Acts 17

Acts 17:1-15 . AT THESSALONICA THE SUCCESS OF PAUL'S PREACHING ENDANGERING HIS LIFE, HE IS DESPATCHED BY NIGHT TO BEREA, WHERE HIS MESSAGE MEETS WITH ENLIGHTENED ACCEPTANCE--A HOSTILE MOVEMENT FROM THESSALONICA OCCASIONS HIS SUDDEN DEPARTURE FROM BEREA--HE ARRIVES AT ATHENS.

1. when they had passed through Amphipolis--thirty-three miles southwest of Philippi, on the river Strymon, and at the head of the gulf of that name, on the northern coast of the Ægean Sea.
and Apollonia--about thirty miles southwest of Amphipolis; but the exact site is not known.
they came to Thessalonica--about thirty-seven miles due west from Apollonia, at the head of the Thermaic (or Thessalonian) Gulf, at the northwestern extremity of the Ægean Sea; the principal and most populous city in Macedonia. "We see at once how appropriate a place it was for one of the starting-points of the Gospel in Europe, and can appreciate the force of what Paul said to the Thessalonians within a few months of his departure from them: "From you, the word of the Lord sounded forth like a trumpet, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place,"" ( 1 Thessalonians 1:8 ) [HOWSON].
where was a synagogue of the Jews--implying that (as at Philippi) there was none at Amphipolis and Apollonia.

2-4. Paul, as his manner was--always to begin with the Jews.
went in unto them--In writing to the converts but a few months after this, he reminds them of the courage and superiority to indignity, for the Gospel's sake, which this required after the shameful treatment he had so lately experienced at Philippi ( 1 Thessalonians 2:2 ).

3. Opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, &c.--His preaching, it seems, was chiefly expository, and designed to establish from the Old Testament Scriptures (1) that the predicted Messiah was to be a suffering and dying, and therefore a rising, Messiah; (2) that this Messiah was none other than Jesus of Nazareth.

4. consorted--cast in their lot.
with Paul and Silas--Compare 2 Corinthians 8:5 .
of the chief women--female proselytes of distinction. From the First Epistle to the Thessalonians it appears that the converts were nearly all Gentiles; not only such as had before been proselytes, who would be gained in the synagogue, but such as up to that time had been idolaters ( 1 Thessalonians 1:9 1 Thessalonians 1:10 ). During his stay, while Paul supported himself by his own labor ( 1 Thessalonians 2:9 , 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9 ), he received supplies once and again from the Philippians, of which he makes honorable acknowledgment ( Philippians 4:15 Philippians 4:16 ).

5-9. the Jews . . . moved with envy--seeing their influence undermined by this stranger.
lewd fellows of the baser sort--better, perhaps, "worthless market people," that is, idle loungers about the market-place, of indifferent character.
gathered a company--rather, "having raised a mob."
assaulted the house of Jason--with whom Paul and Silas abode ( Acts 17:7 ), one of Paul's kinsmen, apparently ( Romans 16:21 ), and from his name, which was sometimes used as a Greek form of the word Joshua [GROTIUS], probably a Hellenistic Jew.
sought to bring them--Jason's lodgers.

6. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers--literally, "the politarchs"; the very name given to the magistrates of Thessalonica in an inscription on a still remaining arch of the city--so minute is the accuracy of this history.
crying, These that have turned the world upside

7. all do contrary to the decrees of Cæsar, &c.--meaning, probably, nothing but what is specified in the next words.
saying . . . there is another king, one

9. And when they had taken security of Jason and of the other--"the others"--probably making them deposit a money pledge that the preachers should not again endanger the public peace.