[301] 6. CAESAREIA AND JERUSALEM. (XXI 8) ON THE MORROW WE DEPARTED, AND CAME INTO CĘSAREIA. AND, ENTERING INTO THE HOUSE OF PHILIP THE EVANGELIST, WHO WAS ONE OF THE SEVEN, WE ABODE WITH HIM. (9) NOW THIS MAN HAD FOUR DAUGHTERS, VIRGINS, WHICH DID PROPHESY. (10) AND, AS WE TARRIED THERE SOME 1 DAYS, THERE CAME DOWN FROM JUDEA A CERTAIN PROPHET NAMED AGABUS. (11) AND COMING TO US AND TAKING PAUL'S GIRDLE, HE BOUND HIS OWN FEET AND HANDS AND SAID: "THUS SAITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, 'SO SHALL THE JEWS BIND AT JERUSALEM THE MAN THAT OWNETH THIS GIRDLE, AND DELIVER HIM INTO THE HANDS OF THE. GENTILES'".... (15) AND AFTER THESE DAYS, WE, HAVING EQUIPPED horses, PROCEEDED ON OUR WAY TO JERUSALEM. (16) AND THERE WENT WITH US ALSO some OF THE DISCIPLES FROM CĘSAREIA,

CONDUCTING US TO the house OF ONE MNASON, AN EARLY DISCIPLE, WHERE WE SHOULD FIND ENTER-TAINMENT. (17) AND WHEN WE ARRIVED AT JERUSALEM, THE BRETHREN RECEIVED US GLADLY.

and these conducted us where we should find entertainment; and, reaching a certain village, we were in the house of Mnason, an early disciple; and going out thence we came to Jerusalem, and the Brethren received us gladly.

The length of the stay at Cęsareia is concealed, with Luke's usual defective sense of time, by the vague phrase, v. 10, {êmeras pleious}. The sense of this expression varies greatly according to the situation (cp. XXIV 17, with XIII 31, XXVII 20); but here it is not likely to be less than nine or ten.

The party was therefore cutting down the time for the journey to the utmost. Evidently they desired to remain as long as possible with the Brethren; and the plan for the journey was arranged for them, so that with Cęsareian guidance and help it could be done with comfort and certainty when time necessitated departure. Now, it is an elementary principle of prudent living in Southern countries that one should avoid those great exertions and strains which in Northern countries we often take as an amusement. The customs of the modern peoples (whom we on superficial knowledge are apt to think lazy, but who are not so) show that this principle guides their whole life; and it may be taken as certain that in ancient time the same principle was followed. Moreover, Paul was accompanied by his physician, who fully understood the importance of this rule, and knew that Paul, subject as he was to attacks of illness, and constantly exposed to great mental and emotional strains, must not begin his work in Jerusalem by a hurried walk of sixty -four miles from Cęsareia, more especially as it is clear from a comparison of the Bezan with the Accepted Text that the journey was performed in two days. We conclude, then, that the journey was not performed on foot; and when we look at the words with this thought in our minds we find there the verb which means in classical Greek, "to equip or saddle a horse"Chrysostom took the word in that sense; 6. 2 but the modern commentators have scorned or misunderstood him.

Some of the Brethren from Cęsareia accompanied them as far as a village on the road, where they stayed [303] for a night with Mnason of Cyprus, one of the earliest Christian converts. The next day the Brethren returned with the conveyances to Cęsareia, while Paul and his company performed the rest of the journey (which was probably not far) on foot. Time had passed rapidly, when a convert of A.D. 30 or 31 was "ancient"in 57; but the immense changes that had occurred made the Church of 30 seem divided by a great gulf from these Macedonian and Asian delegates as they approached Jerusalem.

FOOTNOTES:

1 {sumparalaubavõ} XII 25, XV 37, p. 170.

2 He says {labontes ta pros tên hodoiporian} (i.e., {hupozugia}).