Acts 28:1-16 BSB

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-6

A strong family likeness. This short episode is, in its proportion, as refreshing to the reader as to those who played the actual part in it. It is the oasis of narrative. It reads like a brief parable of the human heart. Or we may be impressed by it, as by some portrait, which presents to our view features with which we seem to be very familiar, and half hiding, half revealing a likeness to some one well known. They are the features that "half conceal and half reveal" the likeness of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-10

Kindness. Genuine kindness is a pleasant thing to see by whomsoever and under whatsoever circumstances it is exercised. God has planted it in the human breast, and it is one of the distinctive attributes of man. Too often, indeed, the indulgence of bad passions is suffered to choke it, and rival interests to interfere with its action. Still, there it is, a faint reflection, it is true, of the love of God, but nevertheless a remnant of God's image in man; pleasant to behold, sweetening the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-10

A picture of the human. In these few verses we have a graphic picture of some of the experiences of our life and of the instincts or intuitions of our nature. I. A PICTURE OF THE HUMAN . 1. Human suffering. 2. Unspoiled human nature. Such is the dire effect of long-continued, sin upon the soul, that it often happens that nearly every vestige of the goodness with which our Creator first endowed us disappears. As God made us, it was natural that we should compassionate... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-10

Occurrences at Malta. I. THE HOSPITALITY OF THE HEATHEN . The instinct of kindness is God-implanted in the human heart. Hospitality was not so much a virtue in heathendom as the refusal of it a crime. So much the more must any "shutting up of the bowels of compassion" against the needy brother or the stranger be an offence against the Son of man. The great charge which he, in his depiction of the scene of judgment, brings against the unfaithful is the neglect of the common... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:2

Barbarians for barbarous people, A.V. ; common for little, A.V. ; all for every one, A.V. Barbarians ; i.e. not Greeks or Romans, or (in the mouth of a Jew) not Jews. The phrase had especial reference to the strange language of the "barbarian." See St. Paul's use of it ( Romans 1:14 ; 1 Corinthians 14:11 ; Colossians 3:11 ); and compare Ovid's saying ('Trist.,' 3.10, 37), "Barbarus hic ego sum, quia non intelligor ulli;" and that of Herodotus, that the Egyptians call all ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:2

Humanity "And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness." How that kindness found expression is further detailed. "Heavy showers had come on, and the shipwrecked men were half benumbed with fatigue and cold. Pitying their condition, the natives lit a huge fire of faggots and brushwood, that they might dry their clothes, and gave them in all respects a friendly welcome." The "milk of human kindness" has ever made men helpful to each other in circumstances of calamity and distress,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:3

But for and, A.V.; a viper came for there came a viper, A.V.; by reason of for out of, A.V. Had gathered ; συστρέψαντος , only here and in the LXX . of 11:3 and 12:4 , for "to collect," "gather together." But συστροφή ( Acts 19:40 ; Acts 23:12 ) means "a concourse," "a conspiracy." In classical Greek συστρέφειν is "to twist up together," to "form into a compact body," and the like. A bundle of sticks ; φρυγάνων πλῆθος . The word only occurs in the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:4

Beast for venomous beast, A.V.; hanging from for hang on, A.V.; one to another for among themselves, A.V.; escaped from for escaped, A.V.; justice for vengeance, A.V. ; hath not suffered for suffereth not, A.V. The beast ( τὸ θηρίον ). It is peculiar to medical writers to use θηρίον as synonymous with ἔχιδνα , a viper. So also θηριόδηκτος , bit by a viper, θηριακή , an antidote to the bite of a viper (Dioscorides, Galen, etc.). Justice ( ἥ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:4

The superstitions of ignorance. "The natives of Melita, seeing what they did, and ignorant of this prisoner's crime, and with their rough notions of the Divine government of the world, rushed to the conclusion that they were looking on an example of God's vengeance against murder. It was in vain that such a criminal had escaped the waves; a more terrible death was waiting for him." These men misinterpreted natural law into vengeance; yet there is a proneness in man to judge so. We expect... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:5

Howbeit for and, A.V.; look for felt, A.V. read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-6

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-10

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-10

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:1-10

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:2

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:2

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:3

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:4

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:4

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 28:5

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