Acts xi. 27-30. ANTIOCH'S GIFT TO JERUSALEM. 27 And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto 28 Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days 29 of Claudius Cæsar. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren 30 which dwelt in Judæa: which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. This little paragraph records an act of liberality on the part of the new community at Antioch towards the Church at Jerusalem. Jerusalem, for reasons already given in a note on iv. 34, contained an abnormal amount of poverty, and in times of famine the distress amongst the poorer classes was very great. Antioch set the precedent, which was afterwards followed by many other churches, of sending relief "to the poor saints" at Jerusalem. 27. prophets. The prophets of the New Testament represent a distinct order of the ministry. This is clear from Paul's statement in 1 Cor. xii. 28: "God hath set in the church, firstly apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers." These prophets were primarily preachers, but some of them, as in the present case, were endowed with special gifts of insight which enabled them to foretell the future. They are mentioned again in xiii. 1, xv. 32, xxi. 9, 10, and there are frequent allusions to them in the Epistles: cf. Rom. xii. 6; 1 Cor. xii. 10, 28, 29, xiii. 2, 8, xiv. 29-37. The names of some of these prophets at Antioch are given in xiii, 1. 28. And there stood up. Some MSS. preserve a very interesting addition at the commencement of this verse: "And there was much exultant joy. And when we were assembled together one from among them spake," etc. If this reading is right, we have here the first of the "We-passages,' or personal narratives, which form such an interesting feature in the second part of Acts. The evidence, however, is not sufficiently strong to warrant a confident assertion in the present case. Agabus is mentioned again in xxi. 10, 11, where he is represented as prophesying the arrest of Paul in Jerusalem. great dearth (R.V., "famine"). There are no records of a world-wide famine, though there are accounts of many local famines in the reign of Claudius. This statement must either be due to prophetic exaggeration or be explained by the fact that even a local famine produced effects which were world-wide in the range of their influence. is in the day of Claudius (the term "Cæsar' omitted in the R.V.). The Emperor Claudius succeeded Caligula, and reigned from 41 to 54 a.d. There were several severe famines in his time. The one alluded to here is probably the great famine in Judæa, which according to Josephus culminated in the year 45 or 46, and which was so severe that Queen Helena of Adiabene, who was staying at Jerusalem, procured a cargo of corn from Alexandria and a cargo of figs from Cyprus for the relief of the destitute people in Jerusalem. 29. the disciples. I.e., the Christians at Antioch. Luke still uses the old names in describing them. Cf. also "the brethren that dwelt in Judæa," 30. the elders. "elders" in Acts. title which was bestowed on "the Seven" (cf. vi. 3). It is probable, however, that the two offices were distinct, and that the office of elder was borrowed from the organisation of the Jewish synagogue, which was always controlled by a body of elders. For subsequent references in Acts, see xiv. 23, xx. 17, 28, xxi. 18. This is the first reference to by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. This implies a second visit of Saul to Jerusalem (see also xii. 25), and raises a serious difficulty when the narrative of Acts is compared with the statements of Paul in Gal. i. and ii. In Galatians Paul insists that within a given period he only visited Jerusalem twice. The first occasion is generally identified with the visit in Acts ix. 26, the second with the visit described in chap. xv. The statement in the present passage, therefore, seems definitely excluded by Paul's argument. Several suggestions have been made for removing the difficulty. (1) It is argued that Paul did not actually enter Jerusalem on the present occasion, but only met the elders some distance outside the city. This explanation, however, seems to be in conflict with the express statement in xii. 25. (2) Other scholars think that the visit described here is to be identified with that narrated in chap. xv., the intervening chapters being placed in a wrong chronological order. There is a good deal to be said for this view. (3) Others think that the present visit is to be identified with the second of Galatians, or that both visits in Galatians fall at an earlier point than this, there being no mention at all in Acts of the second. The great objection to this view, especially in its latter form, is that it necessitates giving an extremely early date to the Epistle to the Galatians. Acts xii. THE PERSECUTION UNDER HEROD AGRIPPA. I. PETER'S MARVELLOUS ESCAPE FROM PRISON (xii. 1-11). Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his And he killed James 2 hands to vex certain of the church. 3 the brother of John with the sword. it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. 4 (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending 5 after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without 6 ceasing of the church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: 7 and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains 8 fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and 9 follow me. And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but Io thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord and they went out, and passed on through one It street; and forthwith the angel departed from him. And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. The narrative now follows Saul and Barnabas to Jerusalem, and gives an account of a severe persecution which was assailing the Church at the time of their visit. This persecution, unlike the spasmodic outbreaks recorded in the earlier chapters of Acts which came from the Sadducees and priests, was a systematic attack organised by King Herod Agrippa. The appearance of Herod Agrippa upon the scene is a new factor in the situation. There had been no king at Jerusalem since the death of Archelaus in 6 A.D. Between that date and 41 A.D. the province of Judæa was governed entirely by the Roman Procurator-though, of course, other districts of Palestine had their kings; e.g., Herod Antipas, and Philip. In 41, however, the whole of Palestine, for the first time since the death of Herod the Great in 4 B.C., was united under a single sovereign-Herod Agrippa 1.-who made Jerusalem the centre of his government. Agrippa was naturally anxious to win popular favour with his Jewish subjects, and it was for this reason that he made an attempt to stamp out Christianity at Jerusalem. Luke only records two incidents in connection with the persecution: (1) the murder of James the son of Zebedee; (2) the imprisonment of Peter. His main interest is in the story of Peter's miraculous escape from prison, which he attributes to the intervention of an angel. When we remember, however, Luke's habit of introducing angels into his narrative (see n. on viii. 26), we |