Acts 28
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Text:
Paul on Malta
28 After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. 2 The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold.
28:1 Malta. Ancient Melita (the name means “a place of refuge”) was settled by Phoenicians who came there about 1000 B.C. Malta measures eight miles (13 km) by eighteen miles (29 km) and is sixty miles (97 km) south of Sicily and 180 miles (290 km) northeast of Cyrene, North Africa.
28:2 local inhabitants The Greek word used here, barbaros, implies the local inhabitants were considered foreign by the Roman Empire and did not speak the languages or share the customs of either Greeks or Romans.
3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. 4 When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” 5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.
28:4 this man is a murderer This comment is based on the belief prevalent in Greek mythology that the fates align against people who commit evil.
Justice In Greek mythology, Justice was a goddess. The daughter of Zeus and Themis, she was believed to work circumstantially in establishing people’s fate.
28:6 began saying that he was a god The circumstances were obviously miraculous, leading the people to believe that if such a miraculous event could occur that Paul must be a deity of some sort.
7 Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. 8 It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him. 9 And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. 10 They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.
28:7 chief man … Publius. Octavius Augustus installed a Roman governor on Malta. In inscriptions, his office is “the chief man over all the municipality of Malta.” This fits Luke’s description of Publius as “the chief man of the island.” Publius shows the visitors hospitality at his island estate.
28:8 sick with fever and dysentery. The Greek words suggest repeated feverish attacks. The ailment has been diagnosed in modern times as Malta fever, caused by the milk of Maltese goats.
28:10 honored us greatly … put on board whatever we needed. Though despised by Greeks and Romans as barbarians, the residents of Malta are distinguished by their hospitality and generosity.
Paul Arrives at Rome
11 After three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods as a figurehead. 12 Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. 13 And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. 14 There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. 15 And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. 16 And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him.
28:11 a ship of Alexandria. No doubt it carries Egyptian wheat to Rome, the imperial capital.
the twin gods. Castor and Pollux, twin sons of Zeus in Greek mythology, were considered the patron deities of seafarers.
28:14 for seven days. As at Sidon when their voyage began (27:3), the centurion again honors Paul by allowing him to enjoy the fellowship of Italian Christians for an entire week before conducting him to Rome.
28:15 Paul thanked God and took courage. When he wrote to the believers in Rome several years earlier, he anticipated his and their mutual encouragement through each other’s faith (Rom. 1:11, 12). That anticipation is now fulfilled.
28:16 stay by himself … guarded. Under house arrest, Paul lives in his own rented home (v. 30). There he can entertain his friends and minister to groups such as the Roman Jews. He also seizes opportunities to speak of Christ to his guards (Phil. 1:13).
Paul in Rome
17 After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. 18 When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. 19 But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar—though I had no charge to bring against my nation. 20 For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.” 21 And they said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you. 22 But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.”
But now we have what at first seems like an interlude, and then turns out to be the major closing scene of the book. Paul invites the Jewish leaders in Rome—Rome was a major centre of Jewish population, with dozens of synagogues, many of them accommodating Jews from different parts of the empire, and with different language groups, rather like ‘ethnic’ churches in London or New York—and they come to his house. Why? What is going on?
The answer must be that he wants, at all costs, to avoid any chance of a further uproar. Not just for his own sake; what is going to happen to him is going to happen to him, and the God who has rescued him from the sea and the snake is well capable of looking after him even when face to face with Nero. No: for the sake of the gospel. Whatever conclusion we draw about the report of Claudius expelling the Jews from Rome because of rioting to do with ‘Chrestus’ (see 18:2, and the discussion there), the Jews were now well and truly back in Rome, and had been presumably for five or six years by now. The chances are that Paul arrived in Rome in AD 60. Nero had succeeded Claudius, and cancelled his banning order, in 54. It was desperately important not to go through a similar cycle again. Nero, though his reign had started in a blaze of glory and new hopes, was already proving unstable, and nobody quite knew what he was likely to do, in between playing his lyre, acting on stage, swaggering around with the troops, patronizing the Senate, orchestrating orgies …
Paul had no means of knowing, without facing the problem straight out, whether reports had already reached the Jews in Rome of what he had been doing, what he had been charged with, or what he had been informally accused of.
Fortunately for Paul, the Jewish leaders seem both remarkably ill-informed and remarkably unconcerned. They have not heard anything from Judaea about him.
is. But they have heard about the Christian movement (heard about it? If Suetonius is right, they were expelled from Rome 10 or more years before because of rioting about it), and the one thing they know about the whole business is that nobody has a good word for it. So to be approached in this way by a highly educated fellow Jew who, it seems, is not only a Christian but is coming to trial before the emperor for something to do with it, is an opportunity they cannot pass up. They invite themselves once more.
23 When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. 24 And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. 25 And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:
26 “ ‘Go to this people, and say,
“You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
27 For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed;
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’
28 Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”
30 He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.
Application:
the story is ours to pick up and carry on. Luke’s writing, like Paul’s journey, has reached its end, but in his end is our beginning.