[213] 1. PHILIPPI. (XVI 13) ON THE SABBATH DAY WE WENT FORTH WITHOUT THE GATE BY THE RIVER SIDE, WHERE THERE WAS WONT TO BE HELD A MEETING FOR PRAYER; AND WE SAT DOWN, AND SPARE UNTO THE WOMEN THAT CAME TOGETHER. (14) AND A CERTAIN WOMAN NAMED LYDIA, A SELLER OF PURPLE, OF THE CITY OF THYATIRA, A GOD-FEARING proselyte WAS A HEARER; AND THE LORD OPENED HER HEART TO GIVE HEED UNTO THE THINGS THAT WERE SPOKEN BY PAUL. (15) AND WHEN SHE WAS BAPTISED AND HER HOUSEHOLD, SHE BESOUGHT US, SAYING, "IF YE HAVE JUDGED ME TO BE. FAITHFUL TO THE LORD, COME INTO MY HOUSE AND ABIDE THERE"; AND SHE CONSTRAINED US.

The omission of the article before the word "river"({potamon}) is one of the touches of familiarity which show the hand of one who knew Philippi well. As we say "I'm going to town," the Greeks omitted the article with familiar and frequently mentioned places or things. In this phrase the commentators in general seem to understand that the Greek words mean "ang1033 along a river," which is the form of expression that a complete stranger might use about a city and a river that he had only heard of.

[214] The text of the next clause is uncertain; but we hold that the Authorised Version is right, following the inferior MSS. (see note, p. 235). On the first Sabbath they went along the river-bank to the regular place where the Jews in Philippi, and those non-Jews who had been attracted to Jewish customs, were wont to meet in prayer. There seems to have been no proper synagogue, which shows that the Jewish community was very small; and in the rest of the narrative no Jew is mentioned.

Lydia, the Thyatiran woman, settled at Philippi, is an interesting person in many respects. Thyatira, like the Lydian land in general, was famous for its dyeing; and its guild of dyers is known from the inscriptions. Lydia sold the purple dyed garments from Thyatira in Philippi; and she had, no doubt, a regular connection with a firm in her native city, whose agent she was. In ancient time many kinds of garments were woven in their perfect shape; and there was much less cutting and sewing of cloth than at the present day. Lydia, of course, sold also the less expensive kinds of garments; but she takes her trade-name from the finest class of her wares, indicating that she was a first -class dealer. She must have possessed a considerable amount of capital to trade in such articles. As her husband is not mentioned, and she was a householder, she was probably a widow; and she may be taken as an ordinary example of the freedom with which women lived and worked both in Asia Minor and in Macedonia.

Lydia had probably become addicted to Jewish religious practices in her native city. There had been a Jewish colony planted in Thyatira, which had exercised considerable influence on the city; and a hybrid sort of worship had been developed, half Jewish, half pagan, which is called in Revelation II 20, "the woman Jezebel". 1

It is not to be inferred that Lydia and her household were baptised on the first Sabbath. A certain interval must be admitted in v. 14, which shows Luke's looseness about time. Lydia was present on the first Sabbath, and became a regular hearer; and finally her entire household came over with her.

FOOTNOTES:

1 See Schuerer in Abhandlungen Weizsaecker gewidmet, p. 39.