Cretes and Arabians
The former are either the same with the Cretians, ( Titus 1:12 ) the
inhabitants of the island of Crete, ( Acts 27:7 ) now called
Candia or Candy, which has on the north the Aegean sea, on the
south the Libyan or African sea, on the west the Adriatic sea,
and on the east the Carpathian sea. In it were an hundred cities;
the most famous of which were, Gnosos, Cortyna, Lyctos, Lycastos,
Holopixos, Phaestos, Cydon, Manethusa, Dyctynna {e}, and others;
these spoke the Greek language; yet not the Attic, for the
Cretian and Attic speech are distinguished F6: or
else, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, these were the same with the
Cherethim or Cherethites, in ( Ezekiel
25:16 ) ( Zephaniah
2:5 ) whom the Septuagint interpreters call Cretes, as here;
since these are mentioned with the Philistines, to whose land
Arabia joined; the inhabitants of which are next mentioned here.
There were three Arabias; Arabia Petraea, which had on the west
part of Egypt, and on the north Judea, and part of Syria, on the
south the Red sea, and on the east Arabia Felix. The second was
called Arabia Deserta, and had on the north part of Mesopotamia,
and on the east Babylonia, on the south Arabia Felix, and on the
west, part of Syria and Arabia Petraea. The third was called
Arabia Felix, and had on the north the south sides of Petraea and
Arabia Deserta, and the more southern part of the Persian gulf,
on the west the gulf of Arabia, and on the south the Red sea, and
on the east, part of the Persian gulf F7; and
here dwelt Jews who spoke the Arabic language. Now these Jews, of
different nations, declared concerning the apostles, saying,
we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of
God;
not the works of creation and providence, though these are great
and wonderful; but of redemption, pardon, atonement,
justification, and salvation, by the Messiah, by his obedience,
sufferings, and death, and also of his resurrection from the
dead; things which struck them with amazement, and the more, that
such illiterate persons should have such knowledge of them, and
should be able to speak of them in such a clear, distinct, and
powerful manner; and still the more, that they should speak of
them in their several tongues in which they were born, and to
which they were used, and which the apostles had never learned:
and this they heard with their own ears, and were fully satisfied
that they did speak divers languages.
F5 Mela, l. 2. c. 14. Vid. Solin. c. 16. & Plin. l. 4. c. 12.
F6 Laert. in. vit. Epimenidis.
F7 Ptolom. Geograph. l. 5. c. 17, & 19. & l. 6. c. 7.
