Acts 17:1-32

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Acts 17:5

(5) The Jews which believed not.—The latter words are wanting in many MSS., as “filled with envy” are in others.Certain lewd fellows of the baser sort.—The word “lewd” is used in its older sense, as meaning vile, worthless. At a still earlier stage of its history, as in Chaucer and the Vision of Piers Plowman, [“How thou lernest the people,The lered and the lewed, “] i. 2100.it meant simply the layman, or untaught person, as distinct from the scholar. The “baser sort” answers to a Greek word... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Acts 17:6

(6) Unto the rulers of the city.—The Greek term here, politarchæ, is a very peculiar one, and occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, nor, indeed, in any classical writer. Aristotle, whose Politics well-nigh exhausts the list of all known official titles in Greek cities, does not mention it, although he gives an analogous title (Politophylakes) as found at Larissa and elsewhere (Pol. v. 6). An inscription on an arch that still spans (or did so till quite lately) one of the streets of the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Acts 17:7

(7) These all do contrary to the decrees of Cæsar.—Thessalonica, though a free city, was yet under the imperial government, and the Jews therefore appeal to the emperor’s decree, probably to the edict of Claudius (Acts 18:2), as at least showing the drift of the emperor’s policy, even though it was not strictly binding except in Rome and the coloniæ. This, however, might prove an insufficient weapon of attack, and therefore they add another charge, to which no magistrate throughout the empire... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Acts 17:9

(9) And when they had taken security of Jason.—The Greek noun, probably used as an equivalent for the Latin satis accipere, in common use in legal language, is a technical one (literally, the sufficient sum) for the bail which Jason was required to give for the good conduct of his guests, and for their readiness to meet any charge that might be brought against them. It is clear from 1 Thessalonians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:14, that St. Paul and Silas were not the only sufferers. The Gentile... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Acts 17:10

(10) Sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea.—Timotheus apparently remained behind, partly to help the Thessalonian converts under their present trials, partly to be able to bring word to St. Paul as to their condition. At Berœa Paul and Silas were alone. The city lay to the south of Thessalonica, not far from Pella, on the banks of the Astræus, and still retains its name in the modern Kara Feria, or Verria. It has now a population of 20,000. Here also there was a Jewish population, but... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Acts 17:11

(11) These were more noble than those in Thessalonica.—The word for “noble” (literally, well-born, as in 1 Corinthians 1:26) had. like most words of like origin (such, e.g., as the Latin ingenuus), a wide latitude of meaning. Here it stands for the generous, loyal temper which was ideally supposed to characterise those of noble origin. This was the quality which the Apostle and the historian admired in the Berœans. They were not the slaves of prejudice. They were ready to believe in the gospel... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Acts 17:12

(12) Therefore many of them believed.—The narrator dwells with satisfaction on the fact that at Berœa there were many Jewish as well as Gentile converts. Among the latter there were, as at Thessalonica, women of the upper class. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Acts 17:13

(13) They came thither also, and stirred up the people.—To the unbelieving Jews of Thessalonica the conversions at Berœa were simply a cause of offence. It is apparently with reference to this that St. Paul says of them that “they please not God and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles” (1 Thessalonians 2:15). read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Acts 17:14

(14) To go as it were to the sea.—The English version conveys the impression that the movement was a feint in order to baffle the pursuers. Many of the better MSS., however, give “as far as the sea,” and this is probably the meaning even of the reading followed by the Authorised version. The absence of any mention of places between Berœa and Athens, (as, e.g., Amphipolis and Apollonia are mentioned in Acts 17:1), is presumptive evidence that St. Paul actually travelled by sea, and rounding the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Acts 17:16

(16) His spirit was stirred in him.—The verb is the root of the noun from which we get our “paroxysm,” and which is translated by “sharp contention” in Acts 15:39. Athens, glorying now, as it had done in the days of Sophocles (Œdip. Col. 1008), in its devotion to the gods, presented to him, even after seeing Tarsus and Antioch, a new aspect. The city was “full of idols;” Hermes-busts at every corner, statues and altars in the atrium or court-yard of every house, temples and porticos and... read more

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