of the P. xxxiv. 7. Dan. iii 28: vi. 22. Heb. i Job v. 19. Ps. xxxiii. 18, his own accord and they went out, and P passed on m he 14 And 19: xxxiv. 22: xli. 2: xcvii. 10. 2 Cor. i. 10. 2 Pet. ii. k ch. iv. 23. 1 ch. xv. 37. when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. 15 And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel. 16 But Peter continued knocking and Gen. xlviii. when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished. 17 But he, beckoning unto them with the och. xiii. 16: hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the brethren. And 16. Matt. xviii. 10. xix. 33: xxi. 40. P One of our oldest MSS. inserts here, descended the seven steps, and... A render, knew. 8 render, knowing. 11.] tion of the prison is uncertain, but seems : 15. rrender, when he had knocked. Our Lord plainly asserts the doctrine of he departed, and went into another place. 18 Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become of Peter. 19 And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judæa to Cæsarea, and there abode. 20 And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon: but they came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the king's chamberlain p1 Kings v. 9, their friend, desired peace; because P their country was nourished by the king's country. 21 And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and t read, he. 11. Ezek. xxvii. 17. hastily departs. the brother of the presiding over the ch. xv. 13; xxi. 18: Gal. ii. 12. See Gal. i. 19; ii. 9. I believe him to have been one of those "brethren of the Lord" mentioned Matt. xiii. 55; John vii. 5; ch. i. 14; 1 Cor. ix. 5, of whom I have in the note on the first of these passages maintained, that they were His real maternal brethren, sons of Joseph and Mary :-to have been an Apostle, as Paul and Barnabas, but not of the number of the twelve (see note on ch. xiv. 14):-and to have been therefore of course distinct from James the son of Alphæus, enumerated (Matt. x. 3 and parallels) among the twelve. The reasons for this belief I reserve for the Introduction to the Epistle of James. into another place] I see in these words a minute mark of truth in our narrative. Under the circumstances, the place of Peter's retreat would very naturally at the time be kept secret. It probably was unknown to the person from whom the narrative came, or designedly left indefinite. And so it has remained, the narrative not following Peter's history any longer. We find him again at Jerusalem in ch. xv. Whether he left it or not on this occasion is uncertain. It is not asserted in the word departed,-which only implies that he left the house. 18 as soon as it was day] Wieseler argues from this, and I think rightly, that the deliverance of Peter must have taken place in the last watch of the night (3-6 A.M. in April), for otherwise his escape would have been perceived before the break of day, viz. at the next change of the watch. unto James] James, Lord, whom we find church at Jerusalem, 20.] It is impossible that Herod should have been at war with the Tyrians and Sidonians, belonging as they did to a Roman province, and he himself being in high came with one accord, viz. by a deputa- (see above) in its strict sense, but recon- 6 The Tyrians found the king's friendship necessary to them, because their country was a very narrow strip, and close on the borders of Galilee and Damascus.'-An additional reason for their request at this particular time may have been, the prevalence of famine. 21.] The account in Josephus is remarkably illustrative of the sacred text: "The third year of his reign over all Judæa was now fulfilled, and he came to the city of Cæsarea. ... and gave spectacles in honour of Cæsar.... and all the rank and wealth of the province was assembled at them. And on the second day of the spectacles, he put on a vesture all wrought of silver, so that the texture was wondrous to behold, and came into the theatre at the rising of the sun. Then the 22 And the people gave a 8 q 18am. xxv. 38. 2 Sam. ch. vi. 7: xix. made an oration unto them. u u omit. silver, struck with the first glitter of the he was eaten of worms] ch. v. 12 ff.; vi. 7; ix. 31, a general state b t ch. xiii. 5, 13: с xiv. 26; xv. ment of the progress and prosperity of the 12. It is CHAP. XIII. 1-XIV. 28.] FIRST MIS- mission. 1 ch. ix. 15: xxii. 21. Rom. i. 1. d Num. viii. 14. and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. Gal. i. 15: e Matt. ix. 28. ch. xiv. 26. Rom. x. 15. Eph. iii. 7, 8. 1 Tim. ii. 7. 2 Tim. i. 11. Heb. v. 4. render, foster-brother of. gradual and progressive work of teaching the Word. Symeon that was called Niger] Nothing is known of him. From his appellation of Niger, he may have been an African proselyte. Lucius] A Lucius, probably the same person, is mentioned Rom. xvi. 21 as a "kinsman" of Paul. There is no reason to suppose him the same with Luke (Lucas, or Lucanus), -but the contrary; for why should Paul in this case use two different names? See Col. iv. 14; 2 Tim. iv. 11; Philem. 24. Manaen] The same name with Menahem the king of Israel, 2 Kings xv. 14. A certain Essene, of this name, foretold to Herod the Great, when a boy going to school, that he should be king of the Jews. And in consequence, when he came to the throne, he honoured Manaen, and, on his account, all the Essenes. It is then not improbable, that this Manaen may have been a son of that one: but see below. The Herod here meant was Antipas, who with his brother Archelaus (both sons of Herod the Great by Malthace a Samaritan woman, see Matt. xiv. 1, note) were brought up in a private family at Rome. Both were at this time exiles, Antipas at Lyons, Archelaus at Vienne. This Manaen had probably been Herod's foster-brother; not, brought up with him,' for, if he had been brought up with Antipas, he would also have been with Archelaus: see above. -In this case, his mother may have called her infant by the name of the person who had brought the Essenes into favour with Herod, and no relationship with that person need have existed. Saul] mentioned last, perhaps because the prophets are placed first, and he was not one, but a teacher or it may be, that he himself furnished the account. This circumstance, which has been objected to by some as invalidating the accuracy of the account, is in fact an interesting confirmation of it, as being eminently characteristic of him who spoke as in 1 Cor. xv. 9; 2 Cor. xii. 6; Eph. iii. 8. 2. As they ministered] The word in the original is that generally used to express the priestly service among the Jews, to which now had succeeded that of the prophets and teachers in the Christian church: ministering is therefore 3 And the only word adequate to render it, as A. V. More closely to define it is not only impracticable, but is narrowing an expression purposely left general. the Holy Ghost said] viz. by one of the prophets present, probably Symeon or Lucius: see above. The announcement being to the church, and several persons being mentioned, we can hardly suppose it to have been an inner command merely to some one person, as in the case of Philip, ch. viii. 29. There is in the original words of the injunction of the Spirit, a precision and force implying that it was for a special purpose, and to be obeyed at the time. the work] Certainly, by ver. 4, we may infer that there had been, or was simultaneously with this command, a divine intimation made to Barnabas and Saul of the nature and direction of this work. In general, it had already been pointed out in the case of Saul, ch. ix. 15; xxii. 21; xxvi. 17. It consisted in preaching to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, Eph. iii. 8. In virtue of the foundation of the Gentile churches being entrusted to them, Saul and Barnabas become after this Apostles, not vice versa; nor is there the least ground for the inference that this was a formal extension of the apostolic office, the pledge of its continuance through the episcopacy to the end of time. The apostolic office terminated with the apostolic times, and by its very nature, admitted not of continuance: the episcopal office, in its ordinary sense, sprung up after the apostolic times: and the two are entirely distinct. The confusion of the two belongs to that unsafe and slippery ground in church matters, the only logical refuge from which is in the traditional system of Rome. Jerome says, "Let bishops remember that they are greater than presbyters not so much by the strictness of divine appointment, as by custom, and that the two orders ought together to rule the church." when they had fasted and prayed] not, "when they had done fasting and praying" this was a new fasting and special prayer for Barnabas and Saul. Fasting and prayer have ever been connected with the solemn times of ordination by the 3. 'when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands fch. vi. 6. on them, they sent them away. 4 So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and g IV. 37. from thence they sailed to Cyprus. 5 And when they sch. iv. 36. were at Salamis, h they preached the word of God in the h ver. 46. synagogues of the Jews: and they had also i John to ich. xii. 25: their minister. 6 And when they had gone through a the isle unto Paphos, they found k a certain sorcerer, a false k ch. viii. 9. prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-jesus: 7 which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent y render, went down. Zi. e. as we should now say, for. a read, the whole island. Christian church; but the fasts four times on them] See on ch. vi. 6. 4. being 5.] Salamis was the nearest port to Seleucia on the eastern side of the island. It had a good harbour. It was the residence of a king anciently, and always one of the chief cities of the island. There were very many Jews there, as appears by there being more than one synagogue. Their numbers may have been increased by the farming of the coppermines by Augustus to Herod. On the insurrection of the Jews in the reign of Trajan, Salamis was nearly destroyed, and they were expelled from the island. Its demolition was completed by an earthquake It On the prevalence of such persons at this time, see ch. viii. 9, note. The Roman aristocracy were peculiarly under the influence of astrologers and magicians, some of whom were Jews. We read of such in connexion with Marius, Pompey, Crassus, Cæsar, and later with Tiberius: and the complaints of Horace and Juvenal shew how completely, and for how long a time, Rome was inundated with Oriental impostors of every description. Bar jesus] He had given himself the Arabic title of Elymas, the wise man' (from the same root as the Turkish Ulemah '), interpreted a magician or sorcerer in our text. 7. the deputy] The office was that called in Latin proconsul,' the title of the governor of those provinces which were (semblably) left by the emperors to the government of the senate and people. The proconsul was appointed by lot, as in the times of the republic; carried with him the lictors and fasces as a consul: but had no military power, and held office only for a year. This last restriction was soon relaxed under the emperors, and they were |