. (but "the disciples,"
"the faithful," "the believers," "the
brethren," 'the saints," they of this
[or the] way"), only (see ch. xxvi. 28;
1 Pet. iv. 16) as spoken by, or coming
from, those without the church. And of
those, it cannot have arisen with the Jews,
who would never have given a name
derived from the Messiah to a hated and
despised sect. By the Jews they were
called Nazarenes, ch. xxiv. 5, and Gali-
læans: and the Emperor Julian (the Apos-
tate), who wished to deprive them of a
name in which they gloried (see below),
and to favour the Jews, ordered that they

ach. ii. 17: xiii.
x. 28. Eph.

1: xv. 32:
xxi. 9. 1 Cor.

iv. 11.

a literally, a great multitude.

d render, came down.

should not be called Christians, but Gali-
læans. The name soon became matter of
glorying among its bearers: see 1 Pet.
iv. 16. In the epistle of the churches of
Lyons and Vienne, given by Eusebius, we
read, that when the governor asked Epa-
gathus whether he too were a Christian,
he confessed it with a loud voice: and
again that Sanctus, to every question,
replied in Latin, "I am a Christian."
And in the Clementine Liturgy we have
these words, "We give thanks to Thee
that the name of thy Christ is named
upon us, and that we are called Thine."
Before this, while the believers had been
included among Jews, no distinctive name
for them was needed: but now that a
body of men, compounded of Jews and
Gentiles, arose, distinct in belief and
habits from both, some new appellation
was required.-It may be observed, that
the inhabitants of Antioch were famous
for their propensity to jeer and call names;
see instances in Conybeare and Howson,
i. p. 148, note 2.
27. in these days]

It was during this year, ver. 26.
prophets] Inspired teachers in the early
Christian church, referred to in the Acts,
and in the Epistles of Paul (see reff. and
ch. xix. 6; xxi. 9; Rom. xii. 6; 1 Cor.
xii. 10; xiii. 2, 8; xiv. 6; 1 Thess. v. 20).
They might be of either sex (ch. xxi. 9).
The foretelling of future events was not the
usual form which their inspiration took, but
that of an exalted and superhuman teach-
ing, ranked by St. Paul above 'speaking
with tongues,' in being the utterance of
their own conscious intelligence informed
by the Holy Spirit. This inspiration was,
however, occasionally, as here, and ch. xxi.
10, made the vehicle of prophecy, properly

28 And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cæsar. 29 Then the disciples, every man e Rom. xv. 26. according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judæa; 30 d which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

XII. 1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched e render, which also.

↑ render, laid his hands upon certain of the church to vex them.

forth his hands to vex certain of the church. 2 And he

killed James a the brother of John with the sword. 3 And a Matt. iv. 21: because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further

Eph. vi. 18.

dd ch. v. 19.

c John xxi. 18. bread. 4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after 8 Easter to bring him forth to the people. 5 Peter therefore was kept in da Cor. 1.11. prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the 1 Thess. v. 17. church unto God for him. 6 And when Herod i would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and [the] keepers before the door kept the prison. 7 And, behold, 1 dd the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. 8 And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. 9 And he went out, and followed him; and e wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. 10 When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron which opened to them of

e Ps. cxxvi. 1.

f ch. x. 3, 17: xi. 5.

gch. xvi. 26. gate that leadeth unto the city;

render, as in every other place where the word (pascha) occurs, the Passover.

i

render, was about to bring.

1

render, an.

n render, he did so. The words, "so he did," in modern English, do not carry

this sense.

bread." The argument from the four
quaternions of soldiers proves nothing:
the same sixteen (see below) may have had
him in permanent charge, that number
being appointed as adequate to the duties
required. 4. to four quaternions of
soldiers] In military arrangements, Herod
seems to have retained the Roman habits,
according to which the night was divided
into four watches, and each committed to
four soldiers, to two of whom the prisoner
was chained, the other two keeping watch
before the doors of the prison, forming the
first and second guards of ver. 10. It is
plain that this number being mentioned is
no sign that the custody was only for one
night. after the Passover] (see above)
after the days of the feast, i. e. after the
21st of Nisan. Herod, who (ver. 1, note)
observed rigorously the Jewish customs,
would not execute a prisoner during the
feast. 5.] On the duration implied
by this verse, see above.
6. the same
night] emphatic: that very night, viz.

• or, guard.

which preceded the day of trial. The
practice of attaching a prisoner to one
keeper or more by a chain is alluded to by
several ancient authors. In the account
of the imprisonment of Herod Agrippa
himself by Tiberius, Jos. Antt. xviii. 6. 7,
we read of the soldier who was chained
with him. See note on ch. xxiv. 23; see
also ch. xxviii. 16, 20.
7.] It is in

St. Luke's manner to relate simultaneously
the angelic appearance and the shining of
a light around: cf. Luke ii. 9; xxiv. 4;
ch. x. 30. The light accompanied, or per-
haps shone from, the angel. 9.] went
out, viz. from the chamber or cell.
10.] The first and second watch or guard
cannot mean the two soldiers to whom he
was chained, on account of the mention of
his going out above: but are probably the
other two, one at the door of the chamber,
the other at the outer door of the building.
Then the iron gate leading into the city'
was that outside the prison buildings, form-
ing the exit from the premises. The situa-