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.”
Parallel Translations
-
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.”
-
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.
-
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.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Science (1)
Historical claims about the natural world, weighed against the scientific record.
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Acts 28:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Luke 13:2 Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things?
- Luke 13:4 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 in Jerusalem?
- John 7:24 Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
- Acts 28:2 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 However he shook off the creature into the fire, and wasn’t harmed.
- Isaiah 43:20 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, to give drink to my people, my chosen,
- Matthew 23:35 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 Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar.
- John 9:1-2 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 blind?”
- Genesis 3:1 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 shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?”
- Genesis 4:8-11 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 him. Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?” He said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground. Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
- Genesis 9:5-6 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 of every man’s brother, I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.
- Genesis 42:21-22 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 we wouldn’t listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us.” Reuben answered them, saying, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘Don’t sin against the child,’ and you wouldn’t listen? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required.”
- Numbers 35:31-34 “ ‘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 no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land before the death of the priest. “ ‘So you shall not pollute the land where you live; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it. You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, where I dwell; for I, Yahweh, dwell among the children of Israel.’ ”
- Proverbs 28:17 A man who is tormented by life blood will be a fugitive until death; no one will support him.
- Isaiah 26:21 For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.
- Zephaniah 2:15 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 desolation, a place for animals to lie down in! Everyone who passes by her will hiss, and shake their fists.
- Matthew 27:25 All the people answered, “May his blood be on us, and on our children!”
- Revelation 21:8 But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 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.
Read full note →
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 Right and reason.
Right and reason.
Although adversity be the punishment of sin, yet seeing that God in punishing of men doth not always respect sin, they judge rashly, which either do not wait for the end, or do judge and esteem of men according to prosperity or adversity.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast…
4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
Ver. 4. Yet vengeance suffereth not, &c.] Nemo scelus gerit in pectore, qui non idem habet Nemesin in tergo. The fall of Blackfriars slew nearly a hundred, whereof two were priests; a third having taken water, together with many others that had escaped, purposing to go into Flanders, were drowned at London bridge shortly after, the boat being overturned.
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 Venomous; so the viper is called by that appellative…
Venomous; so the viper is called by that appellative word, from whence also comes theriaca, or treacle, which is made out of flesh, or trochusses, of vipers. And if men can make an antidote out of poison, much more can God bring good out of evil.
This man is a murderer; it is a strange sense that men by the light of nature had of Divine vengeance, especially of God’s revenging of murder. Hence they called one of their furies Tisiphone, as one that punished and revenged murder. Yet they were to blame in this case:
Read full note →
1. Because they confine the punishment of wicked men wholly unto this life.
2. In that they did not expect the event; they judged before they knew what would be the end of Paul afterwards.
3. They erred, in that they measured the goodness or badness of a man’s state or cause by his prosperity or adversity.
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 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast,.... The…
And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast,.... The viper is called "Therion", a beast, it being of the viviparous kind; and hence comes "Theriaca", or "Venice treacle", the foundation of which composition is vipers' flesh; and it is called venomous, because it is of all serpents the most venomous: this when the country people saw
hang on his hand, having wrapped itself about it,
Read full note →
they said among themselves, no doubt this man is a murderer: they might see he was a prisoner by his chain, or might learn it from some of the company, and therefore took it for granted he had been guilty of some crime; and by the viper's fastening on him, they concluded it was murder he was guilty of; for the same notion might obtain among them, as among the Jews, that a murderer that could not be legally convicted, was sometimes punished this way.
"Says R. Simeon ben Shetach (l), may I never see the consolation, if I did not see one run after his friend into a desert place; and I ran after him, and I saw the sword in his hand, and the blood dropping, and he that was slain panting; and I said to him, O wicked man, who has slain this? either I or thou; but what shall I do? for thy blood is not delivered into my hand; "for the law says, by the mouth of two or three witnesses he shall surely die" (#De 17:6): may he that knows the thoughts take vengeance on that man that slew his friend; they say, they did not remove from thence, , "till a serpent came", and bit him, and he died.''
So the Jews observe, that when the execution of capital punishments was taken away from them, yet such who deserved them were punished by God in a way equivalent to them: so for instance, if a man committed a crime, for which he deserved to be burnt, either he fell into the fire, or , "a serpent bit him" (m); or if he deserved to be strangled, either he was drowned in a river, or died of a quinsy. There is a kind of an asp which the Egyptians call "Thermuthis", which they reckon sacred, and worship: this they say will not hurt good men, but destroys the wicked; and if so, says the historian, then "vengeance", or justice has honoured this creature, to be so sharp sighted as to discern the good from the bad; and they say, Isis sends it to the most wicked (n). Agreeably to which these men reason,
whom though he hath escaped the sea: has not been drowned there, when shipwrecked,
yet vengeance suffereth not to live. The Greek word "Dice" rendered "vengeance", is the name of a goddess among the Heathens, said to be the daughter of Jupiter and Themis (o). She is represented as sitting by her father Jupiter; and when anyone does injury to another, informs him of it (p). She is painted sorrowful, and with a contracted forehead, a grave countenance, and a rough aspect, to strike terror in unrighteous persons, and give confidence to righteous ones (q), agreeably to her name, which signifies "justice". This deity the barbarians supposed pursued Paul; and though she let him escape the sea, she will not suffer him to live any longer; for they looked upon the viper's fastening on him, as to be sent by her, so to be immediate death to him.
(l) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 37. 2. & Shebuot, fol. 34. 1. (m) Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 214. 2. & T. Bab. Sanhedrin, ib. & Sota, fol. 8. 2. (n) Aelian de Animal l. 10. c. 31. (o) Apollodarus de Deorurn Origon. l. 1. p. 6. Phurnutus de Natura Deorum, p. 80. (p) Hesiod Opera, &c. v. 254, 255. (q) Chrysippus apud Geilium, l. 14. c. 4.
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 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 Verse 4. The venomous beast] το θηριον, The venomous…
Verse 4. The venomous beast] το θηριον, The venomous animal; for θηρια is a general name among the Greek writers for serpents, vipers, scorpions, wasps, and such like creatures. Though the viper fastened on Paul's hand, it does not appear that it really bit him; but the Maltese supposed that it had, because they saw it fasten on his hand.
Vengeance suffereth not to live.] These heathens had a general knowledge of retributive justice; and they thought that the stinging of the serpent was a proof that Paul was a murderer. There is a passage in Bamidbar Rabba, fol. 239, that casts some light on this place. "Although the Sanhedrin is ceased, yet are not the four deaths ceased. For he that deserves stoning either falls from his house, or a wild beast tears and devours him. He that deserves burning either falls into the fire, or a serpent bites him. He that deserves cutting of with the sword is either betrayed into the power of a heathen kingdom, or the robbers break in upon him. He that deserves strangling is either suffocated in the water, or dies of a quinsy." See Lightfoot.
Read full note →
As these people were heathens, it is not likely that they had any correct notion of the justice of the true God; and therefore it is most probable that they used the word δικη, not to express the quality or attribute of any being, but the goddess Dikê, or vindictive Justice, herself, who is represented as punishing the iniquities of men.
Hesiod makes a goddess of what the Maltese called Δικη, or Justice:-
Η δε τε παρθενος εϚι ΔΙΚΗ, Διος εκγεγαυια,
Κυδνη τ' αιδοιη τε θεοις, οἱ Ολυμπον εχουσιν·
Και ρ' ὁποτ' αν τις μιν βλαπτῃ σκολιως ονοταζων.
Αυτικα παρ Διΐ πατρι καθεζομενη Κρονιωνι
Γηρυετ' ανθρωπων αδικον νοον·
Hesiod. Opera, ver. 254.
JUSTICE, unspotted maid, derived from Jove,
Renown'd and reverenced by the gods above:
When mortals violate her sacred laws,
When judges hear the bribe and not the cause,
Close by her parent god, behold her stand,
And urge the punishment their sins demand.
COKE.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The venomous beast - The English word “beast” we…
The venomous beast - The English word “beast” we usually apply to an animal of larger size than a viper. But the original θηρίον thērion is applicable to animals of any kind, and was especially applied by Greek writers to serpents. See Schleusner.
No doubt - The fact that the viper had fastened on him; and that, as they supposed, he must now certainly die, was the proof from which they inferred his guilt.
Read full note →
Is a murderer - Why they thought he was a murderer rather than guilty of some other crime is not known. It might have been:
(1) Because they inferred that he must have been guilty of some very atrocious crime, and as murder was the highest crime that man could commit, they inferred that he had been guilty of this. Or,
(2) More probably, they had an opinion that when divine vengeance overtook a man, he would be punished in a manner similar to the offence; and as murder is committed usually with the hand, and as the viper had fastened on the hand of Paul, they inferred that he had been guilty of taking life. It was supposed among the ancients that persons were often punished by divine vengeance in that part of the body which had been the instrument of the sin.
Whom, though he hath escaped the sea - They supposed that vengeance and justice would still follow the guilty; that, though he might escape one form of punishment, yet he would be exposed to another. And this, to a certain extent, is true. These barbarians reasoned from great original principles, written on the hearts of all people by nature, that there is a God of justice, and that the guilty will be punished. They reasoned incorrectly, as many do, only because that they supposed that every calamity is a judgment for some particular sin. People often draw this conclusion, and suppose that suffering is to be traced to some particular crime, and to be regarded as a direct judgment from heaven. See the notes on Joh 9:1-3. The general proposition that all sin will be punished at some time is true, but we are not qualified to affirm of particular calamities always that they are direct judgments for sin. In some cases we may. In the case of the drunkard, the gambler, and the profligate, we cannot doubt that the loss of property, health, and reputation is the direct result of specific crime. In the ordinary calamities of life, however, it requires a more profound acquaintance with the principles of divine government than we possess to affirm of each instance of suffering that it is a particular judgment for some crime.
Yet vengeance - ἡ δίκη hē dikē. “Justice” was represented by the pagan as a goddess, the daughter of Jupiter, whose office it was to take vengeance, or to inflict punishment for crimes.
Suffereth not to live - They regarded him as already a dead man. They supposed the effect of the bite of the viper would be so certainly fatal that they might speak of him as already, in effect, dead (Beza).
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 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 No doubt this man is a murderer--His chains, which…
No doubt this man is a murderer--His chains, which they would see, might strengthen the impression.
whom . . . vengeance suffereth not to live--They believed in a Supreme, Resistless, Avenging Eye and Hand, however vague their notions of where it resided.
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 4. Beast—Animal. The Greek word is applied to any…
4. Beast—Animal. The Greek word is applied to any noxious animal, quadruped, or reptile.
Vengeance—The remarkable Greek term here is Δικη, Dike, Justice, or Retribution. If it does not imply Justice to be a goddess, it certainly constitutes a strong personification. Homer is quoted by Kuinoel as saving, “Wise men of old said that Retribution is the co-assessor of Jove;” and Hesiod, “A virgin is Dike, born from Zeus.” And here Paul found a striking illustration of his own doctrine, “The Gentiles which have not the [written] law are a law unto themselves.”
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 4. saw the venomous beast] There is nothing in…
4. saw the venomous beast] There is nothing in the Greek to represent “venomous,” though it was because the inhabitants knew that such was its character that they were so astonished at what happened.
Vengeance suffereth not to live] [R. V. “Justice hath not suffered to live”] This is an instance in which the A.V. expresses far more truly than the R. V. the sense of the Greek. The indefinite meaning of the Greek aorist is often more like what we call the English present than the perfect. “I eat” does not necessarily mean “I am eating” and covers more time than “I have eaten.” It may be present, but it can refer both to past and future time. What the people meant to say was that Justice, as her wont is, is finding out the wrong-doer.
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 (4) The venomous beast.—The adjective, as the italics show,…
(4) The venomous beast.—The adjective, as the italics show, is not in the Greek, and can scarcely be said to be necessary.
No doubt this man is a murderer.—They knew, we may believe, that St. Paul was a prisoner. It is hardly conceivable, indeed, that he could have come on shore bound by two chains, or even one, to his keeper, but, looking to the jealous care which the soldiers had shown in the custody of the prisoners (Act_27:42), it would be natural that they should resume their vigilance over him as soon as they were all safe on shore. And so the natives of Melita, seeing what they did, and ignorant of the prisoner’s crime, and with their rough notions of the divine government of the world, rushed to the conclusion that they were looking on an example of God’s vengeance against murder. It was in vain that such a criminal had escaped the waves; a more terrible death was waiting for him.
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 Beast for venomous beast, A.V.; hanging from for hang…
Beast for venomous beast, A.V.; hanging from for hang on, A.V.; one to another for among themselves, A.V.; escaped from for escaped, A.V.; justice for vengeance, A.V.; hath not suffered for suffereth not, A.V.. The beast (toon). It is peculiar to medical writers to use qhrion as synonymous with ecidna, a viper. So also qhriodhktov, bit by a viper, qhriakh, an antidote to the bite of a viper (Dioscorides, Galen, etc.). Justice (h Dikh). In Greek mythology Dice (Justitia) was the daughter and assessor of Zeus, and the avenger of crime. In her train was Poena, of whom Horace says," Rare antecedeutem scelcstum Deseruit pede Poena claude" ("Od.," 3:2, 32). "The idea of Dice as justice personified is most perfectly developed in the dramas of Sophocles and Euripides" (article "Dice," in "Dict. of Greek and Roman Biog. and Mythol."). It does not appear whether the islanders had learned the name and office of Dice from the Greeks in Sicily, or whether they had any native divinity whose name St. Luke translates into that of Dice. The gods whose names are found in ancient Maltese inscriptions are Melkarth, another name of Hercules, the tutelar god of Tyre; Osiris, and Baal. Other Phoenician divinities are named in the Carthaginian inscriptions (see Gesenius, "Monument. Phoenic."). Had not suffered. They assume that death will certainly follow from the bite.
The superstitions of ignorance.
Read full note →
natives of Melita, seeing what they did, and ignorant of this prisoner"s crime, and with their rough notions of the Divine government of the world, rushed to the conclusion that they were looking on an example of God"s vengeance against murder. It was in vain that such a criminal had escaped the waves; a more terrible death was waiting for him." These men misinterpreted natural law into vengeance; yet there is a proneness in man to judge so. We expect that nature will execute the chastisement of the spiritual world. Hence all nature becomes to the imagination leagued against the transgressor. The stars in their courses fight against Sisera. The wall of Siloam falls on guilty men. The sea will not carry the criminal, nor the plank bear him; the viper stings; everything is a minister of wrath. On this conviction nations construct their trial by ordeal. The guilty man"s sword would fail in the duel, and the foot would strike and be burnt by the hot ploughshare. Borne idea of this sort lurks in all our minds. We picture to ourselves the specters of the past haunting the nightly bed of the tyrant. We take for granted there is an avenger making life miserable. In the incident of this text, and the opinions expressed, we find the thoughts of vengeance which are cherished by those who do not know the true God. Superstitions are usually akin to truth, and contain within them some measure of truth; but they are exaggerations, fashioned 50.y men"s fears, which too often wholly distort and misrepresent the truth. Estimating the superstitious fears and sentiments of these "barbarous people," we note that they were
I RIGHT IS THEIR OPINION THAT WRONGDOING NEVER ESCAPES PUNISHMENT. Their idea was that Paul was a criminal, guilty of some great crime, and justice was pursuing him; if he had escaped the doom of shipwreck, he could not get away from the avenger, who now struck at him in the viper"s bite. Explain the early notion of the blood avenger, and the classical ideas associated with the Furies. It is important that men should have a deep and unquestioning conviction that the guilty never escape; but it does not seem to be absolutely and constantly true so far as this life is concerned. Show the moral and social importance of the assurance that punishment must follow sin, and impress that God"s revelation wholly confirms the testimony of natural religion.
II THEY WERE WRONG IN THIS, THAT VENGEANCE IS A MERE THING. They thought of it as a force ever working, blindly indeed, but certainly. If baffled in one way, it set about gaining its end in another. When heathen ignorance is changed to Christian knowledge, we find:
1. That the thing which we had called vengeance is but one of the modes of the Divine working.
2. That mere calamities the things that we call accidents are not necessarily Divine vengeance (see our Lord"s teaching,. (Luk_13:1-5)
3. That God"s wrath on sin need not find its entire expression in this life, seeing that he has all the ages to work in. This our Lord figuratively expressed when he said, Fear him who can cast body and soul into hell.
4. That God"s avengings, being those of a holy Father, can never rest satisfied in the suffering of the sinful creature, but must go on to secure the creature"s redemption from the sin which issues in the suffering. Blind vengeance can rest in the destruction of the criminal. Fatherly love can never rest save in the recovery of the prodigal child. And God alone can be trusted with the avenging work. "Vengeance is mine: I will repay, saith the Lord. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain See notes on verse 3
See notes on verse 3
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.