Acts 14:13

Act 14:13-17. Then the priest of Jupiter — Who was esteemed the tutelar deity of that place, and whose statue stood just without the gate; brought oxen, or bulls rather, and garlands — To put on the victims; the usual offerings to Jupiter; to the gates — Of the place where Paul and Barnabas were; and would have done sacrifice to them — To acknowledge the obligation they were under to them for this condescending and beneficent visit, and to take this opportunity of imploring their continued protection in their public and private affairs. Which when the apostles heard — As they were leading on the sacrificial procession toward them; they rent their clothes — In token of that mixture of indignation and sorrow with which they beheld this strange abuse of a miracle, wrought to destroy that idolatry, which from thence they took occasion to practise; and ran in among the people, crying — With the greatest vehemence, as in a fire, or other sudden and great danger; Sirs, why do ye these things — With regard to us? We are not what you imagine us to be; but men of like passions with you — Obnoxious to the same common infirmities of human life with yourselves; and preach that ye should turn from these vanities — From worshipping any but the true God. He does not deign to call them gods; unto the living God — Not like these dead idols; who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea — Each of which they supposed to have its own gods. Who in time past — He prevents their objecting, “But if these things were so, we should have heard them from our fathers;” steered all nations to walk in their own ways — In the idolatries which they had chosen, without instructing them by divinely-inspired teachers; which was an awful, but just judgment upon them. Observe, the multitude of them that err, does not turn error into truth. Though all nations practised idolatry, yet every kind and species of it is founded on a lie. Nevertheless — Though even then; he left not himself without witness — Of his being, perfections, and providence, in any country. Besides the witness for God within them, the dictates of conscience, they had witnesses for God around them, in the bounties of his providence. Their not having inspired teachers among them, nor the Holy Scriptures, did in part excuse them; and therefore God did not destroy them for their idolatry, as he did the Jewish nation. But that did not wholly excuse them; notwithstanding it they were deeply criminal before God: for there were other witnesses for God, sufficient to inform them that he, and he only, was to be worshipped; and that to him they owed all their services, from whom they received all their comforts, and therefore were guilty of the highest injustice and ingratitude imaginable, in alienating their services from him. In that he did good — To all his creatures, with a bountiful hand, and especially to mankind. Even by punishments God testifies of himself: but more peculiarly by benefits. And gave us — All, whether Jews or Gentiles; rain from heaven and fruitful seasons — Which could not come by chance, nor were caused by the vain idols of the heathen. Observe, reader, 1st, All the powers of nature witness to us a sovereign power in the God of nature, from whom they are derived, and on whom they depend. It is not the heaven that gives us rain, but God that gives us rain from heaven. 2d, The benefits which we have, by these powers of nature, witness to us that we ought to make our acknowledgments, not to the creatures that are made serviceable to us, but to the Creator, who makes them so. God seems to reckon the instances of his goodness to be more cogent proofs of his title to our homage and adoration, than the evidences of his greatness; for his goodness is his glory. “As a friend, in sending us frequent presents, expresses his remembrance of us and affection to us, though he neither speak nor write to us; so all the gifts of the divine bounty, which are scattered abroad on every side, are so many witnesses sent to attest the divine care and goodness, and they speak it in very sensible language to the heart, though not to the ear.” And with these sayings — Plain and reasonable as they were; scarce restrained they the people — From their purpose of sacrificing to them. So strongly were idolaters in love with their idolatrous practices!

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14:13-18 The apostles opposed the people’s idolatry and their attempt to offer sacrifices to them. They directed the people’s worship to the living God; the apostles were his representatives as they brought the Good News of the Christian message.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Act 14:13. Τοῦ ὄντος πρὸ, which was before) Therefore they had an idol and shrine outside the gate.—ταύρους, bulls) A bull especially used to he immolated to Jupiter.—στέμματα, garlands) to be placed upon the bulls. They were in haste.—θύειν, to sacrifice) to perform divine worship.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act_14:13. But the priest (then officiating) of the Zeus, who is before the city, i.e. of the Zeus (πολιεύς), who had his seat in a temple in front of the city. ἱεροῦ is not to be supplied, with Kuinoel and others (see Bernhardy, p. 184 f.), as τοῦ Διός is the genitive directly belonging to ἱερεύς; but the expression τοῦ ὄντος πρὸ τῆς πόλ. is explained from the heathen conception that the god himself is present in his temple, consequently is (ὄντος) at the place where his temple stands: hence the classical expressions παρʼ Διΐ (ad fanum Jovis), παρ ̓ Ἥρῃ (Jacobs, ad Del. epigr. p. 229). Wolf thinks that it is spoken de Jove, cujus simulacrum (and so not templum) ante urbem erectum erat. But mere statues had no special priests. See Valckenaer, Opusc. II. p. 295, and Schol. I. p. 509. It does not, however, follow from this passage, that there was also a temple of Jupiter in the city (Olshausen).

ταύρους καὶ στέμματα] bulls and garlands. Taurus tibi, summe Deorum, Ovid. Metam. iv. 755. Beza, Calovius, Raphel, Erasmus Schmid, Palairet, Morus, Heinrichs, and others, have quite erroneously assumed a hendiadys for ταύρους ἐστεμμένους. This would come back to the absurd idea: bulls and, indeed, garlands. See Fritzsche, ad Matth. p. 856. Winer, p. 585 [E. T. 786]. The destination of the garlands is, moreover, not to be referred to the deified apostles (in opposition to Grotius and Valckenaer), who (like statues, comp. ep. Jerem. 9) were to have been adorned; but to the animals that were to be adorned therewith at the commencement of the sacrifice (see Wetstein and Dougtaeus, Anal. p. 80 ff.; Hermann, gottesd. Alterth. § 24. 7), because the design of the garlands is included in the ἤθελε θύειν.

ἐπὶ τοὺς πυλῶνας] to the gates (doors of the gate), namely, of the city. This reference is required by the correlation in which ἐπὶ τοὺς πυλῶνας stands to τοῦ ὄντος πρὸ τῆς πόλεως. The alleged incarnate gods were in the city, and therefore the sacrifice was to be brought at the gates of the city. The reference to the doors of the temple (οἱ μὲν ἱεροὶ τοῦ νεὼ πυλῶνες, Plut. Tim. 12), or of the house where the apostles lodged, is not in keeping with the context.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 14:13 . ὁ δὲ ἱερεὺς . Plural in ; strongly rejected by Blass, with other details. Ramsay defends (p. 118), and points out that at each of the great temples in Asia Minor a college of priests would be in regular service: see also Church in the Roman Empire , pp. 52, 53. τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ ὄντος πρὸ τῆς π . αὐτῶν , see critical notes. R.V., omitting αὐτῶν , renders “whose temple was before the city,” i.e. , enshrined in the temple outside the gate as the protecting deity. Zöckler, with Ramsay, compares “ Ζωῦς Προάστιος ” on an inscription at Claudiopolis, cf. also παρὰ Διΐ (= ad fanum Jovis), παρʼ Ἥρῃ , and modern, the name of a church in Rome, “S. Paolo fuori le mura” (see also Holtzmann and Wendt). Here again the reading of [267] seems to bring out the technical force of the phrase more accurately, τοῦ ὄντος Δ . πρὸ πόλεως (so Blass in [268] ) possibly = Προπόλεως ( cf. an unpublished inscription of Smyrna with the phrase ἱέρεια πρὸ πόλεως or Προπόλεως ). In this phrase, as read in , the force of the participle is retained in a way characteristic of Acts, as almost = τοῦ ὀνομαζομένου : see on Act 13:1 , a characteristic lost by the transposition of ὄντος ; see on the whole question Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire , p. 51 ff., and also on the possible site of the temple. The words cannot refer to the statue of Jupiter (so lately Rendall), to which no priests would be attached. See Blass in Studien u. Kritiken , 1900, p. 27, n. 1. ταύρους καὶ στέμματα : brought by the ministri who would be included in the generic term priests. On the sacrifice of a bull to Jupiter, Ovid, Met. , iv., 755, as also to Mercury, Persius, Sat. , ii., 44. On the garlands to wreathe and adorn the victims, Æneid , v., 366; Eur., Heracl. , 529, perhaps also for the priests and the altars, the doors, and the attendants; see instances in Wetstein, and cf. Tertullian, De Corona , x. The words do not refer to the Apostles; the aim seems to be indicated in ἤθελε θύειν . ἐπὶ τοὺς πυλῶνας : some see a reference to the gates of the city, mainly because of the collocation τοῦ ὄντος πρὸ τῆς Π . Blass supposes that the priest came from the temple outside to the city gates, but in that case Ramsay urges that Lucan usage would = πύλη rather than πυλών , cf. Act 9:24 , Act 16:13 . Others take it of the gates of the temple in front of which the altar stood, cf. οἱ μὲν ἱεροὶ τοῦ νεὼ πυλῶνες , Plut., Tim. , 12. Ramsay suggests that the priests probably prepared their sacrifices at the outer gateway of the temple grounds, as something beyond the usual ritual, and so not to be performed at one of the usual places, cf. ἐπιθύειν ; St. Paul , p. 119. Others again refer the words to the gates leading into the atrium or courtyard of the house in which the Apostles were lodging, partly on the ground that the word ἐξεπήδησαν is best referred to the house ( cf. Jdt 14:17 , and Susannah, Acts ver. 39). But the verb may mean that they ran hastily out of the city to the temple, and there mingled with the crowd: in 2MMal 3:18 the same verb is used of a general rush of the people to the temple for supplication to heaven. ἤθελε θύειν : What was his motive? Was he acting in good faith, or out of complaisant regard to the wishes of the multitude (Ewald), or for the sake of gain? On the attitude of the native priests see Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire , p. 144. In the present instance it would appear that they had known of the Apostles’ preaching for some time at all events, and also, it may be, of its success, cf. ., Act 14:7 , critical notes, and apparently they were willing to honour the Apostles with divine honours, and to turn the religious revival to their own ends.

[267] Codex Claromontanus (sæc. vi.), a Græco-Latin MS. at Paris, edited by Tischendorf in 1852.

[268] R(omana), in Blass, a first rough copy of St. Luke.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Of the house where Paul and Barnabas were.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city--that is, whose temple stood

before their city, brought oxen and garlands--to crown the victims and decorate, as on festive occasions, the porches.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 13. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city] There is a meaning here, which ordinary readers will not readily apprehend. Many cities were put under the protection of a particular deity; and the image of that deity placed at the entrance, to signify that he was the guardian and protector. To this St. Luke, every where as accurate as he is circumstantial, refers. Lystra, it appears, was under the guardianship of Jupiter Propulaius, διος προπυλαιου, which St. Luke translates, του διος οντος της πολεως, the Jupiter that was before the city, which is another term for Jupiter Custos, or Jupiter the guardian. All these deities, according to the attributes they sustained, had their peculiar priests, rites, and sacrifices; and each a peculiar service and priest for the office he bore; so that Jupiter Brontes, Jupiter the thunderer, had a different service from Jupiter Custos, Jove the guardian. Hence we can see with what accuracy St. Luke wrote: the person who was going to offer them sacrifices was the priest of Jupiter Custos, under whose guardianship the city of Lystra was, and whom the priest supposed had visited the city in a human form; and Barnabas, probably for the reasons already assigned, he imagined was the person; and as Mercury, the god of eloquence, was the general attendant of Jupiter, the people and the priest supposed that Paul, who had a powerful, commanding eloquence, was that god, also disguised. A beautiful figure of such an image of Jupiter as, I suppose, stood before the gate of Lystra, still remains; and a fine engraving of it may be seen in Gruter's Inscriptions, vol. i. p. xx. Jupiter is represented naked, sitting on a curule or consular chair; in his right hand he holds his thunder, and a long staff in his left; at his right, stands the eagle prepared for flight; and, above, the winged cap and caduceus of Mercury. On the base is the inscription, IUPPITER CUSTOM DOMUS AUG. Jupiter, the guardian of the house of Augustus. As the preserver or guardian of towns, he was generally styled Jupiter Custos, Serenus and Servator. His name, JUPITER, i.e. jurans pater, the helping father, entitled him, in those days of darkness, to general regard. On this false god, who long engrossed the worship of even the most enlightened nations on the earth, much may be seen in Lactantius, Divinar. Institution. lib. i., in the Antiquite expliquee of Montfaucon; and various inscriptions, relative to his character as guardian, c., may be seen in Gruter, as above.

Oxen and garlands] That is, oxen adorned with flowers, their horns gilded, and neck bound about with fillets, as was the custom in sacrificial rites. They also crowned the gods themselves, the priests, and gates of the temples, with flowers. Of this method of adorning the victims, there are numerous examples in the Greek and Latin writers. A few may suffice. Thus OVID:-

Victima labe carens et praestantissima forma

Sistitur ante aras et vittis praesignis et auro.

OVID, Met. lib. xv. ver. 130.

The fairest victim must the powers appease,

So fatal 'tis sometimes too much to please:

A purple filet his broad brow adorns

With flowery garlands, crown, and gilded horns.

DRYDEN.

Huic Anius niveis circumdata tempora vittis

Concutiens, et tristis ait;__________

Ibid. lib. xiii. ver. 643.

The royal prophet shook his hoary head,

With fillets bound; and, sighing, thus he said___

CALCOTT.

________________________fovet ignibus aras,

Muneribus deos implet: feriuntque secures

Colla torosa boum vinctorum cornua vittis.

Ibid. lib. vii. ver. 427.

Rich curling fumes of incense feast the skies,

A hecatomb of voted victims dies,

With gilded horns, and garlands on their head,

In all the pomp of death to th' altar led.

TATE.

VIRGIL also refers to the same rites and circumstances: -

Saepe in honore deum medio stans hostia ad aram

Lanea dum nivea circumdatur infula vitta,

Inter cunctantes cecidit moribunda ministros.

VIRG. Georg. lib. iii. ver. 486.

The victim ox that was for altars pressed,

Trimmed with white ribbons, and with garlands dressed,

Sunk of himself, without the god's command,

Preventing the slow sacrificer's hand.

DRYDEN.

Many similar examples may be seen in Wetstein and others.

At the time of worship, the Hindoo priests place garlands of flowers on the head of the image. Whether the garlands were intended to decorate the oxen or the apostles, we cannot say; but in either case the conduct of the Lycaonians was conformable to that of the modern Hindoos.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. Also Jupiter’s priest. Though Luke doth not express with what affection he [this priest] was moved to be so diligent, yet it is to be thought, that, forasmuch as there was great hope of most plentiful gain offered, he was moved with covetousness. For he had great hope of gain in time to come, if it should be noised abroad that Jupiter appeared there. For this opinion would by and by have followed, that Jupiter was more delighted in the temple of Lystra than in any other. And so soon as such superstition hath once filled the minds of men, they spare no cost to offer sacrifice. The world is indeed of itself inclined to this, but then came the sacrificing priests, who are like fans and bellows. And it is not to be doubted, but that the whole multitude was moved with ambition, to be so desirous to offer sacrifice to Paul under the name of Jupiter, that their city might be the more famous and noble. Hence hath Satan so great liberty [license] to deceive, whilst that the sacrificing priests set nets to get gain, and the people are delighted to have errors confirmed.

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.

(13) The priest of Jupiter, which was before their city.—The latter clause probably describes the position of the Temple of Zeus, standing at the entrance of the city, as the shrine of its protecting deity. The identical phrase used by St. Luke is found in Greek inscriptions at Ephesus.

Brought oxen and garlands unto the gates.—The garlands were the well-known vittae, so familiar to us in ancient sculptures, commonly made of white wool, sometimes interwoven with leaves and flowers. The priests, attendants, doors, and altars were often decorated in the same way. The “gates” (the form of the Greek implying that they were the folding-doors of a large entrance) were probably those which led into the atrium, or court-yard, of the house where the Apostles were dwelling. The whole action is well represented in Raphael’s well-known cartoon. Oxen were, in Greek ritual, the right victims for both Zeus and Hermes.

Would have done sacrifice with the people.—This would have involved cutting the throats of the oxen, catching the blood in a patera, or deep dish, and pouring it upon an altar. There may have been such an altar in the atrium, or one may have been improvised for the occasion.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city] i.e. “whose temple was before their city.” He was their tutelar divinity, and it was to his priest that the people ran with their cry, and brought him, with all the preparations for a sacrifice, to the gate of the house where the Apostles were lodged.

brought oxen and garlands] The latter were sometimes put on the heads of the victims, and sometimes used by the worshippers for their own decorations at religious rites. Probably in this case they were meant to make gay some temporary altar.

unto the gates] The word here used in the original is the same which is used for the porch or vestibule of the house of Mary the mother of John Mark (Mar_12:14), and that is its sense here. The Apostles were within the house, and as it was meet to offer the victims to the supposed gods in their presence rather than on the altar at Jupiter’s temple, it was to the house of their host that the procession came.

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.

Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city,.... Not that the priest was before the city, but Jupiter; and the phrase denotes either his presidency over the city, and so the Arabic version renders it, "who was the chief god of their city"; or the place where his image stood, which was out of the city, and so may be said to be before it; accordingly the Syriac version renders it, "who was without the city"; he who officiated as priest to him:

brought oxen and garlands unto the gates; either "of the city", as the Arabic and Ethiopic versions add, where was the statue of Jupiter; or else, and which is most likely, he brought them to the gates of the house, where Paul and Barnabas were; and to this sense the Syriac version renders it, "to the door of the dwelling place where they abode": what the oxen were brought for is easy to conceive, had it not been expressed; but for what should garlands or crowns be brought? These were used in sacrifices, for different purposes; sometimes they crowned the gods (t), to whom they sacrificed, and these might be brought to be put upon the heads of Paul and Barnabas; and sometimes the priests wore them (u), and which seems to be in imitation of the mitre, wore by the high priest among the Jews; and sometimes even those who came to sacrifice, and implore the assistance of their deities, wore them (w); likewise the altars on which they offered sacrifice were crowned with these garlands (x); and the sacrifices themselves, and which last seems to be the case here: the garlands were brought to be put upon the oxen; and these were for the most part made of cypress; sometimes of the pine tree, and sometimes of other leaves and flowers, such as were peculiar to the gods (y): and there was something like this among the Jews, at the offerings of their first fruits, which were done in this manner (z);

"they that were nearest (to Jerusalem) brought green figs and grapes; and they that were more remote brought dried figs and raisins; and an ox went before them, whose horns were covered with gold, , "and a crown of olives" on his head; a pipe sounded before them, till they came near to Jerusalem, and then they sent some before them, who "crowned" their first fruits.''

And would have done sacrifice with the people; that is, the priest and the people with him, would have offered sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas, as to two deities; and the Syriac and Ethiopic versions add, "to them"; to both the apostles, with which agrees the Arabic version.

(t) Baruch vi. 9. Justin. Apolog. 2. p. 57. Tertull. de Corona, c. 10. Alex. ab. Alex. Gen. dier. l. 4. c. 17. (u) Tertull. de Idolatria, c. 18. Alex. ab. Alex. ib. Paschalius de Coronis. l. 4. c. 13. (w) Paschal. ib. (x) Ovid de Tristibus, l. 3. eleg. 13. (y) Paschal. ib. c. 16. (z) Misn. Biccurim, c. 3. sect. 3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13 Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.

Ver. 13. And would have done sacrifice] So the savages of Nova Albion, as they were very much taken with our singing of Psalms and other holy exercises (saith Sir Francis Drake) while we were among them; so when they could not prevail with us to stay longer there, they stole upon us a sacrifice, and set it on fire ere we were aware. We laboured by all means to withhold or withdraw them, but could not prevail; till at last we fell to prayers and singing of Psalms, whereby they were allured immediately to forget their folly, and leave their sacrifice unconsumed (for they supposed us to be gods indeed): suffering the fire to go out, and imitating us in all our actions, they fell a lifting up their hands and eyes to heaven, as they saw us to do.

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.

Then the priest of Jupiter - He whose office it was to conduct the worship of Jupiter by offering sacrifices, etc.

Which was before their city - The word “which” here refers not to the priest, but to Jupiter. The temple or image of Jupiter was in front of their city, or near the gates. Ancient cities were supposed to be under the protection of particular gods; and their image, or a temple for their worship, was placed commonly in a conspicuous place at the entrance of the city.

Brought oxen - Probably brought two one to be sacrificed to each. It was common to sacrifice bullocks to Jupiter.

And garlands - The victims of sacrifice were usually decorated with ribbons and chaplets of flowers. See Kuinoel.

Unto the gates - The gates of the city, where were the images or temple of the gods.

Would have done sacrifice - Would have offered sacrifice to Barnabas and Paul. This the priest deemed a part of his office. And here we have a remarkable and most affecting instance of the folly and stupidity of idolatry.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Before their city; the temple of Jupiter, whom they took for the patron of their city, was in the suburbs.

Garlands; these were usually in the form of crowns put upon the oxen which they intended to sacrifice; and, by this sign, showed that they were dedicated to Jupiter, whom the heathen blasphemously called, The king of kings, and placed him sitting in his chair, or throne, with a crown on his head.

Unto the gates; the gates or doors of the house where the apostles lodged.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. The priest of Jupiter—For Jupiter, who was probably the tutelar deity of Lystra, there was a chief pontiff to preside over the worship and sacrifices.

Jupiter, which was before their city—A statue there may have been, fronting their town, called Jupiter-before-the-city; but it was not to statues that sacrifices were brought, and so it was probably a temple which was designated by this name, standing before the town.

Garlands—With which the sacrificial victims were usually crowned.

Unto the gates—Not the gates of the city, but the front door at the street of the house where the apostles were lodging. The purpose was to sacrifice to them personally.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And for then, A.V.; whose temple was before the city for which was before their city, A.V. and T.R.; the multitudes for the people, A.V., as in ver. 12. The priest of Jupiter. The words, oJ de iJereuv tou Diov tou ontev k.t.l., may be construed in two ways either as in the A.V., or the priest of the temple of Jupiter, etc., understanding, by a common ellipse, iJerou, or, naou, after Diov, as in the Latin phrase," Ubi ad Dianae veneris;" "When you come to the temple of Diana," etc. But it is not a Greek phrase to speak of Jupiter being before the city, meaning the temple of Jupiter. Therefore the proper way of translating is to take the full phrase as being oJ iJereuv naou or ijerou, the article tou belonging to naou, and Diov being, as in so many instances, without the article (see Matthew, "Gr. Gr.," 281). The gates; viz. of the city. The temple was just outside the gates; the lame man, it is likely, sat inside near the gates through which men were passing in and out. Paul and Barnabas would address the -people in the square or open space inside the gates. Seeing a stir at the gates, and hearing that it was the priest of Jupiter coming with oxen and garlands to sacrifice to them, they immediately ran forward to prevent it. The ox was the proper sacrifice for Jupiter.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The priest of Jupiter - Whose temple and image were just without the gate of the city, brought garlands - To put on the victims, and bulls - The usual offerings to Jupiter.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe, 1. How far Paganish superstition did transport and carry these men: they come to the gates of the house where the apostles had lodged, and bring oxen with them, trimmed with garlands of flowers, according to their heathenish rites, verily intending to offer sacrifice unto them.

Learn, How forward the devil is to put honour, much honour, yea, overmuch honour, upon the ministers of Christ, when it is to contradict their doctrine, and gain advantage to himself by it. The devil laughed to see the blind superstitious Lystrians adore the apostles, and adorn them with the names of their heathen gods, hoping to make advantage thereby to himself.

Observe, 2. With what indignation and disdain, detestation and abhorrence, the apostles reject this vile idolatry: telling them that they were men of like passions, and in the same condition of mortality with themselves, and that their business was to turn them from their idols which were mere vanities and nothing, compared with the living and true God, who made them and all the world.

Learn hence, 1. That the worshipping of idols is the most senseless and irrational vanity that ever the devil put into the stupified heart of man.

2. That all good men hate idolatry in others, and abhor to be idolized themselves.

Observe, 3. The description which the holy apostle gives of the true God, to draw the people off from worshipping idols: he styles him the living God, that made the glorious fabric of heaven and earth, the sea, and all things therein. A good God, that giveth rain and fruitful seasons, filling his creatures’ hearts with food and gladness.

Intimating, 1. That whatsoever concerns the happiness and felicity of man in this life, is wholly derived from God.

2. That there is no nation nor person under heaven, to whom God exhibits not the evident tokens of his goodness: The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Observe, 4. The character which the apostles give of the former times, in which the heathen world lived: In times past they were suffered to walk in their own ways. That is, of old God suffered all nations, except the Jewish nation to walk in their own ways; the meaning is, he did not check them in their sinful ways and courses, as he did his own people the Jews.

Yet we must not understand the apostle absolutely, but comparatively only; there never was any man, much less any nation, whom God suffered to go on in a course of sin without any stop. Every person and every nation, has had the stop of the light of nature at least; but every nation has not had the stop of the light of the gospel, the stop of ordinances, the preaching of the word, the motions of the Holy Spirit; these the Jews had, but the Gentiles had not.

In this sense God suffered all nations to walk in their own ways; he did not give them his word, his statutes, or his judgments, to show them his ways, or to hinder them walking in their own ways; and this was a sore judgment. To suffer either nation or person to walk without control or check, from word or rod, from ordinances or providences, in the ways of sin and wickedness, is a very dreadful and tremendous judgment: In times past he suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. The people felt the warmest gratitude for the visit of their supposed gods, and gave expression to their feeling in the most approved method. (13) " Then the priest of the Jupiter that was before the city brought bulls and garlands to the gates, and, with the people, wished to offer sacrifices to them. " The garlands of flowers were designed, according to a well-known custom of the ancients, to deck the forms of the bulls about to be offered. It is not altogether certain whether the "gates" referred to are those of a private court within which Paul and Barnabas may have retired when first greeted as gods, or the gates of the city, of which there may have been two or more in the same part of the wall, and near which the apostles may have remained with a part of the crowd. The latter I regard as the most probable supposition. The sacrifices were to be offered to the supposed gods in person, and not to the image which stood before the city.

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.

13. αὐτῶν after πόλεως omitted with אABCDE. Not represented in Vulg.

13. ὅ τε ἱερεὺς τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ ὄντος πρὸ τῆς πόλεως, the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, i.e. ‘whose temple was before their city.’ Zeus was their tutelar divinity, and it was to his priest that the people ran with their cry, and brought him, with all the preparations for a sacrifice, to the gate of the house where the Apostles were lodged.

ταύρους καὶ στέμματα, oxen and garlands. The latter were sometimes put on the heads of the victims, and sometimes used by the worshippers for their own decorations at religious rites. Probably in this case they were meant to make gay some temporary altar.

ἐπὶ τοὺς πυλῶνας, unto the gates. Even though we have the plural here it seems impossible to regard the word as used of the gates of the city, because of the action of the Apostles (ἐξεπήδησαν) who sprang forth upon the intending worshippers. The word must refer to the entrance of the house where the Apostles lodged. They were within the house, and as it was meet to offer the victims to the supposed gods in their presence rather than on the altar at Jupiter’s temple, it was to the house of their host that the procession came.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13.] πρὸ τ. π. (see retf.); i.e. of Ζεὺς πρόπυλος: no ellipsis of ἱεροῦ or any thing else.

ταύρους κ. στέμματα] Not for ταύρους ἐστεμμένους: the garlands may have been to hang on the doors of the house where the Apostles were: or for manifold purposes connected with the sacrifice. ‘Ipsæ denique fores, ipsæ hostiæ, ipsiæ aræ, ipsi ministri et sacerdotes eorum coronantur.’ Wetst.

τοὺς πυλῶνας are not the gates of the city, but the doors of the outer court of the house: see ch. 12:13.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Of Jupiter [του διος] . Properly, the Jupiter, the tutelary deity of Lystra. It is unnecessary to supply temple, as Rev. The God himself was regarded as present in his temple.

The gates [πυλωνας] . What gates are intended is uncertain. Some say, the city gates; others, the temple gates; and others, the doors of the house in which Paul and Barnabas were residing. See on ch. Act 12:13.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.