Acts 2:9 - Exposition

In Judaea for and in Judaea, A.V. Parthians and Medes and Elamites. These would be the Israelites of the first dispersion, the descendants of those of the ten tribes who were deported by the Assyrians, and of whom the Afghans are perhaps a remnant, and of the first Babylonian captivity. Mesopotamia and Babylon were at this time in possession of the Parthians. Babylon was a great Jewish colony, the seat of "the princes of the Captivity," and of one of the great rabbinical schools. Judaea. The mention of Judaea here is very odd, and can scarcely be right, both from its situation between Mesopotamia and Cappadocia, and because Jews (Judaeans) are mentioned again in Acts 2:10 (where, however, see note). India, which seems to have been in Chrysostom's Codex ('Hem.'4., end of (3) ), Idumaea, Bithynia, and Armenia, have all been suggested as conjectural emendations. One might have expected Galatia, with its different Celtic dialect, and which goes with Pontus, Cappadocia, and Asia in 1 Peter 1:1 ; a passage, by the way, which shows that there were many Jews in those provinces: Aquila, too, was a Jew from Pontus ( Acts 18:2 ). λψδια , Lydia, would be very like ιουδαια ; but all manuscripts read Judaea.