But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped from the sea, yet Justice has not allowed to live.” However he shook off the creature into the fire, and wasn’t harmed. But they expected that he would have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly, but when they watched for a long time and saw nothing bad happen to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
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Acts 28:3-6 sits inside this longer paragraph.
When we had escaped, then they learned that the island was called Malta. The natives showed us uncommon kindness; for they kindled a fire and received us all, because of the present rain and because of the cold. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped from the sea, yet Justice has not allowed to live.” However he shook off the creature into the fire, and wasn’t harmed. But they expected that he would have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly, but when they watched for a long time and saw nothing bad happen to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
Parallel Translations
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But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped from the sea, yet Justice has not allowed to live.”
However he shook off the creature into the fire, and wasn’t harmed.
But they expected that he would have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly, but when they watched for a long time and saw nothing bad happen to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
-
And when Paul had gaddered a boundle of stickes and put them into the fyre ther came a viper out of the heet and lept on his honde.
When the men of the contre sawe the worme hange on his honde they sayde amonge the selves: this man must nedes be a mortherer. Whome (though he have escaped the see) yet vengeaunce suffreth not to lyve.
But he shouke of the vermen into the fyre and felt no harme.
Howbeit they wayted when he shuld have swolne or fallen doune deed sodenly. But after they had loked a greate whyle and sawe no harme come to him they chaunged their myndes and sayde that he was a God.
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And when Paul had gathered a nomber of stickes, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heate, and leapt on his hand.
Nowe when ye Barbarians saw the worme hang on his hand, they said among themselues, This man surely is a murtherer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet Vengeance hath not suffered to liue.
But he shooke off the worme into the fire, and felt no harme.
Howbeit they wayted whe he should haue swolne, or fallen downe dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and sawe no inconuenience come to him, they changed their mindes, and said, That he was a God.
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Cross-references (38)
- Luke 10:19 (v5) Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you.
- Mark 16:18 (v5) they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will…
- Psalms 91:13 (v5) You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.
- Luke 13:2 (v4) Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things?
- Matthew 23:33 (v3) You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?
Show all 38 cross-references
- Luke 13:4 (v4) Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell…
- Numbers 21:6-9 (v5) Yahweh sent venomous snakes among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel died. The people came to Moses, and said, “We…
- Matthew 12:34 (v3) You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
- John 7:24 (v4) Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
- Acts 12:22 (v6) The people shouted, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”
- Acts 28:2 (v4) The natives showed us uncommon kindness; for they kindled a fire and received us all, because of the present rain and because of the cold.
- Acts 28:5 (v4) However he shook off the creature into the fire, and wasn’t harmed.
- Revelation 9:3-4 (v5) Then out of the smoke came locusts on the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told that…
- Isaiah 43:20 (v4) The animals of the field, the jackals and the ostriches, shall honor me, because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert,…
- Matthew 23:35 (v4) that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of…
- John 3:14-15 (v5) As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish,…
- John 9:1-2 (v4) As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born…
- Acts 28:4 (v3) When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has…
- 2 Corinthians 11:23 (v3) Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself.) I am more so: in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in…
- Genesis 3:1 (v4) Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You…
- Genesis 4:8-11 (v4) Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed…
- Genesis 9:5-6 (v4) I will surely require accounting for your life’s blood. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand…
- Genesis 42:21-22 (v4) They said to one another, “We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and…
- Numbers 35:31-34 (v4) “ ‘Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death. He shall surely be put to death. “ ‘You shall take…
- Job 20:16 (v3) He will suck cobra venom. The viper’s tongue will kill him.
- Proverbs 28:17 (v4) A man who is tormented by life blood will be a fugitive until death; no one will support him.
- Isaiah 26:21 (v4) For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her…
- Isaiah 30:6 (v3) The burden of the animals of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, of the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying…
- Isaiah 41:24 (v3) Behold, you are nothing, and your work is nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.
- Isaiah 59:5 (v3) They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
- Zephaniah 2:15 (v4) This is the joyous city that lived carelessly, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.” How she has become a…
- Matthew 3:7 (v3) But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to…
- Matthew 21:9 (v6) The multitudes who went in front of him, and those who followed, kept shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in…
- Matthew 27:25 (v4) All the people answered, “May his blood be on us, and on our children!”
- Acts 14:11-13 (v6) When the multitude saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voice, saying in the language of Lycaonia, “The gods have come down to us…
- Romans 16:20 (v5) And the God of peace will quickly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
- 2 Corinthians 6:9 (v3) as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and not killed;
- Revelation 21:8 (v4) But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (19 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv4–6 4. So soon as the barbarians saw. This judgment…
4. So soon as the barbarians saw. This judgment was common in all ages, that those who were grievously punished had grievously offended. Neither was this persuasion conceived of nothing; but it came rather from a true feeling of godliness. For God, to the end he might make the world without excuse, would have this deeply rooted in the minds of all men, that calamity and adversity, and chiefly notable destruction, were testimonies and signs of his wrath and just vengeance against sins. Therefore, so often as we call to mind any notable calamity, we do also remember that God is sore offended, seeing he punisheth so sharply. Neither did ungodliness ever get the upper hand so far, but that all men did still retain this principle, that God, to the end he may show himself to be the Judge of the world, doth notably punish the wicked. But here crept in an error almost always, because they condemned all those of wickedness whom they saw roughly handled. Though God doth always punish men’s sins with adversity, yet doth he not punish every man according to his deserts in this life; and sometimes the punishments of the godly are not so much punishments as trials of their faith and exercises of godliness.
Therefore, those men are deceived, who make this a general rule to judge every man according to his prosperity or adversity. This was the state of the controversy between Job and his friends, (Job 4:7) they did affirm that that man was a reprobate, and hated of God, whom God did punish; and he did allege, on the other side, that the godly are sometimes humbled with the cross. Wherefore, lest we be deceived in this point, we must beware of two things. The former is, that we give not rash and blind judgment of things unknown, according to the event alone, for because God doth punish the good as well as the bad; yea, it falleth out oftentimes that he spareth the reprobate, and doth sharply punish those who are his; if we will judge aright, we must begin at another thing than at punishments, to wit, that we inquire after the life and deeds. If any adulterer, if any blasphemous person, if any perjured man or murderer, if any filthy person, if any cozener, if any bloody beast be punished, God doth point out his judgment as it were with his finger. If we see no wickedness, nothing is better than to suspend our judgment concerning punishment.
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The other caution is, that we wait for the end. For so soon as God beginneth to strike, we do not by and by see his drift and purpose; but the unlike end doth at length declare, that those differ far before God who seem in men’s eyes both alike in the likelihood of punishment. If any man object that it is not in vain so often repeated in the law, that all private and public miseries are the scourges of God, I grant indeed that that is true; but yet I deny that it doth keep God from sparing whom he will for a time, though they be of all men the worst, and from punishing those more sharply whose fault is mean. Nevertheless, it is not our duty to make that perpetual which falleth out oftentimes. We see now wherein the men of Melita were deceived, to wit, because having not scanned Paul’s life, they judge him to be a wicked man, only because the viper doth bite him; secondly, because they stay not the end, but give judgment rashly. Nevertheless, we must note that these are detestable monsters, who go about to pluck out of their hearts all feelings of God’s judgment, which is ingrafted in us all naturally, and which is also found in the barbarians and savage men. Whereas they think that Paul is rather guilty of murder than of any other offense, they follow this reason, because murder hath always been most detestable.
Vengeance doth not suffer. They gather that he is a wicked man, because vengeance doth persecute him though he have escaped the sea. And they feigned that the revenging goddess did sit by the seat of Jupiter, which they commonly called Δικη; grossly, I grant, as men ignorant of pure religion, and yet not without some tolerable signification, as if they had painted out God to be Judge of the world. But by these words the wrath of God is distinguished from fortune, and so the judgment of God is avouched against all blind chances. For the men of Melita take it to be a sign of the heavenly vengeance, in that though Paul be saved, yet can he not be safe.
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 vv3, 4, 6 The godly are sure to have danger upon danger,…
The godly are sure to have danger upon danger, but they have always a glorious issue.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–6 3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of…
3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
Ver. 3. And fastened on his hand] Thus, many are the troubles of the righteous; but out of them all the Lord delivereth them. No country hath more venomous creatures than Egypt, none more antidotes; so godliness hath many troubles, and as many helps against trouble. The devil’s design here was to have destroyed Paul, but he was deceived. So he desired to have Peter, Luk 22:31, sc. to hell, but that was more than he could do.
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 vv3–6 A viper; a creature so venomous, that not only…
A viper; a creature so venomous, that not only its biting, but (some say) its breath, is deadly: this, upon the warmth of the fire, being benumbed with the cold, and now refreshed, began to stir itself.
Fastened on his hand; as it used to do when it biteth. God by this miracle prepares this people not only to be civil and courteous unto Paul, but to believe the gospel which he preached, wheresoever he went. And this wonderful work of God was (as God’s seal to his ministry) to show his authority to be from him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–6 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks,....…
And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks,.... Had picked up some sticks, and put them in a bundle fit for the fire, as everyone was busy to assist in this extremity; nor did the apostle think such an action below him, who in all things was a man of great humility and condescension:
and laid them on the fire; to increase it:
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there came a viper out of the heat: a viper is a kind of serpent, which brings forth its young living, to the number of twenty, only one in a day, which come forth wrapped up in thin skins, which break on the third day, and set them at liberty; and so is reckoned among viviparous animals, from whence it seems to have its name, whereas other serpents lay eggs and hatch them. It is said (k), that this remarkable reptile has the biggest and flattest head of all the serpent kind; its usual length is about half an ell, and its thickness an inch; its snout is not unlike that of a hog; it has sixteen small immovable teeth in each jaw, besides two other large, sharp, hooked, hollow, transparent, canine teeth, situate at each side of the upper jaw, which are those that do the mischief: these are flexible in their articulation, and are ordinarily laid flat along the jaw, the animal never raising them but when it would bite The roots or bases of these teeth, or fangs, are encompassed with a vesicle or bladder, containing the quantity of a large drop of a yellow insipid salivous juice.--It has only one row of teeth, whereas all other serpents have two; its body is not at all fetid, whereas the inner parts of the bodies of other serpents are intolerable.--It creeps very slowly, and never leaps like other serpents, though it is nimble enough to bite when provoked.--Its body is of two colours, ash coloured or yellow, and the ground speckled with longish brown spots; the scales under its belly are of the colour of well polished steel. Its bite is exceeding venomous, and its poison the most dangerous. Now when this viper here is said to come out of the heat, the meaning is, that it came out from the sticks, which were laid upon the fire, being forced from thence by the heat of it: and so the Syriac version renders it, "there came out of them" (the sticks) "a viper, because of the heat of the fire"; it lay quiet among the sticks, among which, and such like things, this creature often lies; but when the fire began to heat it, it sprung out:
and fastened on his hand; or wrapped itself about his hand: the Syriac and Arabic versions render it, "bit his hand"; but that does not seem so likely, since he felt no harm by it; the Ethiopic version, "hung upon his hand"; which agrees with what follows; nor is it inconsistent with its wrapping itself about his hand, which is the more proper signification of the word used.
(k) Chambers's Cyclopaedia in the word "Viper".
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 vv4–6 And when the barbarians saw - they said -…
And when the barbarians saw - they said - Seeing also his chains, Doubtless this man is a murderer - Such rarely go unpunished even in this life; whom vengeance hath not suffered to live - They look upon him as a dead man already. It is with pleasure that we trace among these barbarians the force of conscience, and the belief of a particular providence: which some people of more learning have stupidly thought it philosophy to despise. But they erred in imagining, that calamities must always be interpreted as judgments. Let us guard against this, lest, like them, we condemn not only the innocent, but the excellent of the earth.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3–6 Verse 3. There came a viper out of the…
Verse 3. There came a viper out of the heat] We may naturally suppose that there had been fuel laid before on the fire, and that the viper was in this fuel, and that it had been revived by the heat; and, when St. Paul laid his bundle on the fire, the viper was then in a state to lay hold on his hand.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv3, 5 Act 28:3-4. And when Paul — Who had learned…
Act 28:3-4. And when Paul — Who had learned to make himself servant of all, and would stoop to any thing by which he might be serviceable, was laying on the fire a bundle of sticks — Which he had gathered; there came a viper — Which had been concealed among the wood; out of the heat, and fastened on his hand — Round which it probably twisted itself, and bit it. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast — Or the fierce animal, as θηριον should rather be translated; the word beast being a very improper term for it; they said — Seeing also his chains; No doubt this man is a murderer — “They concluded he was a murderer, (says Elsner,) rather than a person guilty of any other crime, because they saw the viper hanging on his hand, which therefore they judged to have been the offending member, according to the rule which prevailed among the ancients, that persons were often remarkably punished in that part of the body which had been the immediate instrument of their sin;” whom, though he hath escaped the sea — Hath not been destroyed by the tempest and shipwreck; yet vengeance suffereth not (Greek, ουκ ειασεν, hath not suffered) to live — They looked upon him as, in effect, a dead man already, after having been bit by that venomous creature. The poison of a viper so inflames the blood, that a person infected with it is usually tormented as with fire, and quickly dies. For this reason, the ancient Scythians, in war, used to dip their arrows in the blood and gaul of vipers, that their enemies wounded by them might die a painful and sudden death. And, in some remote times, some condemned criminals were put to death by vipers set to their breasts: by this means Cleopatra despatched herself. Though δικη, (justice, or judgment,) here rendered vengeance, may be understood of the divine vengeance in general; yet, as these were the words of heathen idolaters, possibly they might refer to a deity worshipped among them under that name; as we know the Greeks and Romans had a goddess whom they termed Νεμεσις, Nemesis, the daughter of Justice, who, they supposed, punished the wicked. It must give us pleasure to trace among these barbarians the force of conscience, and the belief of a particular providence; which some people of more learning have stupidly thought it philosophy to despise. But they erred in imagining that calamities must always be interpreted as judgments. Let us guard against this error, lest, like them, we condemn, not only the innocent, but the excellent of the earth.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv3–6 Had gathered a bundle of sticks - For the…
Had gathered a bundle of sticks - For the purpose of making a fire.
There came a viper - A poisonous serpent. See the notes on Mat 3:7. The viper was doubtless in the bundle of sticks or limbs of trees which Paul had gathered, but was concealed, and was torpid. But when the bundle was laid on the fire, the viper became warmed by the heat, and came out and fastened on the hand of Paul.
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And fastened on his hand - καθῆψεν kathēpsen. This word properly means to join oneself to; to touch; to adhere to. It might have been by coiling around his hand and arm, or by fastening its fangs in his hand. It is not expressly affirmed that Paul was bitten by the viper, yet it is evidently implied; and it is wholly incredible that a viper, unless miraculously prevented, should fasten himself to the hand without biting.
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 vv4, 6 Murderer. In this instance we see how unfounded are…
Murderer. In this instance we see how unfounded are the judgments of men. As if the misfortune itself were not sufficient to endure, the man upon whom any temporal calamity falls, must be also judged to be an object of divine vengeance. How cruel and preposterous, yet how common are such proceedings! Whence can it happen that man is so forward to think evil, so slow to suspect good in his neighbour? (Haydock) --- Not to live. The inhabitants of the island, called Barbarians, had a notion of a Deity, and also that murder was against the law of God and nature. (Witham)
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 vv3–6 when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks--"a quantity…
when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks--"a quantity of dry sticks." The vigorous activity of Paul's character is observable in this comparatively trifling action [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].
and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat--Having laid itself up among the sticks on the approach of the cold winter season, it had suddenly recovered from its torpor by the heat.
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and fastened--its fangs.
on his hand--Vipers dart at their enemies sometimes several feet at a bound. They have now disappeared from Malta, owing to the change which cultivation has produced.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 6 3. Paul had gathered—The prisoners, safe on an island…
3. Paul had gathered—The prisoners, safe on an island from which they could not escape, were probably not yet chained again.
A viper—The viper is the only viviparous species of serpent, and very venomous. There are no vipers at the present day in Malta. On that island, as in our own country, the increased density of a civilized population exterminates venomous reptiles.
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Out of the heat—The viper stiffens with a small degree of cold, and recovers his activity with warmth. Supposing himself assaulted, he made a fierce assault. The enraged viper will dart several feet upon his victim.
Fastened—With his teeth, and, as appears by the next verse, hung to Paul’s hand until flung off.
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 vv3–6 3. And [R. V. But] when Paul had gathered]…
3. And [R. V. But] when Paul had gathered] This is only another sign of the active spirit of the Apostle. Whatever was to be done, if he were able to take a part in it, he was never wanting, whether it was in counselling about a difficulty, in comforting under danger, or helping by bodily labour to relieve the general distress.
a bundle of sticks] The word in the original would apply very fitly to the brushwood and furze which is said to be the only material growing near St Paul’s Bay of which a fire could be made.
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there came a viper] Dr Farrar (Life of St Paul, ii. 384, note) has noticed that the viper has disappeared from the isle of Arran, as it is now said to have done from Malta.
out of the heat] [R. V. by reason of the heat] The original has the preposition usually rendered “from.” The R.V. gives the better explanation of its meaning here. The creature had been numbed by the cold, and feeling the sudden warmth, woke up and sprang away from it.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 6 (3) And when Paul had gathered a bundle of…
(3) And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks . . .—The act was characteristic of the cheerful energy which had been shown throughout the previous night. The fact thus mentioned has been dwelt on as militating against the identity of Melita and Malta, no wood being now found in the island except at one spot (Bosquetta), not near St. Paul’s Bay. The Greek word, however, is applied to the dry stalks of herbaceous plants rather than to the branches of trees, and, as such, exactly describes the stout, thorny heather that still grows near the bay. It is clear, however, apart from this, that the people of Malta did not live without fire, and, not having coal, must therefore have had wood of some kind as fuel.
There came a viper out of the heat.—There are said to be no venomous serpents now in Malta, and this again has been pressed into the question of the identity of the island. Mr. Lewin, however (St. Paul, ii. 208), states that he saw a serpent, near St. Paul’s Bay, that looked very like a viper; and even if he were mistaken in this, it would be natural enough that venomous snakes should disappear under the influence of culture, as they have done elsewhere, in the course of 1800 years.
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 vv3–6 But for and, A.V.; a viper came for there…
But for and, A.V.; a viper came for there came a viper, A.V.; by reason of for out of, A.V.. Had gathered; sustreyantov, only here and in the LXX of Jud_1:11:3 and Jud_1:12:4, for "to collect," "gather together." But sustrofh (Act_19:40 Act_23:12) means "a concourse," "a conspiracy." In classical Greek sustrefein is "to twist up together," to "form into a compact body," and the like. A bundle of sticks; fruganwn plhqov. The word only occurs in the New Testament here; it means "dry sticks," "kindlers," any combustible material. In the LXX it is used as the equi- valent of vq, straw or stubble, (Isa_40:24 Isa_41:2, etc.) and for"nettles". (Job_30:7) Theophrastus seems to use it for plants smaller than a shrub ("Hist.," Plant., 1:3, 1, quoted by Hobart). Lewin (vol. it. p. 208) writes as follows: in Malta in 1853, I went to St. Paul"s Bay at the same season of the year as when the wreck occurred .... We noticed eight or nine stacks of small faggots, they consisted of a kind of thorny heather, and had evidently been cut for firewood." This is a conclusive answer, if any were needed, to the objection to Melita being Malta, drawn from the absence of wood in the island. But besides this, it is not a fact that even now there is no wood at all (see Lewin). A viper came out. It is objected that there are no vipers in Malta. But it is obvious that the condition of Malta now, a very thickly inhabited island (one thousand two hundred people to the square mile, Lewin, p. 208), is very different from what it was with a sparse population in the days of St. Paul. Vipers may well have been destroyed during one thousand eight hundred and sixty years. Lewin mentions that his traveling companions in 1853 started what they thought was a viper, which escaped into one of the bundles of heather.
Came out. Diexelqousa is the reading of Tischendorf, Alford, Meyer, eta., "came out through the sticks." It is a frequent medical term. The heat; thv qermhv. This form of the word is only used here in the New Testament, instead of the more common qermothv. It occurs, however, repeatedly in the LXX Job_6:17; Psa_19:7; Ecc 38:34, etc.), and was the usual medical word for feverish heat. Fastened; kaqhye, here only in the Bible; but not uncommon in classical Greek, and of general use among medical writers.
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 v3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks,…
Act_28:3-6
And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire.
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How to keep up the fire
If a man wants a fire kept up, he must do his share in supplying its fuel. It will not burn long unless it is replenished. Those who need its warmth, because of the present rain, and because of the cold, are the ones to gather sticks for it. It was down on the coast of Florida, in war time. A little band of Christian soldiers held a weekly prayer meeting in a church building, deserted of its ordinary congregation. One evening a new voice was heard there. An officer who had been in frequent attendance, but who had not before taken part in the exercises, said: I am not accustomed to speak in prayer meetings. I do not feel competent to that service. But I have so greatly enjoyed these meetings, week after week, that I have thought it was hardly fair for me to be always warming myself by this Christian fire without ever furnishing an armful of fuel; so I rise to tell you that your Saviour is my Saviour, and that I am very grateful for all the help and cheer you have been to me in His service, at these week night prayer meetings. And as that little bundle of sticks was thrown into that army prayer meeting fire, the flame flashed up there in new light and warmth, and more than one soldier present rejoiced afresh in its glow. When did you gather the last bundle of sticks for the fire of your church or neighbourhood prayer meeting? It may be by timely words of exhortation or prayer, that you supply your share of the fuel. It may be by a part in the service of song. Or it may be by the responsive look in your face, which helps him who leads, through its assurance that one at least of those before him is all aglow with love for the truth he emphasizes. In one way or another, you ought to supply a bundle of sticks to keep your prayer meeting fire a-going. (H. Trumbull, D.)
There came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his hand.
Vipers and hands
There are certain hands that the viper does not mind to fasten upon. It pays little heed to the idle, greedy, or prayerless hand; it has poisoned these already, and can leave them alone. Let us look at--
I. The viper and the busy hand. It was when Pauls hand was busy that the viper fastened on it. Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do, or rather allows them to find mischief for themselves. But he hates the busy hand and tries to poison it and make it idle. When you are diligent at any task look out for the viper. Whenever you say, Oh I whats the use! or, Never do today what can be done tomorrow, beware of the viper on the busy hand. Shake it off! It will sting you into idleness, and then Satan will have no difficulty in getting you to do what he likes.
II. The viper and the open hand. Satan likes close-fistedness; but when he sees an open, generous hand, the old serpent fastens on it. I will tell you how you may know when it is there. Here is a lad who yesterday got his weeks wages. When in church he hears the minister pleading on behalf of some heathen children, he begins to ask, What have I to do with them? The money is my own. Or on your way to the Sabbath school you may be tempted to halve the penny you had determined to put into the mission box. Satan does not wish you to give anything to carry the gospel to your brothers and sisters afar off. He knows that you are helping Christ to bruise his head. There is a beautiful legend of an old English open-handed king. After King Oswald learned Christ, he was feasting one day with Aidan the Bishop, when he was told that a hungry multitude waited around his door. He sent out to them the untasted feast, and divided among them the silver dishes, so that Aidan blessed his hand, saying, May this hand never grow old. Some time afterwards Oswald fell in battle, and, as his limbs were cruelly cut up and hung upon stakes by the enemy, it was observed that the hand that Aidan had blessed--the open hand of Oswald--remained white and uncorrupted. God loves the open hand, but the viper fastens on it. Look to God and shake it off!
III. The viper and the praying hand. We are told to lift up holy hands of prayer without wrath and doubting. Satan hates the hands of prayer. The praying boy or girl keeps so near Christ that Satan can scarcely do any harm. He wishes you to stop praying, in order to get the better of you. Have you never felt weary, or heard a voice saying to you, What does God care for a boy or girl like you? or, How can He hear you in the heavens? The viper has fastened on your hand. Pray all the more earnestly for power to shake it off! (W. Dickie, M.)
The shipwrecked apostle
Luke puts the personality of Paul before us with great vividness. He was the foremost of the apostles.
1. Notice this conspicuousness of Paul in its many features.
2. The personal qualities of Paul. He was a born leader, a many-sided man. Again, we notice that with this promptness, readiness and power of controlling circumstances there is also a cheerfulness of spirit. Some look only on the dark side. They seem unwilling to admit that the moon itself has a bright side. Pauls cheerfulness is contagious. He tells the men that they will be saved. The face of Keats wore the radiance of an angel. Lord Holland each morning looked as if he had just received good news. I think that they must have prayed, Lord, lift Thou the light of Thy countenance upon us. Though smarting, bleeding, hungering, and oppressed, Paul was always rejoicing in hope and making others glad.
3. The usefulness of St. Paul is seen in his building a fire. He gathers a bundle of sticks. He is foremost in service. He does not say that this is the work of a servant. The higher a man is, the more a minister he comes to be. Nobility obliges. He does not preach to them, but gathers fuel. He is useful when away from home. See how this usefulness worked out. The barbarians--that is, the bearded people, as the shaven Greek looked on the unshaven foreigner--showed us no common kindness. Paul healed the sick among them, and yet said that he was debtor to them. In doing good you reap a benefit.
4. Finally, see the terrible irony of life. The hands are stretched out for warmth, and poison enters. We look for good, and behold evil is ours. This is the sarcasm of life. Hezekiah has the added years he prays for, and finds in them added sorrow. Samson carries off the gates of Gaza that vainly held him, but comes eyeless and woful into a Philistine prison at the end. Abraham has a son, but is told to slay him. David has the crown, but weeps over the treason of Absalom and finally over his dishonourable death. (H. Gallaher, D.)
The deadly viper
There are a great many vipers with deadly poison in their fangs, ready to fasten on the hand of any Christian man or woman who gathers a bundle of sticks, i.e., has to do with secular affairs. There are--
I. The viper to which the business man is exposed. How many hands, busy in trade, that old serpent fastens on, and will not let go! If he does not kill them outright with his poisonous principles and temptations, he at least wounds their honour, peace, usefulness, and Christian standing. Shake off the viper into the fire, man of business! Hesitate not, or you are a dead man!
II. The viper of indifference has fastened itself on the hand of very many nominal Christians. Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion! And how many there are, and what peril they are in! I would thou wert cold or hot, etc.
III. The viper of unbelief. To reject and cast away Gods Word, as many do, is to uncover a nest of vipers and lie down in the midst of them.
IV. The viper of prejudice. This, when it gets firm hold of a man, is a terrible power, a most malign influence, and if he do not shake it off into the fire, it will poison his life, warp his judgment, and kill his influence. How intense is the power of prejudice in social life, in politics, in matters theological and ecclesiastical!
V. The vipers of evil habits, such as gambling, drunkenness, tippling, Sabbath desecration, social dissipation at the theatre, are of the deadliest sort. Few escape on whom they once fasten. Their sting is deadly. Shake off into the fire that venomous serpent which has wriggled out of the bundle of sticks you have gathered; or, as sure as the wages of sin is death, you are doomed, and that speedily! (Homiletic Monthly.)
The vipers dart
I. Everywhere in the pursuit of duty we must expect the viper or the serpent to dart out upon us. Everywhere in the path of obedience to the higher calls of life we shall find ourselves beset by difficulties and assaults which will probably succeed too well in doing what the viper failed to do to the apostle. We shall find ourselves often wounded in the hand, at any rate according to the old prophecy, in the heel. Well for us if we are on our guard and ready instinctively to shake off the attacks and, God-protected by Divine grace, to feel no harm!
1. Professional life, business life, trade, or work well illustrates what I mean. It is one of the most necessary things in the world. It supplies the needs of human life. It is the method by which the members of the human family perform their duties as members one of another. It creates some of the most valuable parts of human character. Energy, quickness, power of organisation, invention, discovery, method, calculation, experience, soberness of mind--these are some of its results on character. But how often do we see the viper dart out from the midst, and fasten on a mans hand! How often do we see trade or business blunting the higher and nobler faculties of human life, blinding the soul to the spiritual world, exhausting all the natural energies in merely material interests, and sometimes--alas! too often--undermining the uprightness and honesty of a hitherto spotless character! How often do we see the hand or the heel wounded, while all power to shake off the venomous beast seems to have deserted the soul!
2. Or look at knowledge in its many branches. What is more fascinating or delightful? It moves at will up and down the history of the world, entering into all great events, revealing the motives and actions of the greatest of mankind, making the past almost as real as the present. It penetrates into the deepest and closest recesses of mans being--his instincts, his motives, his intellectual powers, his loves, his joys, his sorrows. But even here, my friends, be on your guard; even here the viper darts out and is ready to fasten on the hand. For there are spheres of truth which reason can only enter hand in hand with faith, and reason is apt to rise in rebellion, and flash scorn on that which is beyond its ken, and glory in its ignorance or, as it prefers to phrase it, its agnosticism.
3. Or is there anything more beautiful than friendship in its many forms? It is on its widest score the bond of society, and without society of some sort life would be intolerable. It is in narrower limits the bond of that home life of which we in England are so justly proud. In its deepest and intensest forms it is one of the dearest bonds we know on earth. Grow on, dear friends, deeper and deeper into the joys of friendship and of love; make your homes more homelike; let society be worthy of the name; but still beware of the trail of the serpent. Under the guise of friendship and of love how many evil influences are at work, you all know too well. Too often the viper has fastened on the hand, and desolate homes and ruined lives and wasted love have been the last results.
4. The serpent has penetrated paradise, and all mans life is henceforth lived in his presence. The Church is the paradise of God on earth; the nearest meeting place of man with God; the home of grace; the refuge of penitent sinners; the resting place of Gods revelation; the souls best and truest home. It is here that you can do the greatest works for God; that you can lead others to know the happiness which you have found. It is here that you may be the light of the world, and the salt of the earth. It is here that you may be Gods band of labourers, fellow workers with God. Yet here, too, beware the dart of the serpent. Here he fastens upon and wounds the hand. Here sometimes narrowness, and bitterness, and obstinacy, and self-will, and proud contemptuousness, and prejudice, and jealousy, and littleness of spirit may mar and spoil what God intended.
II. St. Paul shook off the venomous beast into the fire, and felt no harm, because he did it instinctively the moment the dart was made, and because he was God-protected by the last promise of our Lord to His disciples. It is only by the religion of Jesus Christ that we can cast off the serpent. It can only he through high communion with God and a constant sense of His loving presence that you and all can dwell safely and have the blessings of life. (J. Weston Townroe.)
Paul and the viper
Or the servant of God, the conqueror of serpents in the power of his Lord (Mar_16:18). He casts from him,
1. The venomous serpent of slander (verses 3, 4).
2. The shining adder of flattery (verse 6).
3. The dangerous reptile of worldly anxiety and cares (verses 8, 9).
4. The old serpent of sin (with application to verse 4, a murderer). (K. Gerok.)
Paul bitten by a viper, and uninjured
I. In what light it was viewed by the people present.
1. As a judgment for a heinous crime.
2. As an evidence that he was a god.
II. In what light it should be viewed. It was intended by God as--
1. A means to awaken their attention to the gospel.
2. A standing memorial of His care over His faithful servants.
Conclusion: Learn from hence--
1. Justice to man.
2. Confidence in God. (C. Simeon.)
They said … no doubt this man is a murderer whom … vengeance suffereth not to live.--
Uncharitable judgments
How easy it is to be sure that other people deserve punishment, and are getting it. If we are in trouble, we wonder why God afflicts us. At all events, we are not to blame for our misfortunes. If the trouble is at our next-door neighbours, it is plain enough where the fault lies. If their house is robbed, there is no doubt that they were very careless in leaving their doors and windows unfastened. If their children are disobedient or graceless, there is no doubt that the parents sadly neglected them. If those neighbours lose their property, there is no doubt that they are always extravagant or shiftless. With what guileless simplicity the disciples came to Jesus, asking about the blind man, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? After all, those Maltese barbarians were not so different from the rest of us. It is good enough for him, or, It is what we might have expected, is the judgment we too often pass upon one whom, without good reason, we esteem smitten of God, and afflicted. Who art thou that judgest another? (H. Trumbull, D.)
The general belief in justice and retribution
I. There is a general sense of divine justice among men.
1. This conviction exists, often imperfect and perverted, but still so manifesting itself, as it did on this occasion, as to show that it lies deep in the human mind. There are things remaining in fallen man--perceptions of what is right, and promptings to what is right, which show what he originally was, and which show also the character of the government under which he is placed. These things resemble the half-effaced inscriptions found on ancient tombs and monuments. The letters and dates are half-obliterated; but skill may enable us to fill up the inscription; to put in a letter here, and a figure there, so as to leave no doubt that the true words are restored. In like manner, there are in the soul, half-effaced records of mans original nature and dignity. From them alone we never could know entirely what man originally was. Yet when they are filled up with the knowledge imparted by revelation, the record becomes complete. Among these traces left upon the hearts of men, are--
(1) The belief in some form of a Divinity, or Divine government, as was indicated in the case of these islanders.
(2) A sense of justice, and a feeling that the guilty deserve to be punished.
2. Whenever men have embodied their sentiments in codes of morals, it has been done in accordance with this view. There are no books on morals, in any language, or age, which do not make a distinction between right and wrong; and for the most part, in regard to the same actions.
3. The same views are found in a community before there are regular laws in regard to the administration of justice. There never has been a nation or tribe which had not some notions that the guilty should be punished, and especially that a murderer ought not to escape. In the earliest ages it was a universal conviction that the duty of avenging the blood of the slain devolved on the nearest of kin (Num_35:19, seq.; Deu_19:6; Deu_19:12; Jos_20:3; 2Sa_14:11). Such a person was recognised in all Oriental nations, and among American savages. The avenger of blood was the minister of justice--one who represented that every man felt to be a carrying out of the Divine purpose in the infliction of vengeance.
4. The same thing is true in regard to the laws of men. As the world advances in civilisation, arrangements for the punishment of crime enter into all laws.
II. There is an arrangement under the divine government by which crime will be detected and punished. This was evidently the belief of these islanders; and it was founded on a state of things which was then open to observation, and which exists everywhere. This might be proved in reference to all forms of guilt. The boy at school who does a wrong on the supposition that it will be undiscovered, or the boy who robs an orchard at night, is often surprised to find that there was some observer, or that some circumstance of which he was not aware has brought his deed to light. But it will be more appropriate to illustrate this in reference to murder. These islanders believed that the goddess of vengeance would not suffer the murderer to go unpunished, although he had survived one peril. They were in error in supposing that this particular thing was proof; but they were in the right in believing that there is an arrangement designed to find out the murderer. Murder will out. There is--
1. The awakened vigilance in every community, making every man feel that he has a personal responsibility in securing, it he can, the punishment of the murderer.
2. The difficulty of concealing the crime. In itself considered, it would not seem to be difficult to obliterate all traces of a murder; to place the knife where it could not be found; to burn a garment so that it should not reveal the stain; or to dispose of the body so that no traces of it could be found. Yet nothing is more difficult.
3. The slight circumstances through which detection occurs--a lock of hair, a footprint, an unguarded remark, the possession of some article of little value, etc.
4. The madness of him who has committed the crime. Remorse, compelling him to confess; troubled dreams; the fear of every man.
III. There is a general conviction that it is proper and right that this should be so. These islanders acquiesced in the arrangement, and saw in the fastening of the viper on Pauls hand that which was right in the case. On no subject have the sentiments of men been more decided and unanimous than on this. We may observe here that punishment is not primarily for the reformation of the guilty, nor for the mere security of a community against the commission of crime. There is a higher idea, which is founded on the fact that justice demands it; and when punishment is inflicted--when the murderer dies, the world at large acquiesces in it as right. Conclusion:
1. These things have been written in the human heart by the hand of God Himself.
2. The sinner lives in a world over which a just Being presides, and where justice demands punishment.
3. Wherever the sinner goes, this demand will follow him.
4. The universe will assent to the final punishment of the sinner.
5. There is a way in which the guilty may escape from impending judgment (Isa_53:4-6). In Christ the guilty may find pardon; through Him the pardoned sinner will be safe on sea or land; whoso believeth on Him will be no more exposed to wrath in this world or in the world to come. (A. Barnes, D.)
Why we suffer
I. For sin.
1. This exclamation would not have been less impressive or natural had these Maltese been barbarians in our sense of the word. But they were barbarians only in the sense in which we should be barbarians in France or Germany if we did not understand the language. The conviction they expressed was universal. Neither barbarism nor civilisation had anything to do with it. A Jew, no less than a pagan, a Roman, or a Greek, would have jumped to the same conclusion. The very apostles themselves, over a much less striking and dramatic instance, asked: Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? And no modern advance of thought has eradicated, or will eradicate, the stubborn instinct which teaches men to connect suffering with guilt. Even the most advanced thinkers admit, not only that there is some connection between sin and suffering, but also that the connection is one of cause and effect. It is a natural and primitive instinct, and it is only by a resolute use of our reasoning faculty that we have been able to control it.
2. Admitting the instinct, we ought also to admit its testimony. We are so made and bred that we cannot, without a supreme effort, attribute the ordering of events to chance or accident. We feel instinctively that a Divine Nemesis manifests itself both in the order of the world at large and in the lot of individual men. Before a man can get rid of this wholesome religious conviction he must both unmake and remake himself: and then he will be very apt, despite the prevalent petticoat positivism, to revert to his original type.
3. For the conviction is a true one, though it often assumes questionable forms. It is true that all suffering springs from sin and bears witness against it, though it is not true either that we can always trace the suffering to its cause, or that the effects of a sin are always confined to the person who commits it. St. Paul traces death, e.g., to sin; yet not every mans death to every mans sin. On the contrary he argues--one sinned, all died. And it is at this point that men have always been apt to go wrong. The broad fact is true, but men have commonly misinterpreted it. They have assumed that they can invariably trace the physical effect to its immediate ethical cause, and that the cause is invariably to be found in the conduct of those who suffer the effect. You know how impossible it proved for our Lord Himself to dislodge these assumptions from the minds of the men of His own day. Suppose ye, He said, that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, etc. An hour before the tower of Siloam fell, many of them, I dare say, would have shrunk from placing themselves high above those on whom it crashed down. But the moment the tower fell, that question was settled for them by God Himself, and their escape was a most gratifying proof of their moral superiority, though of course they were very sorry for the poor people who had been killed. Let us learn, then, that suffering, either personal, domestic, or national, is not always the result of sin; Job suffered many calamities; yet Job was a perfect man and an upright. If men always suffered for or in proportion to their sins we should be driven to the intolerable conclusion that the Greatest Sufferer was also the Greatest Sinner; that He who knew no sin was the very Chief of Sinners!
II. For our good. We are purged, not because we do not bring forth fruit unto holiness, but that we may bring forth more fruit. The greater welfare of Job, e.g., was both an intention, and an effect, of the sufferings inflicted on him. In like manner St. Paul long writhed on the stake in his flesh, in order that the unsuspected resources both of his own nature and of the grace of God might be developed in and upon him. And, still in the like manner, we are taught that the Man Christ Jesus learned by the things which He suffered; and that He was the more highly exalted because He humbled Himself to pain, and grief, and death.
III. For the good of others.
1. If Christ suffered more than other men, it was that He might become the Saviour of all men. If St. Paul long writhed in agony, it was that the power and grace of God might shine the more conspicuously through him on the world around. The affliction of Job was designed for the teaching of his friends and neighbours, and for ours. The blind man about whose sin the disciples were perplexed suffered that the works of God should be made manifest in him--not because he was a sinner, but that he might first open his eyes on the Friend and Saviour of sinners, and get sight for his spirit as well as for his body. And through this man the enlightening and redeeming power of Christ has been set forth, in an impressive figure, to all the world.
2. By calling our attention to him, Christ has taught us to look, in all our own sufferings, for some similar Divine intention and work. They may, or may not, be the consequences of, or the correction for, our sins. But they are always designed for the manifestation of some work of God Which will promote our welfare and that of those around us.
3. Now we all see, I think, that if, when we suffer, we were to fling away, as St. Paul flung off the venomous beast, all that is evil in suffering, all in it that tempts us to distrust or complaint, and to recognise the loving work and intention of God in it, we should be the gainers by it. And we can also see that, were we to take our suffering patiently, bravely, cheerfully, we should be teaching a valuable lesson and giving valuable help to others; that even those who once thought we were sinners above other men because we suffered such things would come to think we were braver and better because we suffered them so patiently, and be led to ask whence we got our patience and our courage.
4. This suffering for the good of others is, indeed, demanded of all who follow Christ. For if any man will follow Him, he must take up his cross, etc. Now the very commonest form of affliction is the pain we feel at the loss of those whom we love. Is it love, is it not rather self-love, which makes us so bitterly regret our loss that we refuse to be comforted? If, for them, to die is gain, shall we grudge them the gain because it involves loss for us, and yet call ourselves the servants and friends of Christ, who loved not Himself, but lived in and for others? If we had more of the spirit of Christ, love would teach us a joy in our friends gain which would more than counterbalance our grief for their own loss. And common as this kind of affliction is, it affords us a rare opportunity of bearing witness to the power and grace of God. (S. Cox, D.)
Howbeit … after they … saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said he was a God.--
Heathen conclusions from portents
This was quite in accordance with heathen modes of thought. The whole story of the wanderings of the wine god, Dionysus, is little more than a record of how the god came to this or that place and was received as a man, till, astounded by some portent, the people changed their minds, and said that he was a god. Thus, when he came to Argos, the people would not acknowledge him; but, after he displayed his divine powers in the punishment of certain offenders, they hailed him as a god, and erected temples in his honour. How large a place was occupied in heathen thought by portents is shown in the list given for Dionysuss voyage from Icaria to Naxos. The sailors decided to sell him as a slave, and so abandoned the proper route. Thereupon the masts and oars became serpents, ivy grew up around the vessel, the sound of invisible flutes was heard, Dionysus transformed himself into a lion, and the sailors, struck with madness, flung themselves into the sea. The people would also have a certain selfish element in their recognition of Paul as a god. Doubtless many of them remembered how Jupiter and Mercury came down to earth as men, and how those who refused to receive them were destroyed by an inundation, while only Philemon and Baucis, their kindly host and hostess, were saved. (S. Times.)
The fickleness of popular opinion
When a good man is roundly abused by the public, he may find comfort, if he needs it, in the conviction that the pendulum of popular opinion will doubtless soon swing as far toward the other extremity of its are as it now swings toward this. Illustrations of this truth are innumerable. If the ten Americans of our first century, who in their day had most of denunciation from press and platform, were now to be designated, it would perhaps be found that bronze statues of no less than six of them are already in our public parks, and that the names of at least as many are popularly counted synonyms of political pretty or of personal integrity. But, after all, popular opinion is as likely to be extreme and unfair in one direction as in another. We may well hesitate to believe that a political candidate, a representative official, or a religious teacher, is either a murderer or a god--merely because editors or other people say so. (H. Trumbull, D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv3–6 3-6. While they were endeavoring to make themselves comfortable…
3-6. While they were endeavoring to make themselves comfortable around the fire, an incident occurred which had an important bearing upon the future welfare of the travelers. (3) " Now Paul, having gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, a viper came out from the heat, and fastened on his hand. (4) And when the barbarians saw the beast hanging from his hand, they said one to another, No doubt this man is a murderer; whom, though he has escaped from the sea, Justice permits not to live. (5) Then he shook off the beast into the fire, and suffered no harm. (6) But they were waiting for him to swell up, or suddenly fall down dead. And when they had waited a great while, and saw that no harm came to him, they turned about, and said that he was a god. " This scene is like that at Lystra reversed. There the people first took Paul for a god, and afterward stoned him. Here they first suppose him to be a murderer, and then a god. Their bad opinion of him had not been based upon the mere fact that he was bitten by a serpent, for they knew that innocent men were liable to the same misfortune, but by the occurrence of this incident in so close connection with his safe escape from an almost hopeless shipwreck. The fact that he was a prisoner helped them to the conclusion that he had committed murder, and was now receiving a just retribution in a violent death. They attributed his punishment to the goddess of justice, using the Greek term Dike, the name of that goddess. When, after watching a long time, they found that the bite, so fatal to other men, had no effect on him, their heathen education led them irresistibly to the conclusion that he was god.
It is almost universally conceded that the island here called Melita is the modern Malta, which lies directly south of Sicily. The evidence for this conclusion is fully summed up by Mr. Howson, to whom the inquisitive reader is referred.
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 5 a viper came out
a viper came out
"a poisonous snake came out of the bundle of sticks"
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fastened onto his hand
"bit Paul's hand and did not let go"
This man certainly is a murderer
"For sure, this man is a murderer" or "This man is truly a murderer"
yet justice
The word "justice" refers to the name of a god that they worshiped. AT: "the god called Justice" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
Paul
just
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 v3 28:3-6 The locals of Malta understood justice as a…
28:3-6 The locals of Malta understood justice as a personified power or deity carrying out judgment on a criminal. When nothing bad happened to Paul, the natives understood him as having power over snakes and concluded that he himself was a god (cp. 14:11-12). In fact, Paul’s survival demonstrated God’s protection (cp. Mark 16:17-18).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.