Book of Acts Chapter 14

Book of Acts Chapter 14 - 09-20-2013

XIV 1 And it happened in Ikonion that upon them entering into the assembly hall of the Judaeans and speaking thusly, that a great multitude of both the Judaeans and the Greeks were believing.

Ikonion, or Iconium as it is popularly spelled in modern times, is the principle city of Lycaonia (Lukaonia). Diodorus Siculus says little concerning the Lukaonians, as does Strabo, who only says that they are “barbarians” (non-Greeks) and he tells us that neither they nor their country are mentioned by Homer (Geography 12.3.27 and 14.5.27). The name Lukaon from which it is apparently derived belonged to several early heroes of Greek writing, including a son of the Trojan King Priam, and the district may have been named for one of them. There is no mention of Lycaonia in Herodotus. The city of Iconium itself was a Greek city-state which was said in legend to be founded by Perseus, an early mythological figure of the Danaan Greeks who was also said to have vanquished the former population. However Xenophon, writing in the early 4th century BC, calls Iconium “the last city of Phrygia” in his Anabasis (1.2.19). In more ancient times, the land apparently belonged to the Phrygians, who were related in the ancient Greeks poets to the Lydians. The Lydians are mentioned as Lud, the son of Shem, in Genesis chapter 10, and again in Isaiah 66:19 as one of the places to which Yahweh would send the dispersed of the children of Israel. By the end of the 7th century BC, most of Phrygia had been destroyed by the Kimmerians, who were indeed a group of the dispersion of Israel. At the end of the 3rd century BC the area was settled by the Galatae, and Galatia was to its north. These were also descended from the dispersions of Israel, and Galatae was in early times a general name given to the Germans and Gauls by the Greeks. Trojans, Phrygians and Galatians would all have been considered as barbarians to Strabo, however the principle residents of the city itself appear to have been Greeks. Strabo calls Iconium “a town that is well settled and has a more prosperous territory than the” plateaus of the Lycaonians. We shall see later in this chapter that some of these “Barbarians” are found in Lystra, another city in which Paul preaches.

As we see here in verse 1 of this chapter, in all of these accounts, as we saw also in Acts 13 when Paul was in Pisidian Antioch, there are Judaeans who accept the Gospel as well as those Judaeans who were opposed to the Gospel. This simple observation dispels the entire “Jew vs. Gentile” paradigm which is presented by the Judaized mainstream denominations, that “the Jews” rejected the gospel so that Paul changed Christianity and turned to “Gentiles”, all of which is a blatant lie. Since many Judaeans accepted the Gospel, whenever one sees that the Gospel was opposed by “the Judaeans”, the phrase refers only to that portion of Judaeans who opposed the Gospel, and there were also many non-Judaeans, ,amy “gentiles”, pagans, who also opposed the Gospel.

2 But the disbelieving Judaeans were aroused and befouled the souls of the people against the brethren.

The word ἔθνος (1484) in the plural is people here, as we discussed at length where it is also rendered as people at Acts 13:46. The body of the people is composed of individuals from diverse nations, and therefore cannot have been considered a λαός (2992) in Greek, a word which, whether it appears in the singular or plural, is used to refer to a body or multiple bodies of people of one nation. Where the individuals in a group being referred to are from diverse nations, the word ἔθνος is used in the plural to describe them. Here it is evident, that those opposed to Paul are a group consisting of both Judaeans and those of other nations, and those with Paul are a group consisting of both Judaeans and those of other nations.

The Codex Laudianus (E) inserts at the end of verse 2 the words: “but Yahweh made peace.” The Codex Bezae (D) has verse 2 to read: “But the assembly hall leaders of the Judaeans and the rulers of the assembly hall brought upon them a persecution against the righteous and befouled the souls of the people against the brethren, but the Prince quickly gave peace.”

3 So then they spent a considerable time speaking openly in reference to the Prince, in attesting to the Word of His favor giving signs and wonders to happen through their hands.

Luke's account does not spell out all of the signs and wonders which happened here, however we can imagine that they consisted of more of the same healings of the sick, blind and lame that the apostles had been empowered to do before. We shall see more specific accounts described in various places later in Acts, and in this chapter.

The apostles are said to have been attesting to the Word of God's favor, or grace. This word grace does not appear often in the books of the prophets, but it is indeed a matter of prophecy, and the promise of this grace is found right in that very chapter of prophecy which also contains the most explicit promise of the New Covenant:

Some excerpts from Jeremiah 31, which both prophecies of and gives us the reasons for this favor, or grace. This is long after most of Israel and Judah were taken captive by the Assyrians: “1 At the same time, saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. 2 Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. [cf. Revelation 12:6: “And the woman fled into the desert where she has there a place having been prepared from Yahweh, in order that there they may nourish her for a thousand two hundred and sixty days.” Israel found grace in the wilderness when she was nourished with the Gospel of her salvation. This is the singular purpose of the grace of God!] 3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee [meaning Israel] with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. [Only Israel is drawn to God by God.] 4 Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel.... 8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame.... 10 Hear the word of the LORD, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. [Nobody else is gathered but Israel.] 11 For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him [foreseeing Christ].... 31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.... 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more....”

The forgiveness of sin is the favor which Yahweh has bestowed upon the children of Israel. That being the purpose of this grace explicit in the Word of God, there is no other reason to be imagined by man. The grace of God is exclusively for the salvation of Israel. The forgiveness of sin being the reason for the grace of God upon Israel, and all of this being the explicit will of God presented by the prophet, by no means can the grace of God be intended for any people other than the literal, physical, genetic children of Israel.

In the face of the Word of God, such grace for any other people is an idea which is completely devoid of meaning. Just a few verses prior to this promise of grace to Israel, Yahweh told those same children of Israel, in Jeremiah 30:11: “For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” These people to whom Paul is preaching this grace are certainly of the “lost” tribes of Israel, and the Judaeans had consisted of both Edomites and people of the remnant of Judah. Christ had told those Judaeans who rejected Him that they could not hear His voice because they were not His sheep in the first place, in John chapter 10. Paul later described this same thing to the Romans in a different manner, in chapter 9 of his epistle.

4 But the multitude of the city was divided, and some were with the Judaeans, but some were with the ambassadors.

The Codex Bezae (D) inserts at the end of the sentence: “being joined by the Word of Yahweh.”

The Judaeans who sided with Paul and the Gospel were, ostensibly, not considered as Judaeans here. We have already seen in the first verse of the chapter that there must have also been a considerable number of those. Paul later wrote in his epistles, that those who accepted Christ – while they were all of the seed of Israel descended from Abraham, as he explained in Romans chapter 4 – were no longer “Judaean or Greek”, but were all one in Christ, in Galatians chapter 3 and again in Colossians chapter 3.

5 And as there came an attack of both the people and the Judaeans with their rulers to outrage and to stone them, 6 seeing it they fled for refuge into the cities of Lukaonia, Lustra and Derbe and the surrounding area, 7 and there they were announcing the good message.

Lystra and Derbe were cities in the district of Lukaonia south and southeast of Iconium. Lystra was a Roman colony from 6 BC. The exact site of Derbe is unclear, but is believed by inscriptions discovered there to be the site now known as Kerti Huyuk. It is currently (now in 2013) undergoing archaeological excavations.

Aside from many other differences in its text in these verses, the Codex Bezae inserts at the end of verse 7 the words: “and the whole multitude was moved by the teaching. And Paul and Barnabas spent time in Lustra.” The Codex Laudianus (E) inserts the words: “the Word of Yahweh. And all the great multitude were astonished by their teaching. And Paul and Barnabas stayed in Lustra.”

8 And a certain man sat in Lustra, powerless in the feet, lame from the womb of his mother, who never did walk. 9 He heard the speaking of Paul, who looking at him and seeing that he had faith for which to be saved 10 said with a great voice: “Arise upon your feet upright!” And he leapt and walked about.

Before the word “arise” attributed to Paul here, the Codices Ephraemi Syri (C) and Bezae (D) insert into the dialogue the line: “I say to you in the name of Prince Yahshua Christ”, as does the Codex Laudianus which further adds the words “our Prince”. The text follows the Codices Sinaiticus (א), Alexandrinus (A), Vaticanus (B) and the Majority Text.

Paul knew that this man was of the faith merely by looking at him, without it being said that the man had even yet spoken to Paul. This evokes references to John 1:47 and Isaiah 3:9. From John 1:47: “Yahshua saw Nathanael coming towards Him and He says about him: 'Look! An Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!'” In the Christogenea New Testament II Corinthians 10:7 reads: “You must look at things according to appearance. If one is confident in himself to be of the Anointed, he must reckon this by himself: that just as he is of the Anointed, even so are we.” Indeed, it is described here that Paul recognized a kindred Israelite on sight.

11 Then the crowds seeing that which Paul had done raised their voice in Lukaonian saying “The gods being like men have come down to us!”

Lystra was a Roman colony, and therefore Roman garrisons were established there, which was the means by which Rome held subject territories. Colonies were also a way in which Rome had granted land to veteran soldiers as a form of retirement benefit. That the people spoke in Lycaonian indicates that they were most likely of the original Phrygian stock, and that Luke had a translator.

That the Greeks believed that the gods could disguise themselves and walk among men is a common theme throughout their ancient literature. Ostensibly, the Phrygians shared both this and other aspects of Greek culture. Here we shall see examples from Euripides’ Bacchae lines 1-5 and 53-54 where the Greek god Dionysus is the subject.

From Bacchae lines 1-5: (Dionysus) “To this land of Thebes I have come, I Dionysus, son of Zeus: Cadmus' daughter Semele, midwived by the lightning-fire, once gave birth to me [supposedly by Zeus himself]. I have exchanged my divine form for a mortal one and have come to the waters of Dirce and Ismenus.”

From Bacchae lines 43-54: (Dionysus) “Now Cadmus has given the kingship and its prerogatives to his daughter's son Pentheus. This man is a god-fighter where my worship is concerned, forcibly excluding me from libations and making no mention of me in prayer. For this reason I will demonstrate to him and to all the Thebans that I am a god. And when I have set all here to rights, I shall journey on to another land and show myself there. But if Thebes gets angry and tries to bring the bacchants from the mountain by force of arms, I will meet them in battle at the head of the army of maenads. That is why I have taken on mortal form and changed my appearance to that of a man.”

Thebes was in Greece, and Cadmus was called “Cadmus the Phoenician” throughout the ancient poets. Dionysus was seen as the god of wine, ritual madness and ecstasy by the Greeks, and the bacchants were women who used his worship as an excuse to run off into the mountains once a year and practice such lasciviousness apart from their husbands. It is no wonder that at least some Greek men opposed him. Therefore we see a strong element of pagan propaganda in Euripides' play, and by examining Classical Greek literature can understand some of the evils of ancient paganism as they are presented by the Old Testament prophets.

This same poem by Euripides, who wrote in the mid-fifth century BC, also provides insight into the population of Asia Minor at his time, which is not long after the Persian War:

From Bacchae lines 13-19: (Dionysus) “Leaving behind the gold-rich lands of the Lydians and Phrygians, I made my way to the sun-drenched plains of the Persians, the fortifications of Bactria. The harsh country of the Medes, prosperous Arabia, and all that part of Asia Minor that lies along the briny sea and possesses fine-towered cities full of Greeks and outlanders [or barbarians] mingled together.” This is apparently what we also see here in Lystra. However, since over 400 years later Strabo marveled at the ethnic diversity of certain cities in Egypt, perhaps he had differing opinions concerning these “barbarians”. Furthermore, in answering certain quotations of Ephorus made in the writings of Apollodorus, Strabo in his Geography, Book 14 (14.5.25) refutes the notion that there are any “mixed tribes” in this part of Lycaonia, so we should not abuse the words of Euripides to imagine that Greeks were race-mixing in Asia Minor. In early times, Greek city-states practiced much what the Romans later did with their colonies. For instance, Athens had kleruchies, which were grants of foreign land to Athenian citizens who established an Athenian presence in those places. The Greek word kleruch, describes such an allotment holder, [which is certainly the origination of the later Roman Church word cleric, and the idea expressed in the Catholic diocese a word which comes from another Greek word, διοίκησις, meaning administration]. These Greeks lived among the “barbarians”, but that does not mean that they intermingled in marriage with them.

These citations from Euripides'Bacchae are from Euripides, Book VI,, pp. 13-17, Loeb Classical Library, David Kovacs translation, 2002, Harvard University Press.

12 And they called Barnabas “Zeus”, and Paul “Hermes” since he was conductor of the Word.

The King James Version substituted the corresponding Roman appellations Jupiter and Mercury for the Greek names Zeus and Hermes. That is a common practice by many of the English translators of Classical literature which persists until today. Zeus was the name used by the Greeks for the supreme god, while Hermes was to the Greeks the messenger of the gods. In early Greek literature, Hermes was only the “appointed messenger to Hades” of Zeus, Hades being the god of the underworld. Yet Hermes was also “lord over all birds of omen and grim-eyed lions, and boars with gleaming tusks, and over dogs and all flocks … and over all sheep” (for which see the Homeric Hymn To Hermes, lines 566-573), for which reason Hermes was often called “the Shepherd” (ibid., line 314). This has no actual relation to the later apocryphal Christian writing known as The Shepherd of Hermas.

Ζεύς being the Nominative form of the name, the word in its Genitive, Dative, and Accusative forms, which are Διός, Διί, and Δία (Dios, Dii, and Dia), all begin with the Delta (d) rather than the Zeta (z), which betrays its relation to the Latin word deus, the general word for “god” from which we get English words such as “deity”. The name Hermes, Ἑρμῆς, is related to Greek words which commonly describe the translation or interpretation of foreign languages, i.e. ἑρμηνεύω (2059) and ἑρμηνεία (2058). That Paul was the primary speaker, he was seen as the messenger, or Hermes.

13 And the priest of that Zeus [or that particular idol-representation and temple of Zeus] which is before the city, bringing bulls and garlands by the gates with the crowds desired to sacrifice. 14 But the ambassadors Barnabas and Paul hearing it, tearing their garments sprung forth to the crowd screaming 15 and saying “Men! What are these things which you do? We also are men, being of like nature with you! Announcing the good message to you, from these vanities to turn to Yahweh who lives, ‘Who has made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all things which are in them.’

The third century papyrus P45 has verse 15 in part: “Announcing the good message to you, to withdraw from these vanities and to turn to Yahweh who lives”; The Codex Bezae (D) has “Announcing the good message to you: Yahweh by which from these vanities you may turn to Yahweh who lives”; The Codex Laudianus (E) has “Announcing the good message to you, that from these vanities you should turn to Yahweh who lives”.

At the end of verse 15 Paul paraphrases Exodus 20:11, for which we may also refer to Nehemiah 9:6: “Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.” Evidently, in Nehemiah's mind, the “host of heaven” refers to the children of Israel of the remnant.

The denial by Paul and Barnabas of the proclamation of the people that they were gods was immediate and quite emphatic. Tearing one's clothing was a sign of humbling oneself in mourning or the recognition of disgrace, and therefore Paul and Barnabas considered it a disgrace to be called gods. In Acts chapter 12 we saw that the Edomite Herod Agrippa I considered such a proclamation an honor, and for that reason he was struck dead by Yahweh God. Sadly, there are those today calling themselves followers of Yahshua the Anointed One who have not learned from these lessons, that the true children of God should humble themselves in such a manner. [Therefore regardless of what the Scripture says of the children of Yahweh once they are perfected, here in this life we are certainly not perfected and should therefore not consider ourselves to be elohim, as some so arrogantly insist. Rather, we are Christians, only hoping to one day realize the perfection offered to us in Christ.]

16 Who in generations having passed allowed all of the Nations to go in their own ways. 17 And yet doing good He did not leave Himself without witness, from heaven giving to you rain and fruitful seasons, your hearts being filled of food and merriment.” 18 And saying these things hardly did they stop the crowds, for which not to make sacrifice to them.

The Codex Ephraemi Syri (C) inserts at the end of verse 18 the words “but to go each to his own affairs.”

In Acts chapter 13, discussing verse 36, we saw that the Greek word γενεά can indeed refer to a generation, as it does also here, however when it is used in that manner it still must retain the connotation of race, which is the primary meaning of the word. Therefore it refers here to the generations of a particular race which have already passed .

Here Paul alludes to the early history of the Adamic race as it is briefly outlined in Genesis chapters 10 and 11. From Genesis chapter 11, the result of the Tower of Babel event: “8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

From the discussion of Lukaonia given here earlier, it is evident that these people are not of the dispersions of Israel, but have at least for the most part descended from others of the Genesis 10 tribes, notably the Phrygians who were said in ancient times to have been descendants of the Lydians. For that reason, Paul has not spoken to these people about Christ, or redemption, or salvation, or about any of the things related to Christ and the Biblical promises for the children of Israel. We shall discuss these same things at length where Paul addresses the Athenians in Acts chapter 17. The Athenians were not Israelites, but Ionians, who were Japhethite descendants of that Javan listed among the sons of Japheth in Genesis chapter 10. For these reasons, must we read our Bibles in concert with Classical histories, archaeological inscriptions, and any other resource available to us, because only with a knowledge of this history do we even begin to acquire a certain understanding of Scripture. Some Greek, Roman and Judaean peoples are found among the population of Lystra, however, and Paul returns to Lystra after this first visit and his forced departure. It is in Lystra where later on Paul first encounters Timothy, on his third visit to the place which is described in Acts chapter 16. Paul would later recall the persecutions which he suffered in Lystra in his epistles to Timothy, notably in 2 Timothy chapter 3.

19 Then Judaeans came forth from Antiocheia and Ikonion, and persuading the crowds and stoning Paul they dragged him outside of the city, believing him to be dead. 20 And upon the students’ surrounding him, arising he went into the city. And the next day he went out with Barnabas into Derbe.

The Codices Ephraemi Syri (C), Bezae (D) and Laudianus (E), while each differing slightly from one another, have the first part of verse 19 to read: “Then upon their spending time and teaching some Judaeans came forth from Antiocheia and Ikonion”. In place of the phrase “and persuading the crowds” the Codex Ephraemi Syri (C) has “and upon their conversing openly they persuaded the crowds to withdraw from them saying that ‘They speak nothing true but they lie about everything!’”

Here it is evident, that disbelieving Judaeans were following Paul and Barnabas from city to city in order to persecute them. This only begins to fulfill the warnings of Christ, here from Matthew 10:23: “23 And when they should persecute you in this city, flee to another. For truly I say to you, by no means should you exhaust the cities of Israel until when the Son of Man should come!” While they have different methods today, the Jews are still persecuting Christians, as they have done in recent history in Paris, in Moscow, in Kiev, in Berlin, and in Nuremberg. Yet the cities of the children of Israel are not yet exhausted.

Paul and Barnabas now go on to Derbe. Not much is said of Derbe in Classical references. Some sources inform us that it became a Christian city at an early time, and was a refuge for travelling Christians. This seems to be supported by the manner in which it was treated by the Roman emperor Diocletian, a savage persecutor of Christians. It is reported that Diocletian burned a Christian assembly building (or church) at that site and buried it under a mountain of soil. This would have occurred in the closing years of the 3rd century AD.

According to Strabo in his Geography, Book 12 (12.1.4 and 12.6.3), in the mid-first century BC Derbe and towns in its vicinity were under the control of a Greek tyrant named Antipater Derbetes, whom Strabo describes as a robber. Strabo says that Antipater also controlled the nearby city Laranda, and “the two Isauras” (meaning Old and New) which he (Antipater) had “received ... from the Romans”. A Galatian named Amyntas attacked and killed Antipater in Strabo's own lifetime, and took control of his cities. The same Amyntas later fought in the Battle of Actium, on the losing side with Mark Antony, in 31 BC. Later the city of Derbe was again established as a Roman city, and a place where customs taxes were collected between provinces in Asia Minor.

21 And announcing the good message in that city and many becoming students, they returned to Lustra and to Ikonion and to Antiocheia 22 reinforcing the spirits of the students, encouraging them to abide in the faith and that it is necessary through many tribulations for us to enter into the Kingdom of Yahweh.

The Greek words πνεῦμα (4151) and ψυχή (5590) have very similar definitions and usages in Classical Greek writings. In Luke's writing the Christogenea New Testament always renders πνεῦμα as spirit, while ψυχή is rendered as either life or soul, and being in the plural here it is spirits only on this one occasion, at Acts 14:22.

The apostle Peter likewise warned his Christian Israel audience that they would suffer many trials on account of their faith, as it is they, the “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Peter 1:2), “5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:5-7).

23 And elders being elected by them in each assembly, praying with fasting they presented them in whom they had confidence with the authority.

The King James Version has a reading here which we must emphatically reject: “And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.”

The Greek word κύριος is an adjective which primarily means “having power or authority over, lord or master of”, but as a Substantive, which is a word or group of words that are used as a noun, it has other uses besides being a title, for which the King James Version always has lord. As Liddell and Scott explain in both the 9th edition of their Greek-English Lexicon, and as it is shown in the Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon which is based upon the older 7th edition of their larger work, when used as a Substantive (where it appears with the Definite Article, as it does here in this passage of Acts) it can refer to the person who is the holder of authority, as a title, or it can be used to refer to the authority itself.

Here the phrase “with the authority” may have been translated “to the Lord”, or as the Christogenea New Testament renders the word, “to the Prince”. However where the King James Version has “in whom they believed” they have clearly made a grammatical error. The King James Version translators rendered the verb πιστεύω as to believe, which is fine in itself, but they supposed τῷ κυρίῳ, the Article and Noun being the Dative case of ὁ κύριος, is that which is referred to by the pronoun “whom”. If that were the case, the pronoun should also be in the Dative case, and not in the Accusative case which indicates that it refers to the earlier pronoun “them” which is also in the Accusative case here. [While there is a number mismatch, that is frequently the case when a group is referred to as a single collective unit.] The verb πιστεύω can also mean to trust, have faith in, or have confidence in a person or thing.

In the context of this passage here in Acts, if the assembly did not first believe in the Lord, they wouldn’t have bothered electing elders at all. Rather, the intent here is to describe the fact that the assembly must have had confidence in these men whom they elected before they were actually elevated to the post, before they presented them with the authority to be elders over their assembly.

Of course the authoritarian Romish and Anglican “churches” have no such practice. For that reason also a word in this passage which means to vote was rendered in the King James Version as ordain. Liddell & Scott define χειροτονέω “to stretch out the hand, for the purpose of voting ... II ... to vote for, elect, properly by show of hands ... Passive to be elected ... χειροτονηθῆναι, election, was opposed to λαχεῖν, appointment by lot” and this is the natural meaning of the word, since its component parts, χείρ and τόνος, mean a hand and a stretching respectively. These seemingly purposeful errors in versions such as the King James have upheld the dogmas of the authoritarian organizations throughout the centuries. The King James Version was a government-decreed translation purposefully engineered to uphold the authority of the Anglican Church over the consciences of the English people.

24 And passing through Pisidia they came into Pamphulia, 25 and speaking the Word in Perge they went down into Attaleia,

The Codices Sinaiticus (א). Alexandrinus (A) and Ephraemi Syri (C) have “the Word of the Prince”; the Codex Laudianus (E) has “the Word of Yahweh”; the text follows the Codices Vaticanus and the Majority Text. The Codex Bezae also agrees, but adds at the end of the verse the words “preaching the good message to them”.

Perge, sometimes spelled Perga because of the transliteration of the Greek vowel eta, was a Greek city and capital of the district of Pamphylia. It prospered as a Greek city through the thirteenth century. Today it lays in ruins, another museum quarry for bronze-age relics at the hands of the bastard race that currently inhabits Anatolia.

Attaleia was a Greek city founded in the mid-second century BC by Attalus II, the King of Pergamos, the city of Revelation 2:12 “where Satan's seat is”. Archaeological remains predating the time of Attaleia's founding have been located on its former site. The Turks still inhabit the site and call it Antalya, a mutilated form of the original name.

26 and from there sailed off to Antiocheia, where they were commended with the favor of Yahweh for the work which they completed.

This is not Pisidian Antioch, but Antioch in Syria, which had a large Christian assembly, which is evident in Acts chapters 11 and 13, and from which Paul and Barnabas had departed for their missionary journey as it is recorded at the beginning of Acts chapter 13.

27 Then coming and gathering together the assembly they reported as much as Yahweh had done with them and that He opened the door of the faith to the Nations. 28 And they spent not a little time with the students.

The door of the faith, as we learn so often in the epistles of Paul, was opened to the Nations of the “lost sheep” of the dispersions of Israel and Judah. The veracity of this statement shall be elucidated many times here in the months to come, Yahweh God be willing. This ends our presentation of Acts Chapter 14, and now after 18 segments we are halfway through the Book of Acts.