As we were going to prayer, a certain girl having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling. Following Paul and us, she cried out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us a way of salvation!” She was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” It came out that very hour.
Parallel Translations
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As we were going to prayer, a certain girl having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling.
Following Paul and us, she cried out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us a way of salvation!”
She was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” It came out that very hour.
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And it fortuned as we went to prayer a certayn damsell possessed with a sprete that prophesied met vs which brought her master and mastres moche vauntage with prophesyinge.
The same folowed Paul and vs and cryed sayinge: these men are the servauntes of the most hye God which shewe vnto vs the waye of salvacion.
And this dyd she many dayes. But Paul not content, turned about and sayd to the sprete: I commaunde the in the name of Iesu Christ that thou come out of her. And he came out the same houre.
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And it came to passe that as we went to prayer, a certaine maide hauing a spirit of diuination, mette vs, which gate her masters much vantage with diuining.
She followed Paul and vs, and cryed, saying, These men are the seruants of the most high God, which shewe vnto you the way of saluation.
And this did she many dayes: but Paul being grieued, turned about, and said to the spirit, I commaund thee in the Name of Iesus Christ, that thou come out of her. And he came out the same houre.
Cross-references (58)
- Leviticus 19:31 (v16) “ ‘Don’t turn to those who are mediums, nor to the wizards. Don’t seek them out, to be defiled by them. I am Yahweh your God.
- Mark 16:17 (v18) These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages;
- Deuteronomy 18:9-11 (v16) When you have come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations. There…
- Isaiah 8:19 (v16) When they tell you, “Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter,” shouldn’t a people…
- Luke 10:17-19 (v18) The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” He said to them, “I saw Satan having fallen…
Show all 58 cross-references
- John 14:6 (v17) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
- 1 Peter 2:16 (v17) as free, and not using your freedom for a cloak of wickedness, but as bondservants of God.
- 1 Samuel 28:7 (v16) Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her.” His servants…
- 1 Chronicles 10:13 (v16) So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against Yahweh, because of Yahweh’s word, which he didn’t keep; and also because he asked…
- Mark 5:7 (v17) and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don’t…
- Daniel 6:20 (v17) When he came near to the den to Daniel, he cried with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living…
- Galatians 5:20 (v16) idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,
- 1 Timothy 6:10 (v16) For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves…
- Exodus 7:11-12 (v16) Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.…
- Daniel 3:26 (v17) Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace. He spoke and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants…
- Daniel 3:28 (v17) Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel, and delivered his servants…
- Mark 1:34 (v18) He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. He didn’t allow the demons to speak, because they knew him.
- Mark 9:25-26 (v18) When Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command…
- Acts 3:6 (v18) But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have, that I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!”
- Acts 9:34 (v18) Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!” Immediately he arose.
- Acts 16:18 (v16) She was doing this for many days. But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus…
- Acts 19:12-17 (v18) so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits…
- 1 Samuel 28:3 (v16) Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. Saul had sent away those who had…
- Psalms 57:2 (v17) I cry out to God Most High, to God who accomplishes my requests for me.
- Jonah 1:9 (v17) He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.”
- Mark 1:25-26 (v18) Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” The unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of…
- Luke 1:79 (v17) to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
- Luke 4:34 (v17) saying, “Ah! what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God!”
- Luke 4:41 (v17) Demons also came out of many, crying out, and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Rebuking them, he didn’t allow them to speak,…
- Acts 16:13 (v16) On the Sabbath day we went outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to…
- Colossians 2:15 (v18) Having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
- 2 Timothy 3:8 (v16) Even as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind, who concerning the faith are rejected.
- Genesis 14:18-22 (v17) Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High. He blessed him, and said, “Blessed be Abram of God…
- Psalms 78:35 (v17) They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their redeemer.
- Daniel 4:2 (v17) It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked toward me.
- Daniel 5:18 (v17) “You, king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty.
- Daniel 5:21 (v17) He was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the animals’, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed with…
- Daniel 6:16 (v17) Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Your God whom you…
- Micah 6:6 (v17) How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
- Matthew 7:13-14 (v17) “Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it.…
- Matthew 8:29 (v17) Behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
- Matthew 22:16 (v17) They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in…
- Mark 12:14 (v17) When they had come, they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and don’t defer to anyone; for you aren’t partial to anyone, but…
- Luke 1:77 (v17) to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins,
- Luke 9:1 (v18) He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.
- Luke 20:21 (v17) They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you say and teach what is right, and aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God.
- Acts 8:9-11 (v16) But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out…
- Acts 16:30-31 (v17) brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you…
- Acts 18:26 (v17) He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the way of…
- Acts 19:13 (v17) But some of the itinerant Jews, exorcists, took on themselves to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus,…
- Hebrews 10:19-22 (v17) Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and…
- Deuteronomy 13:1-3 (v16) If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of…
- Mark 1:24 (v17) saying, “Ha! What do we have to do with you, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are: the Holy One of God!”
- Luke 8:28 (v17) When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, you Son of…
- Acts 14:13-15 (v18) The priest of Jupiter, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, and would have made a sacrifice…
- Revelation 18:11-13 (v16) The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise any more: merchandise of gold, silver, precious…
- Acts 19:24 (v16) For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen,
- 2 Peter 2:3 (v16) In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (26 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv16, 18 16. Luke prosecuteth the increase of the Church; for…
16. Luke prosecuteth the increase of the Church; for though he do not straightway in a word express that thing, yet is it easily gathered out of the text, that many were brought into the faith, or at least that the Church was somewhat augmented, and Paul did not frequent the assemblies in time of prayer in vain. Notwithstanding, Luke doth also report that Satan did interrupt this course; to wit, because after that the apostles were beaten with rods, and cast in [into] prison, they were at length enforced to depart the city; yet we shall see in the end of this chapter, that when Satan had done his worst, there was some body of the Church gathered before they did depart.
Having a spirit of divination, (or of Python.) The poets do feign that the serpent called Python was slain with the dart of Phoebus; hereupon rose another invention; that they said, that those who were possessed were inspired with the spirit of Python, and, peradventure, they were thereupon called Phoebades, in honor of Apollo. But Luke followeth the common custom of speaking, because he showeth the error of the common people, and not through what inspiration the maid did prophesy. For it is certain that the devil did deceive men under the visor of Apollo, as all idolatry and subtilty was invented and forged in his shop. But some men may marvel that the devil (through whose motion and persuasion the maid did cry) was the author of such an honorable commendation, wherewith she adorned Paul and Silas, and the rest. For, seeing that he is the father of lying, how could the truth proceed from him? Secondly, how is it that he gave place willingly to the servants of Christ, by whom his kingdom was destroyed? how can this hang together, that he prepared the minds of the people to hear the gospel, whose mortal enemy he is? Assuredly, there is nothing more proper to him than to turn away the minds of the people from the word of the gospel, which he doth now will and wish them to hear.
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Whence cometh such a sudden change, or unwonted emotion? But the devil is the father of lying in such sort, that he covereth himself under the ale and deceivable color of truth. There he played another person through his crafty subtilty, than was agreeable to his nature; that by creeping in craftily he might do the more hurt; and, therefore, whereas he is called the father of lies, we must not so take it as if he did always lie manifestly and without any color. Yea, rather we must beware of his crafty subtilty, lest when he pretendeth the color of truth he deceive us under a vain show. We see, also, how he useth like subtilty daily. For what can bear a fairer show than the Pope’s titles, wherein he doth not boast himself to be the adversary of Christ, but he doth not boast himself to be the adversary of Christ, but his vicar? What can be more plausible than that solemn preface, In the name of the Lord, Amen? Notwithstanding we know, that whilst the hypocritical ministers of Satan do thus pretend the truth, they corrupt it, and, with a deadly corruption, infect it. Seeing that Satan hath a double way to resist the gospel, to wit, because he doth sometimes rage openly, and sometimes he creepeth in craftily under lies, he hath also two kinds of lying and deceiving, either when he overthroweth the Word of God with false doctrines and gross superstitions, or else when he doth craftily feign that he is a friend of the Word, and so doth insinuate himself subtilely; yea, he doth never hurt more deadly than when he transformeth himself into an angel of light. Now, we perceive to what end that so gorgeous a title did tend, wherewith he did extol Paul and his companions, namely, because it was not so convenient for him to make open war against the gospel, he went about to overthrow the credit thereof by secret shifts. For if Paul had admitted that testimony, there should have been no longer any difference between the wholesome doctrine of Christ and the mocks of Satan. The light and brightness of the gospel should have been entangled in the darkness of lying, and so quite put out.
But the question is, why God doth grant Satan so great liberty, as to suffer him to deceive miserable men, and to bewitch them with true divinations? For, omitting the disputations which some men move concerning his foresight, I take this for a plain case, that he doth prophesy and foretell things to come, and which are hidden only through God’s sufferance. But God seemeth by this means to lay open men who are reckless or careless to his subtilty, so that they cannot beware. For seeing that prophecies breathe out divine power, men’s minds must needs be touched with reverence so often as they come abroad, unless they contemn God. I answer, that Satan hath never so much liberty granted him of God, save only that the unthankful world may be punished, which is so desirous of a lie, that it had rather be deceived than obey the truth. For that is a general evil, whereof Paul complaineth in the first chapter to the Romans,(Romans 1:21,) That men do not glorify God, being known naturally by the creation of the world, and that they suppress his truth unjustly.
It is a just reward for so great unthankfulness, that Satan hath the bridle given him, that through divers jugglings he may work the ruin of those who turn away maliciously from the light of God. Therefore, so often as you read the divinations of Satan, think upon the just judgment of God. Now, if God so sharply punish the contempt of his light in the profane Gentiles, who have no other teachers but the heaven and earth, how much more sharp punishment do those deserve who wittingly and willingly choke the pure doctrine of salvation, revealed to them in the law and the gospel? No marvel, therefore, if Satan have long bewitched the world so freely with his subtilty, since that the truth of the gospel hath been wickedly contemned, which was made most manifest. But it is objected again, that no man is free from danger when false divinations fly to and fro so fast. For even as well the good as the evil seem to be subject to the cozenage of Satan when the truth is darkened and overcast. The answer is ready, though Satan set snares for all men in general, yet are the godly delivered by the grace of God, lest they be caught together with the wicked. There is also a more manifest distinction set down in the Scripture, because the Lord doth by this means try the faith and godliness of his, and doth make blind the reprobate, that they may perish as they be worthy. Therefore Paul saith plainly, that Satan hath not leave granted him to lead any into error save those who will not obey God and embrace the truth, (2 Thessalonians 2:11,12.)
Whereby is also reproved their wicked ungodliness, who, under this color, excuse the profane contempt of all doctrine; whither shall we turn ourselves, (say they,) seeing that Satan is so expert to deceive? Therefore, it is better for us to live without any religion at all, than, through the desire of religion, to run headlong into destruction. Neither do they object and pretend this fear for their excuse in earnest; but, seeing they desire nothing more than to wander carelessly, like beasts, without any fear of God, they can be content with any excuse, so they be not tied to any religion. I confess, indeed, that Satan doth no less craftily than wickedly abuse the sacred name of God; and that that proverb is too true which Papistry hath brought forth, that, the Lord doth pronounce that he will be the teacher of the humble, and hath promised that he will be nigh to those which are right in heart; seeing that Paul teacheth that the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit; seeing that he doth testify that those who are well-grounded in the faith of the gospel are not in danger to be seduced by man; seeing that Peter calleth the Scripture a light shining in a dark place; seeing that courteous exhortation, or inviting of Christ, can never deceive us, “Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you;” let Satan do what he can, and let the false prophets seek to darken the truth so much as they are able, we need not be afraid lest the Spirit of wisdom and discretion [discernment] forsake us, who ruleth Satan at his pleasure, and maketh us triumph over him by the faith of his word.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv16, 18 Satan transformeth himself into an Angel of light, and…
Satan transformeth himself into an Angel of light, and coveteth to enter by undermining, but Paul openly letteth him, and casteth him out.
This is a proper note of Apollo, which was wont to give answers to them that asked him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv16–18 16 And it came to pass, as we went…
16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
Ver. 16. Possessed with a spirit, &c.] These the seventy seniors usually call εγγαστριμυθους, because the devil spake out of their bellies. For which cause also the Hebrews call them Oboth, or bottles; because the bellies of those women that were thus made use of by the devil were swelled as big as bottles. (Beza in loc.) In the year of grace 1536, a certain damsel at Frankfort in Germany, being possessed with a devil, and stark mad, swallowed down pieces of money with much gnashing of her teeth; which monies were presently wrung out of her hands and kept by various ones, &c. This is a true story, reported by Andrew Ebert, the minister of the place, who wrote the same to Luther, requesting his advice; which was, to pray hard for her, &c. (Bucholc. Chr.)
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv16–18 Went to prayer; went towards the place where their…
Went to prayer; went towards the place where their public prayers were usually made.
Of divination; or, of Python, the name of Apollo, from the place where he was worshipped, (which was afterwards called Delphi), and from whom all evil spirits, that pretended to divination, were called Pythons; as that the woman made use of to delude Saul by, 1Sa 28:7.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v16 As we went to prayer, a damsel possessed met…
As we went to prayer, a damsel possessed met us. That is, As the apostles went towards the forementioned place of prayer, a damsel possessed with the devil, by whose inspiration she foretold future things, and revealed many secrets to them that consulted her, followed them, crying out, These are the servants of the most high God, who declare unto us the way of salvation.
Where observe, 1. That the father of lies sometimes speaks the truth, though, never for truth’s sake, but for his own advantage: here what the devil said was truth, but it was for devilish ends; he transforms himself now into an angel of light, to draw men on to believe him the prince of darkness.
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Observe, 2. How St. Paul refuses the devil’s testimony concerning himself, even when he spake the truth. The testimony of truth from the father of lies, is enough to render truth itself suspected.
Observe, 3.the authority which St. Paul takes upon him in the name of Christ to dispossess the devil, and cast him out of the damsel: Paul said, I command thee in the name of Jesus to come out of her: and he came out the same hour.
These words St. Paul uttered by the motion of the Holy Spirit, and relying by faith on the promise of Christ made by himself to his apostles, That in his name they should cast out devils; Mar 16:17 accordingly he received power from on high to cast out this daring devil.
Observe, 4. How Satan seeks to be revenged on Paul for dispossessing of him: he raises up an hot persecution, and soon casts him into prison, who had cast the devil out of the damsel. If we disturb and trouble Satan, he will be sure to trouble and disturb us. Such ministers as make the greatest opposition against Satan, must expect to meet with the greatest opposition from him.
Observe, 5. Who were the instruments which Satan stirs up to raise this persecution against the apostles: they were the rulers and the rabble: The multitude rose up, and the magistrates rent their clothes, cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. Thus were the holy apostles, and innocent servants of Jesus Christ, imprisoned, and treated as the vilest malefactors, only for opposing Satan, and seeking the welfare of mankind.
Observe, lastly, That love of money was the root of all this persecution. The damsel’s masters perceiving that their gain was gone, and that she could help them to no more money by telling people their fortunes, the devil of discontent possessed them. They stir up persecution against the apostles, they cast them into prison, into the inward prison, and to make all sure, set them in the stocks.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v16 Paul and his companions, though they were for some…
Paul and his companions, though they were for some time buried in obscurity at Philippi, yet now begin to be taken notice of.
I. A damsel that had a spirit of divination caused them to be taken notice of, by proclaiming them to be the servants of God. Observe,
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1. The account that is given of this damsel: She was puthonissa, possessed with such a spirit of divination as that damsel was by whom the oracles of Apollo at Delphos were delivered; she was actuated by an evil spirit, that dictated ambiguous answers to those who consulted her, which served to gratify their vain desire of knowing things to come, but often deceived them. In those times of ignorance, infidelity, and idolatry, the devil, by the divine permission, thus led men captive at his will; and he could not have gained such adoration from them as he had, if he had not pretended to give oracles to them, for by both his usurpation is maintained as the god of this world. This damsel brought her masters much gain by soothsaying; many came to consult this witch for the discovery of robberies, the finding of things lost, and especially to be told their fortune, and none came but with the rewards of divination in their hands, according to the quality of the person and the importance of the case. Probably there were many that were thus kept for fortune-tellers, but, it should seem, this was more in repute than any of them; for, while others brought some gain, this brought much gain to her masters, being consulted more than any other.
2. The testimony which this damsel gave to Paul and his companions: She met them in the street, as they were going to prayer, to the house of prayer, or rather to the work of prayer there, Act 16:16. They went thither publicly, every body knew whither they were going, and what they were going to do. If what she did was likely to be any distraction to them, or a hindrance in their work, it is observable how subtle Satan is, that great tempter, in taking the opportunity to give us diversion when we are going about any religious exercises, to ruffle us and to put us out of temper when we need to be most composed. When she met with them she followed them, crying, "These men, how contemptible soever they look and are looked upon, are great men, for they are the servants of the most high God, and men that should be very welcome to us, for they show unto us the way of salvation, both the salvation that will be our happiness, and the way to it that will be our holiness."
Now, (1.) This witness is true; it is a comprehensive encomium on the faithful preachers of the gospel, and makes their feet beautiful, Rom 10:15. Though they are men subject to like passions as we are, and earthen vessels, yet, [1.] "They are the servants of the most high God; they attend on him, are employed by him, and are devoted to his honour, as servants; they come to us on his errands, the message they bring is from him, and they serve the purposes and interest of his kingdom. The gods we Gentiles worship are inferior beings, therefore not gods, but these men belong to the supreme Numen, to the most high God, who is over all men, over all gods, who made us all, and to whom we are all accountable. They are his servants, and therefore it is our duty to respect them, and harken to them for their Master's sake, and it is at our peril if we affront them." [2.] "They show unto us the way of salvation." Even the heathen had some notion of the miserable deplorable state of mankind, and their need of salvation, and it was what they made some enquiries after. "Now," saith she, "these men are the men that show us what we have in vain sought for in our superstitious profitless application to our priests and oracles." Note, God has, in the gospel of his Son, plainly shown us the way of salvation, has told us what we must do that we may be delivered from the misery to which by sin we have exposed ourselves.
But, (2.) How came this testimony from the mouth of one that had a spirit of divination? Is Satan divided against himself? Will he cry up those whose business it is to pull him down? We may take it either, [1.] As extorted from this spirit of divination for the honour of the gospel by the power of God; as the devil was forced to say of Christ (Mar 1:24): I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. The truth is sometimes magnified by the confession of its adversaries, in which they are witnesses against themselves. Christ would have this testimony of the damsel to rise up in judgment against those at Philippi who slighted and persecuted the apostles; though the gospel needed no such testimony, yet it shall serve to add to their commendation that the damsel whom they looked upon as an oracle in other things proclaimed the apostles God's servants. Or, [2.] As designed by the evil spirit, that subtle serpent, to the dishonour of the gospel; some think she designed hereby to gain credit to herself and her prophecies, and so to increase her master's profit by pretending to be in the interest of the apostles, who, she thought, had a growing reputation, or to curry favour with Paul, that he might not separate her and her familiar. Others think that Satan, who can transform himself into an angel of light, and can say anything to serve a turn, designed hereby to disgrace the apostles; as if these divines were of the same fraternity with their diviners, because they were witnessed to by them, and then the people might as well adhere to those they had been used to. Those that were most likely to receive the apostles' doctrine were such as were prejudiced against these spirits of divination, and therefore would, by this testimony, be prejudiced against the gospel; and, as for those who regarded these diviners, the devil thought himself sure of them.
II. Christ caused them to be taken notice of, by giving them power to cast the devil out of this damsel. She continued many days clamouring thus (Act 16:18); and, it should seem, Paul took no notice of her, not knowing but it might be ordered of God for the service of his cause, that she should thus witness concerning his ministers; but finding perhaps that it did them a prejudice, rather than any service, he soon silenced her, by casting the devil out of her. 1. He was grieved. It troubled him to see the damsel made an instrument of Satan to deceive people, and to see the people imposed upon by her divinations. It was a disturbance to him to hear a sacred truth so profaned, and good words come out of such a wicked mouth with such and evil design. Perhaps they were spoken in an ironical bantering way, as ridiculing the apostles' pretensions, and mocking them, as when Christ's persecutors complimented him with Hail, king of the Jews; and then justly might Paul be grieved, as any good man's heart would be, to hear any good truth of God bawled out in the streets in a canting jeering way. 2. He commanded the evil spirit to come out of her. He turned with a holy indignation, angry both at the flatteries and at the reproaches of the unclean spirit, and said, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her; and by this he will show that these men are the servants of the living God, and are able to prove themselves so, without her testimony: her silence shall demonstrate it more than her speaking could do. Thus Paul shows the way of salvation indeed, that it is by breaking the power of Satan, and chaining him up, that he may not deceive the world (Rev 20:3), and that this salvation is to be obtained in the name of Jesus Christ only, as in his name the devil was now cast out and by no other. It was a great blessing to the country when Christ by a word cast the devil out of those in whom he frightened people and molested them so that no man might pass by that way (Mat 8:28); but it was a much greater kindness to the country when Paul now, in Christ's name, cast the devil out of one who deceived people and imposed upon their credulity. Power went along with the word of Christ, before which Satan could not stand, but was forced to quit his hold, and in this case it was a strong hold: He came out the same hour.
III. The masters of the damsel that was dispossessed caused them to be taken notice of, by bringing them before the magistrates for doing it, and laying it to their charge as their crime. The preachers of the gospel would never have had an opportunity of speaking to the magistrates if they had not been brought before them as evil doers. Observe here,
1. That which provoked them was, that, the damsel being restored to herself, her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, Act 16:19. See here what evil the love of money is the root of! If the preaching of the gospel ruin the craft of the silversmiths (Act 19:24), much more the craft of the soothsayers; and therefore here is a great outcry raised, when Satan's power to deceive is broken: the priests hated the gospel because it turned men from the blind service of dumb idols, and so the hope of their gains was gone. The power of Christ, which appeared in dispossessing the woman, and the great kindness done to her in delivering her out of Satan's hand, made no impression upon them when they apprehended that they should hereby lose money.
2. The course they took with them was to incense the higher powers against them, as men fit to be punished: They caught them as they went along, and, with the utmost fury and violence, dragged them into the marketplace, where public justice was administered. (1.) They brought them to the rulers, their justices of peace, to do by them as men taken into the hands of the law, the duumviri. (2.) From them they hurried them to the magistrates, the praetors or governors of the city, tois stratēgois - the officers of the army, so the word signifies; but it is taken in general for the judges or chief rulers: to them they brought their complaint.
3. The charge they exhibited against them was that they were the troublers of the land, Act 16:20. They take it for granted that these men are Jews, a nation at this time as much an abomination to the Romans as they had long ago been to the Egyptians. Piteous was the case of the apostles, when it was turned to their reproach that they were Jews, and yet the Jews were their most violent persecutors! (1.) The general charge against them is that they troubled the city, sowed discord, and disturbed the public peace, and occasioned riots and tumults, than which nothing could be more false and unjust, as was Ahab's character of Elijah (Kg1 18:17): Art thou he that troubleth Israel? If they troubled the city, it was but like the angel's troubling the water of Bethesda's pool, in order to healing - shaking, in order to a happy settlement. Thus those that rouse the sluggards are exclaimed against for troubling them. (2.) The proof of this charge is their teaching customs not proper to be admitted by a Roman colony, Act 16:21. The Romans were always very jealous of innovations in religion. Right or wrong, they would adhere to that, how vain soever, which they had received by tradition from their fathers. No foreign nor upstart deity must be allowed, without the approbation of the senate; the gods of their country must be their gods, true or false. This was one of the laws of the twelve tables. Hath a nation changed their gods? It incensed them against the apostles that they taught a religion destructive of polytheism and idolatry, and preached to them to turn from those vanities. This the Romans could not bear: "If this grow upon us, in a little while we shall lose our religion."
IV. The magistrates, by their proceedings against them, caused them to be taken notice of.
1. By countenancing the persecution they raised the mob upon them (Act 16:22): The multitude rose up together against them, and were ready to pull them to pieces. It has been the artifice of Satan to make God's ministers and people odious to the commonalty, by representing them as dangerous men, who aimed at the destruction of the constitution and the changing of the customs, when really there has been no ground for such an imputation.
2. By going on to an execution they further represented them as the vilest malefactors: They rent off their clothes, with rage and fury, not having patience till they were taken off, in order to their being scourged. This the apostle refers to when he speaks of their being treated at Philippi, Th1 2:2. The magistrates commanded that they should be whipped as vagabonds, by the lictors or beadles who attended the praetors, and carried rods with them for that purpose; this was one of those three times that Paul was beaten with rods, according to the Roman usage, which was not under the compassionate limitation of the number of stripes not to exceed forty, which was provided by the Jewish law. It is here said that they laid many stripes upon them (Act 16:23), without counting how many, because they seemed vile unto them, Deu 25:3. Now, one would think, this might have satiated their cruelty; if they must be whipped, surely they must be discharged. No, they are imprisoned, and it is probable the present purpose was to try them for their lives, and put them to death; else why should there be such care taken to prevent their escape? (1.) The judges made their commitment very strict: They charged the jailer to keep them safely, and have a very watchful eye upon them, as if they were dangerous men, that either would venture to break prison themselves or were in confederacy with those that would attempt to rescue them. Thus they endeavoured to render them odious, that they might justify themselves in the base usage they had given them. (2.) The jailer made their confinement very severe (Act 16:24): Having received such a charge, though he might have kept them safely enough in the outer prison, yet he thrust them into the inner prison. He was sensible that the magistrates had a great indignation against these men, and were inclined to be severe with them, and therefore he thought to ingratiate himself with them, by exerting his power likewise against them to the uttermost. When magistrates are cruel, it is no wonder that the officers under them are so too. He put them into the inner prison, the dungeon, into which none were usually put but condemned malefactors, dark at noon-day, damp and cold, dirty, it is likely, and every way offensive, like that into which Jeremiah was let down (Jer 38:6); and, as if this were not enough, he made their feet fast in the stocks. Perhaps, having heard a report of the escape of the preachers of the gospel out of prison, when the doors were fast barred (Act 5:19; Act 12:9), he thought he would be wiser than other jailers had been, and therefore would effectually secure them by fastening them in the stocks; and they were not the first of God's messengers that had their feet in the stocks; Jeremiah was so treated, and publicly too, in the high-gate of Benjamin (Jer 20:2); Joseph had his feet hurt with fetters, Psa 105:18. Oh what hard usage have God's servants met with, as in the former days, so in the latter times! Witness the Book of Martyrs, martyrs in queen Mary's time.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv16–18 And it came to pass as we went to…
And it came to pass as we went to prayer,.... That is, to the house of prayer, or to the oratory, as they were in the way to it; for this is not to be understood of their just going to the act, or duty of prayer; for the damsel that now met them, is said to follow them, and to do so for many days, one after another; and it was by their going to the prayer house, that she knew what they were; and besides, the phrase of "going to prayer", as used by us, for the act or duty of prayer, is a mere Anglicism, and unknown to the eastern writers: now this their going to the oratory, was after they had been at Lydia's house, and had been entertained and refreshed there; whether this was on the same day that she was converted and baptized, is not certain: however, so it was, that
a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination, met us; in the Greek text it is, "the spirit of Python"; the Alexandrian copy and the Vulgate Latin version read, "the spirit Python"; the same with Apollo, who was called Pythius, as was his oracle, from the people coming to him, to inquire of him and consult with him, about difficult matters (y); or rather from the Hebrew word which signifies a serpent; and so Apollo is said to have his name Pythius, from his killing the serpent Typhon, or Python (z); hence the city of Delphos, where was the oracle of Apollo, was called Pytho (a); the prophetess that sat upon the golden tripos, and delivered out the oracles, Pythia; and the feasts and plays instituted to the honour of Apollo, were called the Pythian feasts and plays, and the place of the oracle Pythium (b): and so this maid, or the spirit in her, pretended to divine and foretell things to come; and the Arabic renders it, "an unclean spirit, foretelling future things": the Jews (c) make this spirit of Python, to be the same with Ob, which we render a familiar spirit, Lev 20:27 and the Septuagint by "Engastrimythos", a ventriloquist, one that seemed to speak out of his belly, and pretended to predict future events; and most of the versions in the Polyglot Bible render it by "Python", the word here used: so the Jews say (d), that a master of Ob (as the woman of Endor is called the mistress of Ob), , this is "Python": and so Jarchi on Deu 18:11 explains the word, and adds, that it is one that speaks out of his arm holes, as those sort of people did from several parts of their bodies, and even from their secret parts: the word signifies a bottle, and they were called masters or mistresses of the bottle; either because the place on which they sat, and from whence they gave forth their oracles, was in the form of one; or they made use of a bottle in their divinations; or as Schindler (e) observes, being possessed, they swelled and were inflated like bottles; and being interrogated, they gave forth answers out of their bellies, concerning things past, present, and to come: and this speaking out of their bellies might be done, without the possession of a real spirit, and much less was it from God, as Plutarch (f), an Heathen himself, observes;
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"it is foolish and childish, to think that God, as the ventriloquists formerly called Eurycleans, and now Pythonists, should hide himself in the bodies of the prophets, using their mouths and voices as instruments to speak with, for this was done by turning their voices down their throats.''
The first of this sort was one Eurycles, of whom Aristophanes (g) makes mention; and the Scholiast upon him says, that he was a ventriloquist, and was said by the Athenians to prophesy by a "demon" that was in him, when it was only an artificial way of speaking; Tertullian affirms he had seen such women that were ventriloquists, from whose secret parts a small voice was heard, as they sat and gave answers to things asked: Caelius Rhodiginus writes, that he often saw a woman a ventriloquist, at Rhodes, and in a city of Italy his own country; from whose secrets, he had often heard a very slender voice of an unclean spirit, but very intelligible, tell strangely of things past or present, but of things to come, for the most part uncertain, and also often vain and lying; and Wierus relates of one Peter Brabantius, who as often as he would, could speak from the lower part of his body, his mouth being open, but his lips not moved, whereby he deceived many by this cunning; and there was a man at court in King James the First's time here in England, who could act this imposture in a very lively manner (h): but now whether the spirit that was in this maid was a cheat, an imposture of this kind, is not so easy to say; it seems by the dispossession that follows, that it was a real spirit that possessed her; though some think it was no other than a deluding, devilish, imposture:
which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: divining or prophesying; it seems she had many masters, who had a propriety in her, and shared the gain she brought; unless by them are meant her master and mistress: vast treasures were brought to the temple at Delphos, by persons that applied to the Pythian oracle there; and great quantities were got by particular persons, who pretended to such a spirit, by which they told fortunes, and what should befall people hereafter, or where their lost or stolen goods were, and such like things; and of such sort were the magical boys and servants Pignorius (i) makes mention of, out of Apuleius, Porphyry, and others, who either for gain or pleasure, performed many strange things.
(y) Phurnutus de natura deorum, p. 94. Vid. Schol. Aristoph. Plut. p. 6. & Macrob. Saturnal. l. 1. c. 17. (z) Homer. Hymn. in Apollo, v. 372, &c. (a) Pausan. l. 10. p. 619. (b) Alex. ab. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 6. c. 2. (c) R. Moses Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora, pr. neg. 36, 38. (d) Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 7. (e) Lex. Pentaglott. col. 34. (f) De defectu oracul. p. 691. (g) Vespae, p. 502. (h) See Webster's Displaying of supposed Witchcraft, p. 122, 124. (i) De Servis, p. 355.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v17 These men are - A great truth: but St.…
These men are - A great truth: but St. Paul did not need, nor would accept, of such testimony.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv16–18 Verse 16. As we went to prayer] εις προσευχην,…
Verse 16. As we went to prayer] εις προσευχην, Into the proseucha: See Clarke on Ac 16:13, and See Clarke on Lu 6:12. The article, την, is added here by ABCE, several others, Origen and Theophylact: thus makes the place more emphatic, and seems to determine the above meaning of προσευχην to be right-not the act of prayer or praying to God, but the place, the oratory, in which these proselytes assembled for the purpose of praying, reading the law and the prophets, and such like exercises of devotion. It appears that the apostles spent dome time here; as it is evident, from this and the following verses, that they often resorted to this place to preach the Gospel.
Possessed with a spirit of divination] εχουσαν πνευμα πυθωνος, Having a spirit of Python, or of Apollo. Pytho was, according to fable, a huge serpent, that had an oracle at Mount Parnassus, famous for predicting future events; Apollo slew this serpent, and hence he was called Pythius, and became celebrated as the foreteller of future events; and all those, who either could or pretended to predict future events, were influenced by the spirit of Apollo Pythius. As often-times the priestesses of this god became greatly agitated, and gave answers apparently from their bellies, when their mouths remained close, πυθων was applied to the εγγαστριμυθοι, or ventriloquists. Hesychius defines πυθων, δαιμονιον μαντικον, a divining demon; and it was evidently such a one that possessed this young woman, and which Paul expelled, Ac 16:18. See on this subject, Clarke's notes on "Le 19:31", and See Clarke on De 18:11.
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Brought her masters much gain by soothsaying] μαντευουενη, By divination, or what we call telling fortunes. Our term soothsaying coming from the Anglo-Saxon [A.S.], truth; and [A.S.], to say, i.e. truth saying, or saying the truth. For, as it was supposed among the heathen that such persons spoke by the inspiration of their god, consequently what they said must be true. However, our translators might have used a term here that would not have been so creditable to this Pythoness; for, what she said concerning the apostles excepted, she certainly could not be supposed to tell the truth, while her inspiration came from him who is the father of lies. But Satan will sometimes conceal himself under the guise of truth, that he may the more effectually deceive. See below.
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Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv16–17 Act 16:16. As we went to prayer — Or…
Act 16:16. As we went to prayer — Or to the place of prayer, mentioned before; a certain damsel met us (that is, met Paul and his three companions) possessed with a spirit of divination — Greek, εχουσαν πνευμα πυθωνος, having a spirit of Python, or Apollo. This title, it is generally said, was given to Apollo, on account of his having destroyed a monstrous serpent that was called Python; or a person who for his cruelty was surnamed Python, that is, serpent or dragon, from whence Apollo had the name of Pythius. Plutarch tells us, that those who were inspired with this spirit were εγγαστριμυθοι, persons who spake as seeming to send the voice from their bellies; and Galen mentions the same fact. The manner in which Luke relates the story, plainly implies that he thought this to be a real possession, and that Paul himself viewed it in that light. Nor can the girl’s behaviour, or his, or that of her masters afterward, be accounted for, without allowing this to have been the case. It is well known that the Hebrews called the spirit with which such persons were supposed to be agitated, אוב, ob, because the bodies of those who appeared to be possessed by it were violently distended, like leathern bottles full of wine, and ready to burst. Compare Job 32:18-19. Which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying — That is, by pretending, with the assistance of a familiar spirit, to discover stolen goods, and to point out the concealed authors of mischiefs, and to disclose the general good or ill-fortune of the persons who applied to her, and their success in particular affairs, with other secrets, for which many ignorant persons, in all countries, are willing to give money. See notes on Deu 18:10-11; 1Sa 28:7.
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Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv16–18 As we went to prayer - Greek: as we…
As we went to prayer - Greek: as we were going to the proseuche, ‘the place of prayer, Act 16:13. Whether this was on the same day in which the conversion of Lydia occurred, or at another time, is not mentioned by the historian.
A certain damsel - A maid, a young woman.
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Possessed with a spirit of divination - Greek: Python. See the margin. Python, or Pythios, was one of the names of Apollo, the Grecian god of the fine arts, of music, poetry, medicine, and eloquence. Of these he was esteemed to have been the inventor. He was reputed to be the third son of Jupiter and Latona. He had a celebrated temple and oracle at Delphi, which was resorted to from all parts of the world, and which was perhaps the only oracle that was in universal repute. The name Python is said to have been given him because, as soon as he was born, he destroyed with arrows a serpent of that name, that had been sent by Juno to persecute Latona; hence, his common name was the Pythian Apollo. He had temples on Mount Parnassus, at Delphi, Delos, Claros, Tenedos, etc., and his worship was almost universal. In the celebrated oracle at Delphi, the priestess of Apollo pretended to be inspired; became violently agitated during the periods of pretended inspiration; and during those periods gave such responses to inquirers as were regarded as the oracles of the god. Others, it is probable, would also make pretensions to such inspiration; and the art of fortune-telling, or of jugglery, was extensively practiced, and was the source of much gain. See the notes on Act 8:8-10. What was the cause of this extensive delusion in regard to the oracle at Delphi it is not necessary now to inquire. It is plain that Paul regarded this as a case of demoniacal possession, and treated it accordingly.
Her masters - Those in whose employ she was.
By soothsaying - Pretending to foretell future events.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv16–18 A pythonical spirit. A spirit pretending to divination, to…
A pythonical spirit. A spirit pretending to divination, to tell secrets, and things to come. See 2 Kings xxviii; Isaias viii. 19. (Witham) --- A divining spirit, which pretended to foretell things to come. It is strictly forbidden every where throughout the old law to have any dealings with persons of this description. (Deuteronomy xviii. 10; Leviticus xx. 27; &c.) Hence it would appear that these superstitions were of early practice among mankind. It is lamentable that the present age is still credulous enough to believe in such impostures. The ignorance of mankind, it appears, has always been made a source of emolument to the designing. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv16–18 as we went to prayer--The words imply that it…
as we went to prayer--The words imply that it was on their way to the usual place of public prayer, by the river-side, that this took place; therefore not on the same day with what had just occurred.
a . . . damsel--a female servant, and in this case a slave (Act 16:19).
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possessed of a spirit of divination--or, of Python, that is, a spirit supposed to be inspired by the Pythian Apollo, or of the same nature. The reality of this demoniacal possession is as undeniable as that of any in the Gospel history.
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Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv16–18 16. Went to prayer—Went to the proseucha, probably on…
16. Went to prayer—Went to the proseucha, probably on the following day. But the pythoness repeated this, following the apostles many days, (Act_16:18.)
Spirit of divination—Literally, a spirit of Python. Python was the name of an ancient mythical earth-born dragon or snake, which in oldest antiquity existed at the Delphic cave in Greece, and gave oracles to men. The god Apollo, son of Zeus or Jupiter, (so says the legend,) slew Python, and became himself the oracular god. Hence he was called Pythian Apollo; and the female priestess who, sitting upon the tripod, over the vapour ascending from the cave, gave prophetic utterance with agitation and frenzy, was called a pythoness. This Delphic oracle, with its pythoness and predictions, was in the zenith of its reputation when the states of Greece were in the zenith of their glory. Princes, statesmen, and philosophers alike reverenced the inspiration of Delphos. But when Christ came, so agreed both pagans and Christians, the oracles became dumb.
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But there was no cessation of strolling professional pythons and pythonesses. Generally they were ventriloquists, speaking with deceptive articulations, who, claiming to be possessed with the god, uttered responses from the gastric regions without moving the lips. Whether the maiden thus spoke gastrically is not clear. But when it is said that she had a spirit of Python the words imply possession.
Her masters—Her showmen or exhibiters.
Soothsaying—Uttering predictions as a mantis or pagan prophet.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv16–18 16. as we went to prayer] Better, as we…
16. as we went to prayer] Better, as we were going to the place of prayer, see on Act_16:13. For though the Greek noun here is without the article it is clearly to be rendered as in the previous verse. This must have been on another occasion than that on which Lydia was converted. For in the expression “she constrained us” it seems implied that they had already taken up their abode there before the events recorded in this verse.
possessed with a spirit of divination] More literally, and according to the oldest MSS. which make the two nouns in apposition, having a spirit, a Python. According to Plutarch (De def. Orac. 9) those persons who practised ventriloquism, called also ἐγγαστρίμυθοι, were named Pythons. But the damsel in this history clearly laid claim to some prophetic power, and was used as a means of foreknowing the future. So that word Python is here better referred to the name of Apollo, the heathen god of prophecy, and the A.V. “spirit of divination” gives the correct idea.
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her masters] Some persons, who having found a strange power in the maiden, made use of it, as has oft been done, for their own purposes of gain, and persuaded the people to resort unto her with their questions.
by soothsaying] The word is only found here in the N. T., and wherever it occurs in the LXX. it is always used of the words of lying prophets (Deu_18:10; 1Sa_28:8; Eze_13:6; Eze_13:23; Mic_3:11); so that here we are constrained to take it in the same sense “by pretending to foretell the future.”
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Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv16–18 (16) As we went to prayer.—Better, perhaps, to the…
(16) As we went to prayer.—Better, perhaps, to the oratory, or place of prayer. (See Note on Act_16:13.) It should be stated, however, that the Greek noun is used without the article, and that this is so far in favour of the Received rendering. On the other hand, we find the noun ecclesia, or church, used without the article in 1Co_14:4; 1Co_14:19; 1Co_14:35; 3Jn_1:6, and it is, therefore, probable that proseucha might be used in the same way, just as we speak of “going to church, or to chapel,” without the article. This was probably on the following Sabbath, or possibly after a longer interval, when the mission of the Apostles had become known, and had caused some excitement.
A certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination.—Literally, as in the margin, a spirit of Python, or, as some MSS. give it, a Python spirit. The Python was the serpent worshipped at Delphi, as the symbol of wisdom, from whom the Pythian priestesses took their name, and from whom Apollo, as succeeding to the oracular power of the serpent, took the same adjective. The fact that St. Luke, who in his Gospel describes like phenomena as coming from daemonia, “evil spirits,” “unclean spirits,” should here use this exceptional description, seems to imply either that this was the way in which the people of Philippi spoke of the maiden, or else that he recognised in her phenomena identical with those of the priestesses of Delphi, the wild distortions, the shrill cries, the madness of an evil inspiration. After the manner of sibyls, and sorceresses, and clairvoyants of other times, the girl, whom Augustine describes as fæmina ventriloqua—the phrase probably-expressing the peculiar tones characteristic of hysteria—was looked on as having power to divine and predict (“soothsaying,” as distinct from “prophesying,” exactly expresses the force of the Greek verb), and her wild cries were caught up and received as oracles. Plutarch (de Defect. Orac., p. 737) speaks of the name Python as being applied commonly, in his time, to “ventriloquists” of this type. As she was a slave, her masters traded on her supposed inspiration, and made the girl, whom prayer and quiet might have restored to sanity, give answers to those who sought for oracular guidance in the perplexities of their lives.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv16–18 Were going to the place of prayer for went…
Were going to the place of prayer for went to prayer, A.V. and T.R.; that a certain maid for a certain damsel, A.V.; having for possessed with, A.V. The place of prayer. The hJ proseuch of the R.T. undoubtedly means "the place of prayer," the proseuche. They went there, doubtless, every sabbath. What follows happened on one occasion after Lydia"s baptism. A spirit of divination (pneuma Puqwnov, A.V.; Puqwna, R.T.). "Puqwn denotat quemlibet ex quo puqwsqai datur," "any one of whom inquiry may be made" (Bengel). It was a name of Apollo in his character of a giver of oracles. Delphi itself, where his chief oracle was, was sometimes called Pytho (Schleusner, s.v. ), and Pythius was a common epithet of Apollo. The name Python (Plut.," De Defect. Orac., " cap. 9) came thence to be applied to a ventriloquist (Hebrew bwOa), or to the spirit that was conceived to dwell in ventriloquists and to speak by them, just as in Hebrew the ventriloquist was sometimes called bwOa lb (or tlub if a woman), the owner of a spirit of divination, or simply bwOa, a diviner. (see 1Sa_28:7 (twice) for the first use, and Lev_20:27; Deu_18:11; 1Sa_28:3; for the second) In some passages, as 1Ki 28 and Isa_29:4, it is doubtful whether bwOa means the ventriloquist or the spirit. The feminine plural twObwOa (Lev_19:31 Lev_20:6; 1Sa_28:3, 1Sa_28:9; Isa_8:19) seemsalways to denote the women, who, like the damsel in the text, practiced the art of ventriloquistic necromancy, whether really possessed by a spirit or feigning to be so. The word puqwn is only found here in the New Testament. The LXX usually render twObwOa by ejggastrimuqov. Gain (ejrgasia), literally, work, craft, or trade; then, by metonymy, the gain proceeding from such trade. (Act_19:24, Act_19:25) By soothsaying (manteuomenh). So one name of these ventriloquists was ejggastrimantiv.
Vers. 16-40. Truth and falsehood.
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The domains of truth and falsehood are in their own nature entirely distinct. This cannot be more emphatically expressed than in the inspired words which speak of God as the God of truth, and of Satan as the father of lies. The two realms are not only distinct, but contrary the one to the other. No greater injury has been done to the cause of truth than by the employment of weapons of falsehood in its defense. And, on the other hand, the most effective weapons used in defense of falsehood have been those which were taken from the armory of truth. The section before us exhibits a remarkable example of the champions of truth and falsehood, and of the characteristic weapons of each. To take first the case of the masters of the soothsaying girl. With them it was a simple matter of gain. What their Pythoness taught, what direction her soothsaying took, whether her divination supported Judaism, or heathenism, or Christianity, was all one to them, so that their own gains were great. They were good friends and well-wishers to Paul and Silas as long as their own profits were consistent with the spread of the gospel. But when the damsel was silenced, and the silver stream of the rewards of divination was dried up, their anger knew no bounds. With the keen fury of disappointed avarice they turn against those whom before they seemed to honor and respect. But how shall they wreak their vengeance against these "servants of the most high God"? It would not do to speak the simple truth and say, "These men who " show unto us the way of salvation," have robbed us of our gains in the name of Jesus Christ. Help us to punish them." It would not do to say, "The only fault we have to find with them and their teaching is that we are no longer able to delude simple people, and cheat them out of their money." And so they look about for some nobler, and thereby more effective plea. "Are we not Romans? Is not Rome the mistress of the world? Is not Philippi a Roman colony? Is it fitting that the imperial majesty of the city should be despised and insulted here in the midst of the fasces of the lictors, and in the very presence of the praetor? Or again, Is not law the very bond which binds the world together? Is not law that which all good men honor and obey? Are not the noble Roman people a law-abiding people? And shall a few ignoble and despicable Jews dare to teach customs and persuade men to observe laws contrary to the laws of Rome, and contrary to the duty of Roman citizens? Out upon such lawless insolence! In the name of the majesty of Rome, rise up, ye people, and put these intruders down. In the name of holy law, rise up, ye magistrates, and chastise these presumptuous offenders against the law! Vindicate the fair fame of Philippi, and silence these blasphemers against the truth!" So spake these lying champions of their own sordid interests; and with the weapons of righteousness wielded by their unrighteous hands, they gained a short-lived victory. And now for the champions of truth. Paul and Silas, as they are portrayed in the simple, lucid narrative of the Acts of the Apostles, stand before us as two men of transparent integrity, living for one object the presentation of truth to the minds of men for their present and eternal good. We cannot detect in them one single selfish purpose neither the love of gain, nor the love of power, nor the love of praise, nor the love of ease. What we can detect it stares us in the face is an intense love of God, an entire devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, an unquenchable charity for the souls of their fellowmen, both Jews and Gentiles, and a calm, steady hope of the appearing and kingdom of their unseen Lord. We see also a sense of duty urging them to every step they take, and prompting every word they speak. Well, they preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. They convince, they convert, they receive their converts into the Church of God, all the while leading lives of blameless purity, quietness, and order. Then they are seized, they are ignominiously beaten with many stripes, they are dragged off to prison, their feet are made fast in the stocks, and they are left alone in the dark.
But it was no darkness to them. In the exercises of prayer and praise the light of Heaven illuminated their souls. The gospel which they believed and preached was no less precious in its promises, its hopes, its power, its present light and joy, in that inner dungeon, than it had been by the waterside or in the crowded synagogues of Antioch. The Master whom they served was no less glorious, no less worthy of all their love and all their service, than he had ever been. They knew that his truth would endure from generation to generation. They were not moved from their steadfastness. Then came their wonderful deliverance. And how did they use it? In preaching the same truth to their jailor, in repeating it to the house of Lydia, in carrying it forth from city to city, and being never silent, but continuing to bear witness to the truth as long as their life endured. And are they silent now? I trow not. The truth has not changed; but in heaven it is seen more fully, in more unclouded lustre, in fuller proportions of breadth, and length, and height, and depth; and they that know it there have fuller powers of thought and speech with which to magnify it than the most gifted of them possessed on earth.
Vers. 16-25. Five truths from Philippi.
We learn
I THAT SACRED TRUTH IS SOMETIMES FOUND ON IRREVERENT LIPS. (Ver. 17.)
1. Sometimes in mockery, as with this poor Philippian slave. She probably caught up the words she heard Paul use, and in the spirit of ribaldry uttered them again. So men have sometimes preached or sung in the spirit of mere raillery and indecent mirth.
2. Sometimes in insincerity; when those who have no care to secure a livelihood by honorable means resort to religion as a source of income. It is melancholy to think of the thousands who have adopted the preacher"s function as a worldly calling, on whose lips the sacred truths of the gospel would be as ill placed as on those of this damsel of Philippi.
3. Sometimes in inconsiderate enthusiasm; when they who are animated by a desire to do good, but allow themselves to act without due thought, use the most sacred terms with a freedom which is very near to flippancy. In all cases the irreverent use of Divine names and heavenly truths is to be strongly if not sternly deprecated.
II THAT SELFISHNESS WILL NEVER WANT A GARMENT WITH WHICH TO HIDE ITS UGLINESS. (Vers. 18-21.) The masters of this poor woman, when they found that "the hope of their gains was gone," determined to rid themselves of men who were actually sacrificing their temporal interests to the cause of truth and of humanity! So they incited the mob, and brought Paul and Silas before the magistrates, and played the part of indignant citizens, whose religious equanimity was being shamelessly disturbed (vers. 20, 21). They would not have ventured to show themselves as they were, in the nakedness and ugliness of utter selfishness; so they borrowed the flag of patriotism to cover themselves withal. The worst of this kind of sophistry is that men in no great time deceive themselves, even if they do not deceive their neighbors. Sin soon imposes on itself; it thinks itself benevolent and humane when it is mercenary and cruel.
III THAT ERROR IGNORANTLY IMAGINES IT CAN EXTINGUISH TRUTH BY FORCE. The magistracy of Philippi, well sustained by the violence of the mob (ver. 22), caused truth, in the person of its advocates, to be beaten and imprisoned. It doubtless imagined that there would be an end of this new and "pestilent" doctrine. But as the names of these prisoners were to be honored long ages after those of their judges had been forgotten, so the truths which they proclaimed were to be preached and sung many centuries after those bonds were broken and those dungeon walls had crumbled. How vain the magistrates" court, the scourge, the gaol, the scaffold, when it is the living truth of the Divine Redeemer of mankind which men are trying to stifle or to slay. (Php_1:12-14)
IV THAT FAITHFUL SERVICE OF CHRIST IS SONGFUL EVERYWHERE. Songs in the sanctuary are as natural as they are common; that is to say, when we are worshipping that God who is our God, even the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Their devotees could not praise the "gods of the nations," because there was nothing in their character to call forth reverence, trust, gratitude. But the followers of Jesus Christ find in him everything for which to pay homage and to present thanksgiving; But it is not only in the act of Divine worship, but at all times, that "his praise is m our mouth." Even in prison in such a prison as that of Philippi, and after such lacerating blows as they had endured Paul and Silas "sang praises unto God." They rejoiced that they were "counted worthy to suffer shame for his Name". (Act_5:41; see Mat_5:10-12) And if the faithful servants of Christ could "lift up to God the voice of praise" in the dungeon, those who are engaged in his service now should carry about with them everywhere the spirit of sacred song. We should, we can, cherish the spirit of gratitude and holy joy in the home, in the place of business, in the social circle, in every sphere of our activity. For as there is no engagement in which we should not be honoring Christ, in which we should not be realizing his presence and enjoying a sense of his Divine favor, so is there none in which we may not find a source of satisfaction, in which we may not find a reason for holy song.
V THAT ABOUNDING CHRISTIAN LIFE OVERFLOWS TO THE BENEFIT OF ALL. "And the prisoners heard them" (ver. 25). Not that Paul and Silas sang for their benefit, but that abounding happiness in suffering for Christ overflowed and made itself felt by all around. How these men, whose mouths, if opened at all, doubtless poured forth oaths and curses, must have been struck with surprise, and perhaps smitten with shame, to hear these two prisoners singing psalms of praise! If our Christian life be not the poor, ill-fed, shallow streamlet it may be, but the well-fed, strong, swift, ever-flowing river it should be, then shall we live to bless others even when we are only acting to express our own souls. C.
Vers. 16-18. The witness of evil to the good.
I THE SOOTHSAYING DAMSEL. Here was a girl living upon imposture, and bringing gain to her masters out of traffic in fancies and lies. Magic and soothsaying trades upon the imagination and wishes of the popular mind. Instead of leading the mind to the truth, it leads the mind to the habit of postponing truth to device and interest. Iris the very opposite temper to that of true Christianity.
II HER WITNESS TO THE TRUTH. It was doubtless involuntary, extorted from her by overpowering conviction. So does the truth not seldom come from strange lips. The girl felt the contrast in these men to herself. Here were servants of God; she was the servant of lucre and self-interest. They with truth upon their lips, and their lives in their hands; she with cunning lies and deceits, framed to defraud men of their substance and injurious to their souls. They lead on the way to salvation and blessedness; she, to disappointment and ruin.
III THE CONDUCT OF THE APOSTLES. It gives a rule to us. There can be no fellowship, and therefore no pact nor even momentary compromise, between light and darkness. Truth needs no such help, and never have such devices been known to forward its course. Compliments are to be distrusted by the worker for God. The tinder of vanity is ever ready to be inflamed. The temptation is to put down to our own merit that which is the work of Divine grace. Jealousy against evil is disarmed, watchfulness relaxed. Good men may thus be seduced from the service of God into that of men, or worse. Before firmness and loyalty to conscience the evil and seducing spirits flee. J.
Vers. 16-18. The kingdom of light revealing itself.
On the borders of Europe where many false spirits were at work. Divination and soothsaying, the resort of men in their blindness a testimony at once to their moral helplessness and their recognition of a higher power. The credulity of men was made a source of sordid traffic both by philosophy and false religion. Hence the trouble in the mind of Paul. It was not for his own sake, but for the gospel"s.
I TRUTH NEEDS NO FALSEHOOD TO HELP IT. The Church of Rome has acted very differently. Had it not been stopped, the gospel would have been regarded at Philippi as another form of divination. Simplicity the greatest strength.
II THOSE THAT ARE RESTING ON THE ROCK CAN AFFORD TO WALT. After many days" the spirit was cast out.
III The kingdom of Christ brought into collision with the kingdom of Satan reveals ITS VICTORIOUS MIGHT. So throughout the history. "That very hour." The Name of Jesus Christ exalted, all the more for the evil device against it. Mercy to the deluded and miserable. Judgments to the deceivers. The swine and the spirits perish together. R.
Vers. 16-39. An illustrious triple triumph of Christianity.
Soft as the step with which Christianity entered the fair fields of Europe, and kindly as the welcome given to it then, its uniform lot was not long in making its appearance. It soon wakens close attention, it rouses strong opposition, it vindicates its genius and rights, and the luster of its moral victory must often have been felt by the faithful apostles enough of itself to compensate for the persecutions and sufferings they encountered. Rarely was there a more consummate instance of the kind than that here recorded. Let us notice
I THE RISE OF THE OPPOSITION, AND VICTORY THE FIRST. The first note of discord was sounded by an agent unusual but not altogether unknown, and it was unintentionally occasioned by that actor in the whole scene.
1. The damsel possessed by the spirit of divination, possibly responsible in the first instance for being thus the victim of evil powers, may be held to be not responsible in her present conduct.
2. The utterances of spirits of evil by means of her bodily organs of speech need not be supposed to be necessarily the utterances of mockery, or of any evil design to prejudice those who might have listened to Paul, had he and his companions not been advertised by an agent of so unwelcome a kind. It is said Christ" suffered not the devils to speak because they knew him." And the possessed slave spoke what she spoke because she was under the influence of those who really discerned and knew of what sort Paul and Silas were.
3. The objection of Paul may have been due
(1) to a repetition, which of itself might turn seriousness into mockery;
(2) to the deep grief, that he would inevitably feel that the words of truth should be now, not the utterance of intelligent and converted human beings, as such, but of human powers usurped, and though under the domination of superior Tower, not under the governance of superior goodness, but the contrary.
4. Paul is empowered to speak the command of dispossession, with which the many days cry stopped, and the evil spirit went, and her" right mind" returned to the slave. And from the barest facts of the painful but wonderful incident we learn how tyrannical is the usurpation of the powers of evil; how nevertheless the powers of evil do sometimes press into the service of the truth; how their unsought aid (if aid it be) is refused by the Spirit of truth and by the true themselves, who will not encourage the evil that good may come; on the other hand, how their designed injury is baulked; but finally how, from all the humbling mournful scene, a victory "in the Name of the Lord Jesus" was won by Paul. Whatever it was that was most offensive in what had been taking place was summarily ended, human powers were disenthralled, a whole market of human iniquity was soon closed, if not bankrupt, and the true power was exalted and magnified.
II THE OPPOSITION ITSELF, AND VICTORY THE SECOND.
1. The opposition was not on account of the religious views or preaching and teaching of Paul and Silas. They were Gentiles and Romans who were the opponents now, not, as so often hitherto, Jews. The cause of the opposition was most radical to the human heart. The miserable slave had been gain to cruel masters, never so cruel as when cruel to humanity, and as her gainfulness was gone their opposition was come, and was decided and determined and bitter, and withal disingenuous. They pleaded they were Romans, and they forgot to make sure that there was not a sense in which Paul and Silos were Romans to whom it was yet more necessary to show respect. But the cause was stated to consist in what Paul taught as a "Jew.
2. The opposition was conducted in every sort of disregard of justice and order. Angry people and rulers, and magistrates and multitude, are mingled together against a couple of men who had brought a possessed slave to her right mind; and stripes and imprisonment, and innermost prison and stocks, are their punishment, and, it is supposed, the silencing of them.
3. The opposition, instead of silencing them, had taken the means to keep them awake even at midnight, when perhaps every one of their enemies slept. What can they do but pray? But prayer sometimes brings very ready, very present help, and they sang praises, and though the jailor heard them not, other suffering prisoners did. And God above heard, and brought speedy and full deliverance. No stone of the prison building but it moved, no locked door but it opened, no fetter but it was loosed. And immediately the second great victory began to be apparent.
(1) The cause of Paul and Silos is one for which miracle and earthquake and Heaven will appear.
(2) The jailor"s life is saved by prisoners forsooth those whom be had fastened so securely and so hastily a few hours before.
(3) A greater, better life is roused in that jailor, so that his hands to wash the stripes, and his house and his meat and his very heart, are all at the feet of his prisoners, and "he and all his" numbered among the followers of Christ! Wonders like these passed all Philippi had ever dreamed of before.
III THE ENTIRE COLLAPSE OF THE OPPOSITION, AND VICTORY THE THIRD,
1. When God"s judgments are abroad in the earth, the very air is rife of their rumor. The magistrates, before ever day dawned, had heard, if it were only a whisper, what moved them more than the earthquake. They send simplest order that the men be "let go." It is not only humble hearts moved to salvation, that own to the interposition of Paul"s God and Savior; hearts proud, unchanged, and haply unchangeable quake to their center, and will try the shortest way and the least-observed way or any way, if they may feel free again to breathe, and free from what is to them the most dread incubus.
2. But the hour of the supreme triumph of the servants of Christ had arrived. They show no hurry to go. They have been silent when the marketplace howled around them. But when an almost deathly stillness prevailed that day-dawn, and those who were about spoke with hushed and bated breath, a very few, very quiet, but very authoritative words of Paul"s lips finally complete the transformation of the scene. What a contrast, and what a proud hour for truth, when Paul pronounces on certain magistrates a sentence of more moral grandeur and far-reachingness, than all the sentences they for centuries have pronounced! You can hear those words, and the climax of them, "Nay verily!" Certainly all the rest "went indeed by saying." Nor can we doubt that to God Paul and Silas gave the glory; to Jesus, Master, King, Captain, they gave the glory; to the energetic Spirit of light and power and conversion, they gave the glory; nor took one atom of the proud satisfaction to themselves when the "magistrates came" in person, "and besought" them and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city." What triple triumph Jesus won in Philippi of Europe, when he disenthralled the body and the mind of the slave, when he made the jailor"s heart and life all his own, and when he sent the magistrates on their knees to the scourged, imprisoned, but now dictating Paul and Silas! B.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv16–17 A certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination.
Act_16:16-25
A certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination.
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The Pythoness
The words, literally, are as in the margin, a spirit of Python, or, as some MSS. give it, a Python spirit. The Python was the serpent worshipped at Delphi, 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. The fact that St. Luke, who in his Gospel describes like phenomena as coming from daemonia, evil spirits, unclean spirits, should here use this exceptional description, seems to imply either that this was the way in which the people of Philippi spoke of the maiden, or else that he recognised in her state phenomena identical with those of the priestesses of Delphi, the wild distortions, the shrill cries, the madness of an evil inspiration. After the manner of sibyls, and sorceresses, and clairvoyants of other times, the girl, whom Augustine describes as a faemina ventriloqua--the phrase probably expressing the peculiar tones characteristic of hysteria--was looked on as having power to divine and predict (soothsaying, as distinct from prophesying, exactly expresses the force of the Greek verb), and her wild cries were caught up and received as oracles. Plutarch (de Defect. Orac., p. 737) speaks of the name Python as being applied commonly, in his time, to ventriloquists of this type. As she was a slave, her masters traded on her supposed inspiration, and made the girl, whom prayer and quiet might have restored to sanity, give answers to those who sought for oracular guidance in the perplexities of their lives. (Dean Plumptre.)
Paul and the damsel of Philippi
1. None can bear such testimony to the real nature of goodness as bad spirits. How the fallen angels could preach! They could speak of goodness with all the vividness which comes of conscious contrast. Could not he say much of friendship who has lost it? Could not he speak tenderly of home who has abandoned it? So the spirit that has known God and wandered from Him could speak with soul-touching pathos--of salvation. But Christianity will not have such service. The poor damsel said truly, but her cooperation was declined. The devil can have no part or lot in Christian service. He is not in it! Though his word be true, his tone is wrong. What Paul could have done with this aid! How he could have turned upon all those who held in captivity the infatuated girl, and said to them, She is our ally; she knows the truth, and is not afraid to proclaim it. These temptations are not without force; but the truth being devil-spoken, is not to be received upon such authority, because the authority would not stop there. Have nothing to do with him. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. We see from such incidents the pureness and nobility of the apostolic mind and the independence of truth. In the hands of the apostles the truth did not go a-begging for patronage. When will the Church refuse the bad mans money? The same kind of aid was offered to Christ, but He would never accept it.
2. The girl had masters who made a profit out of her. It is possible that some of ourselves may be under the influence of evil masters. It is in the nature of selfishness to make slaves. Older and craftier men may be making experiments upon your green youthfulness. Christ would have us all free. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
3. And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone--. The bad man has a larger sphere in which to make money than the good man has. Think what they were doing! Living upon this brain-bewildered damsel. Such men would sell the very Church of God and defile the dead for money. Do not imagine that this is an ancient instance; it is the work of today. There is no stopping place in selfishness short of the very destruction of the universe. Begin, therefore, early to resist the devil. It is not all gold that glitters. There are some coins that honest fingers dare not touch. Do not call yourself poor if you have todays honestly-gotten dinner waiting for you. That is a proof that you shall also dine tomorrow. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Crafty masters, dealers in superstition and quackery, may have their gain-bringing damsels taken away from them, but they who bank in heaven have effects inexhaustible.
4. Look at the spirit of the damsels masters (verse 19, etc.). What liars they were! Not a word did they say about the gains. Here is the crime of today, of working from one motive and trying to get credit for another. Do we not sometimes hate a man, and do all manner of evil to him, and then say that we have no personal jealousy, but are concerned about some great question or public good? And yet there are persons who quite disdain the idea of original sin! The gospel will have no pretence, mental reservation, or moral obliquity. It will insist upon trying all our work by the square add plummet of heaven. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The soothsaying damsel at Philippi
I. True testimony from a questionable quarter. This testimony Was as true as if it had been spoken by an angel. But the testifier was under the influence of a devil, and Gods servants need not his praise either in behalf of themselves or their work. But what could induce this woman to bear this true testimony?
1. Perhaps the hope of getting gain. She might think that Paul would reward her for her public proclamation.
2. A wish to conciliate. The evil spirit, fearing expulsion, might influence her to bear this testimony so as to gain favour.
3. A desire to heighten her authority and increase her success. She saw evident tokens of the Divinity of their cause; and by proclaiming this she may have hoped to acquire a higher reputation for being inspired.
4. The hope of bringing discredit on the cause of God. The stratagem might lead the people to conclude that Paul and Silas were in league with evil spirits.
(1) That there is a way of salvation. Plain, safe, exclusive.
(2) That there is need to show this way.
(3) That the work of Gods servants is to show it.
II. Effectual exorcising by an inspired apostle. Paul was grieved--
1. To see a human being the victim of demoniacal power. Many similar saddening sights are still to be seen. The demons avarice, ambition, pride, envy, and sensuality possess mens souls and rule in their hearts. Who can see them and not be grieved?
2. To see the malignant design with which the testimony was borne. The girl was only the instrument of the devil, whose design might be to bring discredit on Christianity; and who might also aim at exciting the self-complacency of Paul.
3. To see the sordid motives of the masters of this girl. They cared not how her nature was degraded, or how the people were imposed on, if only their mercenary ends were answered. Many are still as unscrupulous. They will lie, and cheat, and sell both body and soul for gain.
III. Malignant persecution by disappointed mercenaries (verse 20-22). If you would not enrage a selfish man, do not interfere with his gains, or he will persecute you. Your enterprise may be of God, and there may be evident tokens of this, yet it must not be allowed to live if it frustrates his selfish purposes.
IV. Illegal measures by civil authorities.
V. Midnight melody by incarcerated sufferers (verse 25).
1. They prayed--
(1) for themselves, that they might be supported and delivered;
(2) for their persecutors, that they might be forgiven and saved; and
(3) for their new converts, that they might be strengthened and established.
2. And sang praises unto God. A consciousness of having done right makes a man undaunted in danger, unswerving in suffering, and triumphant in tribulation. (John Elstob.)
The devil of avarice
I. In the pursuance of its purpose. Mercenariness in truth was the demon which inspired her. In pursuing its sordid aim we discover--
1. The prostitution of mind. This young womans sympathies and talents were consecrated to the greed of her masters. Mammon ever hires the genius of the world for its service. A more terrible sight than this can scarcely be witnessed.
2. The practice of falsehood. This woman pretended to withdraw the veil of the future for money. Men build up their fortunes by falsehoods. Lies are considered the life of trade.
3. Religious profession. To impose upon the spectators, she professed almost a reverence for the apostles. Perhaps she had sufficient prescience to see that their mission would be successful, and that her declaration of their success would heighten her reputation and increase her authority. Alas! avarice uses religion for its own ends, puts on its garb, uses its vocabulary, and kneels to its heroes.
II. In the frustration of its purpose (verse 18). Does this mean the exorcising of a personal spirit of evil who had taken possession of her? or does it mean the expulsion of the spirit of evil from her? I incline to the latter opinion, and regard Paul as effecting her conversion. This he did, as all conversions are accomplished, in the name of Jesus Christ, and at once--in the same hour. The change which Paul effected in her now interfered with the gains of her masters. Observe--
1. The vindictiveness of this frustrated avarice (verse 19). Selfish men will oppose any enterprise, however divine, that interferes with their gains. Vested interests are the great antagonists of truth everywhere.
2. Its hypocrisy. Did they say, these men have interfered with our traffic? This would have been truth. No; they prefer a false accusation. These wounded grubs would be thought patriotic heroes.
3. Its power. These rich men had sufficient power to move the multitude in their favour, and to command the magistrates to do their work (verses 22, 23). Such was the power which avarice had in Philippi eighteen centuries ago, and such is the power, alas! which it has ever wielded, and still wields. It can move magistrates and monarchs. Money answereth all things, and the love of it is the root of all evil. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The rescue of a slave
Some facts connected with--
I. The slave.
1. The power by which she was swayed.
2. The profession she made.
3. The testimony she bore.
II. The apostles.
1. Their tenderness of heart.
2. Their great power.
3. Their habitual prayerfulness.
III. The owners.
1. The degradation of their nature.
2. The vengeance of their hearts.
3. The power of their hate. (H. J. Martyn.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On v16 16–18. As we went to prayer. To the place…
16–18. As we went to prayer. To the place of prayer. A certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination. Literally, “The spirit of a Pythoness.” This meant, among the Greeks, a prophetic spirit, Pythias being one of the names of Apollo, the god of prophecy. The account shows that the damsel was “possessed,” that her strange power gave her value in that it was superhuman, that she was a slave, owned by several masters, and brought them much gain by soothsaying. Luke does not say that she foretold the future, but the people thought she did. She was a demoniac. See note on Matt. 8:29.
These men are the servants of the most high God. For similar testimony of the evil spirits to the work and power of Christ, see Mark 3:12; Luke 4:34. The Lord silenced them, and Paul followed the example. He delayed for many days, for reasons we cannot explain, possibly on account of something connected with the afflicted damsel herself.
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In the name of Jesus Christ to come out. “In my name,” said the risen Lord, “shall they cast out devils” (Mark 16:17).
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v16 Act_16:16. A certain damsel possessed with a spirit of…
CRITICAL REMARKS
Act_16:16. A certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination.—Better, a female slave (Gal_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).
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HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Act_16:16-18
The Cure of a Pythoness; or, the Slave-girl and the Apostle
I. The slave-girl.—
1. Her abject condition. A bond-servant, the property of several masters, who may have received her by inheritance (Alford), and who had an interest in her valuable gift, a supposed power of divination.
2. Her reputed power. That of divining or prophesying, which caused her to be regarded by the people of Philippi as a python—i.e., as a person inspired by Apollo, like the priestess at Delphi.
3. Her real character. Not a ventriloquist (Augustine, Holtzmann), though Plutarch asserts the term python was frequently employed to describe such, but a demoniac whose insane ravings were palmed off by her crafty owners as inspired utterances.
4. Her truthful ejaculation. “These men are servants,” etc. Not to be supposed she merely uttered words of the apostles either heard by herself or reported to her by others. Her cry an involuntary because a supernaturally inspired testimony to the character and work of the apostles, similar to that borne to the Saviour by the demons whom He encountered (Mat_8:29; Mar_3:11; Luk_4:41; Luk_8:28).
II. The apostle.—
1. His sore trouble.
(1) If Paul’s grief took the form of indignation, as in Act_4:2, then its object was not the woman, who was an involuntary victim of the demon, or her saying which was true, but either her inhuman masters who made gain of her misery, or the evil spirit which had enthralled her and maliciously designed by her utterance to hinder the work of the apostles.
(2) If of sympathy, then it was directed exclusively towards the suffering girl whose sad case he pitied.
2. His delivering command.
(1) To whom spoken? To the evil spirit in the girl. Paul unmistakably recognised the personal existence of evil powers.
(2) In whose name? That of Jesus Christ (compare Act_3:6), who had come to destroy the devil and his works.
(3) In what terms? Come out of her: in imitation of his Master’s language (Mar_1:25; Mar_5:8; Luk_4:35; Luk_8:29).
(4) With what effect? Immediate healing. “It (the evil spirit) came out that very hour.”
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Act_16:17. The Dignity and Duty of Christian Ministers.
I. Their dignity.—Servants of the most high God.
1. By creation. Formed by His grace.
2. By purchase. Through His Son’s blood (Isa_43:21; 1Co_6:20).
3. By dedication. As the result of their own con secration (Psa_116:16).
II. Their duty.—To proclaim unto men the way of salvation as:
1. Divinely provided.
2. Clearly revealed in Scripture.
3. Humanly easy. By faith instead of works (Rom_3:28). Positively certain. “He that believeth shall be saved” (Joh_6:47); Absolutely exclusive—in fact, as the only way (Act_4:12).
Act_16:18. Satan’s Devices.
I. We are told here that as they went to prayer—probably in the same place by the river-side where they originally met—a young woman, a female slave, possessed by an evil spirit, who brought her master much gain by fortune-telling, met them, and cried after them continually. It appears by this that the power which evil spirits were permitted at that time to exert over men was not confined to the land of Judæa, but was known in other countries also. It shows us the power of the devil directly in connection with the idolatry of the ancient world, that he was working in this way, and in others, to keep mankind in bondage, at a distance from the living God.
II. We are told in the next place after what way this woman, under the influence of the evil spirit, acted towards the preachers of the gospel—“The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation.” It was not, we may be sure, with any friendly object that such a declaration was made. The very appearing in this way to praise its preachers might be in itself a means of drawing them into disrepute.
III. We have related to us finally in the text the way in which St. Paul dealt with this interference to which he was exposed. He bore with it for a considerable time—“This did she many days.”
And now, what lessons may we learn for ourselves from this history?
1. It teaches us, in the first place, to recognise the power of Satan as working in the various false religions and forms of error which are prevalent in the world. But Satan’s power in supporting false religion has been exerted not only in heathenism, but in the corruptions of Christianity. When the apostle Paul (2 Thessalonians 2) is foretelling the coming of the man of sin, he describes him (Act_16:9) as one “whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders.”
2. We learn also, from what has come before us to-day, a device which Satan, through his agents, sometimes employs for the hindrance of the gospel, and that is, leading them outwardly to join with it. Men would have said, “There is one of Paul’s converts,” and they would have classed all together as one band of fanatics and hypocrites. But that was not one of Paul’s converts at all. That was a distinct work of Satan, stirred up to do him injury. The one is never to be confounded with the other.
3. There is one other lesson which we are to learn, and it is a most happy one, from the way in which St. Paul is described as expelling this evil spirit in the text, saying, “I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.” We learn this from it, that the name and power of our Lord Jesus Christ is the one force by which the power of the devil is to be overcome. It is said (Revelation 12) concerning the contest which Christians carry on against him—“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.” There is no plea but that even to the very last; but that is all-sufficient. Again, to meet the temptations of the devil, when he would lead us into sin, the name of Jesus Christ is the effectual defence.—M. F. Day.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v16 16-18. A fortune-telling female slave, who brought much money…
16-18. A fortune-telling female slave, who brought much money to her owners by her Satanic incantations, continues to follow these evangelists day by day, incessantly crying after them, “These men are servants of the most high God, who proclaim unto us the way of salvation!” Of course, her incessant clamor was seriously impedimental to the intelligent audibility of their street preaching in their daily peregrinations. Ere long forbearance has ceased to be a virtue, and Paul, utterly worn out with her clamor, turns and speaks to the demon of vaticination dwelling in her, and bids him to come out of her. Hence that very hour the demon evacuated the damsel, responsive to the mandate of Paul. This is demonstrative proof of demoniacal possession and supernatural revelation at the present day. Satan, in all ages, has been permitted to demonstrate his personality, thus refuting the infidel dogma of no personal devil, which always proves the antecedent of denying the existence of a personal God. In ancient sorcery, mediaeval witchcraft and modern spiritualism, Christian science, hypnotism, et cetera, we have in all ages the demonstration of demoniacal possessions It is as true and real to-day as in any preceding age. Here you see that the power of vaticination, on the part of this damsel, appertained altogether to this familiar spirit which dwelt in her. Paul did not speak to the damsel, but to the spirit, when he ordered him to come out of her. Hence we see the demon occupied her distinct from and independent of her own human spirit, which throws clear light on all the supernatural incantations of modern spiritualism. They actually possess and hold communion with disembodied demons which throng the air.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv16–18 16-18. We are next introduced to an incident which…
16-18. We are next introduced to an incident which led to a decided change in the fortunes of Paul and Silas. (16) " And it came to pass, as we were going to prayer, there met us a certain female servant, having a spirit of divination, who brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. (17) The same followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, These men are servants of the most high God, who show us the way of salvation. (18) She did this for many days. But Paul, being much grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. " Demons exhibited a knowledge of the person of Jesus, and the mission of himself and the apostles, which seems not to have been derived from preaching. This was a superhuman knowledge. But there is no evidence known to me that they could foretell future events, though it was believed by the heathen generally that they could. It was the prevalent confidence in the vaticinations of persons possessed by them that enables this girl to bring her owners much gain.
If Paul had reasoned as many do at the present day, he would have been glad that this girl followed him with such a proclamation. It was the very thing of which he was trying to convince the people of Philippi, who already had confidence in the demoniac. Why, then, was he not rejoiced at so powerful co-operation, instead of being grieved, and shutting the mouth of an apparent friend? It must be because he saw the matter in a far different light from that in which it appears to those advocates of "spirit rappings," who exult in them as affording strong confirmation of the gospel.
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The course pursued by Paul was the same with that of Jesus, who invariably stopped the mouths of demons when they attempted to testify to his claims. The propriety of this course will be apparent upon observing: First, That to have permitted demons to testify for the truth would have convinced the people that there was an alliance between them and the preachers. Second, This supposed alliance would have caused all the good repute of Jesus and the apostles to reflect upon the demons, and all the evil repute of demons to reflect upon them. It was an ingenious effort of the devil to ally himself with Jesus Christ, in order the more effectually to defeat his purposes. If Christ and the apostles had given countenance to demons while telling the truth, they could have used their indorsement to gain credence when telling a lie; and thus, believers would have been left to the mercy of seducing spirits, fulfilling, with the apparent sanction of Christ, the prophesy of Paul that, "In the latter times men shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons, speaking lies in disguise, having the conscience seared with a hot iron." To guard against this result, it was necessary to exorcise all demons who ventured to speak in favor of the truth.
In the present instance, Paul could not pursue the settled course of the apostles, without greatly depreciating the value of the slave; and doubtless it was an extreme reluctance to interference with the rights of property which had induced him to submit to the annoyance of so many days. At length, seeing no other means of relief, he cast the demon out, and, in doing so, framed the exorcising sentence in such a way as to indicate an antagonism between the demon and Jesus Christ; saying, " In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her." The immediate obedience of the spirit demonstrated the authority of the name by which Paul spoke, and thus the very attempt of the devil to gain an apparent alliance with Jesus through this demon was made the occasion of demonstrating the divine power of the latter.
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv16–17 (Greek - Α ," "a Python)."
spirit
(Greek - Α ," "a Python)."
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v16 The encounter with the spirit of divination:
The encounter with the spirit of divination:
v. 16. And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying;
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v. 17. the same followed Paul and us and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation.
v. 18. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
Even in Philippi, although there was no synagogue there, Paul and his companions continued to observe the hours of prayer. But as they were on their way to the place of prayer, presumably the bank of the river, they were molested by a certain slave girl, who, literally, possessed a python spirit. But she was not merely an artist in ventriloquism, as the word is often understood in secular accounts, but she had a spirit of divination, with prophetic power; she was possessed of a demon. This slave, who brought much gain, a great deal of money, to her owners and masters by her soothsaying, made it a habit, day after day, to meet the party of Paul and then follow closely at his heels, crying out meanwhile, with a loud voice: These men are servants of God the Most High, who also are proclaimers of the way of salvation to you. The girl was not mistress of herself in crying out thus. As one commentator has it, the girl at one time was overmastered by the evil spirit, who was her real lord; at another she felt a longing for deliverance from her bondage. The evil spirit in her was quaking at the sight of Christ’s servants and could not help but acknowledge the truth. But Paul was finally filled with annoyance, with grief, pain, and anger. The Lord does not want to be preached by evil spirits, as His conduct in the gospels shows. Besides, according to the meaning associated with the girl’s words by the multitude, they might believe the missionaries to be ministers of superstition or of magic. Therefore Paul spoke, not to the slave, but to the evil spirit that possessed her, charging him in the name of Jesus Christ to come out from her. And in that same hour, according to the Greek way of speaking, in the same moment, according to ours, the spirit and her power left her. Note: The diviners, soothsayers, and fortunetellers of our days also make use of the name and the Word of God, but only for the purpose of deceiving the poor misguided souls that consult them, and thus of holding the souls all the more firmly in their doctrine and devilish tricks. It is our duty, therefore, to expose the evil intention and the deceit of the devil. For even if he makes predictions and performs acts which seem to be miraculous, they are-never done with the command and promise of the Lord and are always detrimental to the salvation of souls.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v16 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
This begins the first event in another short story during Paul's travels; it is about a young fortune teller.
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General Information:
Background information is given here to explain that this young fortune teller brought much financial gain to her masters by guessing people's futures. (See: Background Information)
It came about that
This phrase marks the beginning of a new part of the story. If your language has a way for doing this, you could consider using it here.
a certain young woman
The phrase "a certain" introduces a new person to the story. AT: "there was a young woman" (See: Introduction of New and Old Participants)
a spirit of divination
An evil spirit spoke to her often about the immediate future of people.
the way of salvation
How a person can be saved is spoken of here as if it were a way or path that a person walks on. AT: "how God can save you" (See: Metaphor)
But Paul, being greatly annoyed by her, turned
This can be stated in active form. AT: "But she greatly annoyed Paul so he turned around" (See: Active or Passive)
in the name of Jesus Christ
Here "name" stands for speaking with the authority or as the representative of Jesus Christ. (See: Metonymy)
it came out right away
"the spirit came out immediately"
translationWords
pray
spirit
divination
lord
Paul
servant
Most High
preach
save
day
command
Jesus
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v16 16:16-18 The second portrait of a changed life in…
16:16-18 The second portrait of a changed life in Philippi is of a slave girl who had a spirit that enabled her to tell the future. • Even though the demon within her was stating the truth, Paul, like Jesus, did not permit it to proclaim the Christian message (cp. Mark 1:25, 34; 3:11-12; Luke 4:35, 41). The Lord had commanded that the gospel be proclaimed by his disciples, not by opponents (Acts 1:8; 9:15; 26:15-18; Matt 28:18-20; Luke 24:46-49; John 20:21; see Acts 22:15).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.