THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ACTS ~Chapter 28

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ACTS ~Chapter 28

After their escape, they learned that the island was *Malta (Melita).

The natives were unusually kind to us. They made a bonfire and welcomed all of us to it, for there was a cold, drenching rain. And Paul, too, gathered an armful of sticks and threw them on the fire. As he did son, a viper crawled out of the heat and wound itself around his hand. When the natives saw the serpent hanging from his hand, they said to one another, ‘This man is surely a murderer, for, although he was saved out of the sea, justice will not let him live.’ Paul, however, just shook off the reptile into the fire and suffered no injury at all. They were, meanwhile, expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop down dead. For a long time they waited and watched, but saw no harm come to him; then they changed their opinion and declared that he was a god.

In this part of the island were estates belonging to the governor, named Publius. He gave us lodging and entertained us for 3 days in a friendly way. Now it so happened that the father of Publius lay ill with fever and **dysentery. Paul went to see him; he prayed for him, laid his hands on him and healed him. Because of this, the other people of the island who were ill also came to him and were healed. These also showed us honor in many ways and when we sailed away they supplied us with things that we needed.

We had stayed on the island for 3 months, then departed in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered there. It was called the Dioscuri, after the twin brothers Castor and Pollux. On our way we put up at Syracuse, remaining 3 days. From there we sailed around and reached Rhegium. A day later a southerly breeze came up and we arrived at Putcoli the 2^nd day. Here we found some brethren who prevailed upon us to tarry with them for 7 days. Then we went on to Rome.

 

The brethren there had had news of our coming and came out as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he gave Elohim thanks and took renewed courage.

When at length we reached Rome, the captain turned the prisoners over to the commander of the prison camp, whereas he let ***Paul live by himself with a soldier who had charge of him. After 3 days Paul invited the leading Jews to come together. And when they had gathered, he addressed them, “Brethren, I had not done anything against our people, or the customs of our fathers, yet I was made a prisoner at Jerusalem and delivered into the hands of the Romans. They tried me but found no reason why they should put me to death and were therefore willing to set me free. But the Jews objected to this, so I had to appeal to the emperor but not with the idea that I would bring a charge against my people. So the reason why I have asked to meet you and talk with you is this: It is on account of the hope of Israel that I carry these chains.”

‘We have not had any letters from Judea about you,’ they answered, ‘and not one of the brethren who has come here has ever reported or said anything bad about you. But we should like to hear your views from you personally. As for this new sect, all we know is that it is condemned everywhere.’ When they had set a day for him, a good many of them came to his house and he preached to them, explaining to them fully about the kingdom of Elohei and trying to persuade them about Yeshua, both from the Law of Moshe and also from the prophets. He continued from morning till evening. Some, indeed, were convinced by his testimony; but others remained in doubt. When they departed, still disagreeing with one another, Paul had the last word. He said, “The Ruach Ha’Kodesh was right when He spoke to our fathers through the prophet Isaiah. He said, “Go to this people and say, ‘You will her and hear, but never understand; and look and look, but never perceive. For this people’s hearts has grown fat; they hardly hear with their ers and they have shut their eyes: otherwise, they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, so as to let Me heal them’ (Isaiah 6:9 & 10). Therefore, I want you to know that the Gospel of salvation from Elohim is now to be sent to the Gentiles! And they will listen to it!”

When he had spoken these words, the Jews left him, but continued the discussion among themselves. Paul remained 2 years in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He continued to preach the kingdom of Elohei and to teach about Adonai Yeshua Ha’Mashiach, fearlessly and unhindered.

**ACTS 27: https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-gospel-according-to-acts-chapter-27.html

*Melita/Malta The modern Malta, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, about seventeen miles long and nine in breadth. It was colonized by the Phœnicians, and afterwards belonged to the Carthaginians, from whom it was taken by the Romans in the Second Punic War (B.C. 216). It is celebrated as the island on which the Apostle Paul was shipwrecked; though some writers erroneously suppose that the Apostle was shipwrecked on the island of the same name off the Illyrican coast. The inhabitants manufactured fine cloth (Melitensia, sc. vestimenta); and the lapdogs (catuli Melitaei) were much petted by Roman ladies. Cicero speaks of it as the home of pirates (Verr. iv. 46, 47), but himself often thought of making it a place of exile. The Ogygia of Homer is sometimes identified with Malta. In the fifth century A.D. it was taken by the Vandals, then by the Goths, and in 870 by the Arabs. - Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.

Melita is celebrated in sacred history as the scene of the shipwreck of St. Paul on his voyage to Rome, A.D. 60. (Act. Apost. xxviii.) The error of several earlier writers, who have transferred this to the Melita on the E. coast of the Adriatic (now Meleda), has evidently arisen from the vague use of the name of the Adriatic, which is employed in the Acts of the Apostles (27.27), in the manner that was customary under the Roman Empire, as corresponding to the Ionian and Sicilian seas of geographers. [ADRIATICUM MARE] The whole course and circumstances of the voyage leave no doubt that the Melita in question was no other than the modern Malta, where a bay called St. Paul's Bay is still pointed out by tradition as the landing-place of the Apostle. (The question is fully examined and discussed by Mr. J. Smith, in his Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul, 8vo. Lond. 1848; also in Conybeare and Howson's Life of St. Paul, vol. ii. p. 353, &c.)

No other mention is found of Melita during the period of the Roman Empire, except in the geographers and the Maritime Itinerary, in which last the name already appears corrupted into its modern form of Malta. (Strab. vi. p.277; Plin. Nat. 3.8. s. 13; Mel. 2.7.18; Ptol. 4.3.37; Itin. Marit. p. 518; Sil. Ital. 14.251.) After the fall of the Roman Empire it fell for a time into the hands of the Vandals; but was recovered from them by Belisarius in A.D. 533 (Procop. B. V. 1.14), and appears to have continued from this time subject to the Byzantine Empire, until it was conquered by the Arabs in A.D. 870.

The present population is principally derived from an Arabic stock; but it is probable that the Arab conquerors here, as well as in Africa, have been to a great extent amalgamated with the previously existing Punic population. The inscriptions discovered at Malta sufficiently prove that the Greek language was at one time in habitual [2.321] used there, as well as in the neighboring island of Sicily; and one of these, which is bilingual, shows that Greek and Punic must have been both prevalent at the same period. (Boeckh, Corpus Inscr. Gr. 5752--5754.) The former was probably the language of the more cultivated classes, in the same manner as Italian is at the present day.

**Dysentery is an inflammatory disease of the intestine, especially of the colon, which always results in severe diarrhea and abdominal pains. Other symptoms may include fever and a feeling of incomplete defecation. The disease is caused by several types of infectious pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and parasites.

***Paul experienced a wide variety of prison conditions. He was chained in a common holding cell in Philippi (Acts 16:23-30), imprisoned in probably better conditions in the praetorium at Caesarea (originally signified a general’s tent within a Roman castra, castellum, or encampment: Acts 28:35), and held in relative comfort wile in house arrest in Rome (Acts 28:16). In Rome, Paul was responsible for maintaining himself during his imprisonment, including his meals and clothing (Acts 28:30). Paul’s Roman citizenship meant he was eligible for a daily food allowance, but Paul depended on his friends and fellow believers to supply his food. While under house arrest in Rome, Paul was guarded around the clock by soldiers of the elite Praetorian Guard.