Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary - Acts 16:19-40
CRITICAL REMARKSActs 16:19. The rulers, ἄρχοντες, were the town magistrates (Luke 12:58).Acts 16:20. The magistrates, στρατηγοί, were the two chief civic authorities (dunmviri) in a Roman colony town, and were usually styled prætors.Acts 16:20-21. Being Jews—i.e., belonging to the despised race, whom Claudius had shortly before banished from Rome (Acts 18:2); and being Romans—i.e., in proud contrast to the hated sons of Abraham. “The distinction between ὑπάρχων and ὤν seems to be that the... read more
Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary - Acts 16:16-18
CRITICAL REMARKSActs 16:16. A certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination.—Better, a female slave (Galatians 4:22) having the spirit of a pythoness, or, according to superior authorities, a spirit, a python. “The python was the serpent worshipped at Dephi, as the symbol of wisdom, from which the Pythian priestesses and Apollo as succeeding to the oracular power of the serpent took their distinguishing appellative” (Plumptre).HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Acts 16:16-18The Cure of a Pythoness;... read more