Antioch in Pisidia

Act_13:14
From Perga in Pamphylia, Paul and Barnabas
proceeded across the mountains to Antioch,
in the province of Pisidia, which lay between
Pamphylia on the south and Phrygia on the
north. Whether, in this journey of eighty-five
miles into the interior, Paul met with any of
those perilous encounters with robbers, to
which he refers in one of his epistles, is not
stated; but the nature of the road renders
this abundantly probable. This Antioch was
one of the towns of the same name founded
by Seleucus Nicanor, and the name of the
province in which it stood was usually added,
to distinguish at from the others, and
particularly from the great metropolitan
Antioch. When it came into the hands of the
Romans it was made the seat of a
proconsular government, and endowed with
the privileges of a colonia juris Italici, which
included exemption from taxes, and a
municipal constitution similar to that of the
Italian towns. These privileges were
calculated to attract a Jewish population;
and, accordingly, Paul and Barnabas find
here a synagogue of Jews, and a considerable
body of proselytes to Judaism. Until lately,
Antioch in Pisidia was supposed to have
occupied the site of the present Ak-Shehr, or
White City of the Turks; but the researches of
the Rev. F.V. Arundell in 1833, confirmed by
the still more recent observations of Mr.
Hamilton, Note: Arundell, Discoveries in
Asia Minor, 1834; Hamilton, Researches in
Asia Minor, 1842. have determined its site to
the vicinity of the town of Yalobatch. There
are here remains of several temples and
churches, besides a theater, and a
magnificent aqueduct, twenty-one arches of
which still remain entire. Several Latin
inscriptions were here copied by Mr.
Hamilton, in one of which the only words not
entirely effaced were Antiochiae Caesari,
which is important for the identification of
the place, as it is stated by Pliny that Antioch
in Pisidia was also called Caesarea.
On the Sabbath after their arrival, the two
apostles went into the synagogue, and sat
down. The latter intimation is emphatic, if,
as Lightfoot assures us, their sitting down on
entering was sufficient to apprize the elders
of the synagogue that the strangers were
persons accustomed to teach or preach.
Accordingly, after the reading of the law and
the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue
courteously caused it to be intimated to them
that they might then deliver any word of
exhortation to the congregation, if they
desired to do so Here it is well to observe,
that they were not asked to read, as our
Savior had been asked in the synagogue of
Nazarethit being unusual for any one to be
called upon to read in any synagogue but that
to which he belonged. Accordingly, although
our Lord taught in many synagogues, he is
not recorded to have read in any but that of
Nazareth. The word of exhortation, or
sermons, which the apostles were invited to
deliver, must not be confounded with the
exposition of Scripture which our Savior
delivered on the occasion indicated. It was a
distinct matter, after the regular service of
the day had been completed. A discourse by
some competent person then usually, but not
always, nor necessarily, followed. There was
no regular officer on whom the duty of
delivering this discourse devolved, but any
qualified person who happened to be present
was asked, or offered himself, to address the
congregation.
As the Jews resident in foreign parts had less
abundant opportunities of obtaining
instruction in this shape than those in Judea,
they were, doubtless, all the more anxious to
take advantage of such occasions as offered.
Hence the present application to Paul and
Barnabas, who had intimated, by sitting
down when they entered, that they were
accustomed to teach in the synagogues.
It was Paul, not Barnabas, who responded to
the call. He stood up, and after his usual
manner, by beckoning with his hand, and
by corresponding words, invited attention to
his discourse, Men of Israel, and ye who fear
God, give audience. Then followed a well-
arranged and convincing discourseone of
the longest reported in the Actsin which he
gradually led his hearers through the Old
Testament Scriptures to the promise of a
Messiah, which promise he declared to be
fulfilled in the person of Jesus, as evinced by
the fact that He had been raised from the
dead. Through Him, he now, therefore, was
enabled to preach the forgiveness of sins;
and that by Him all that believe are justified
from all things from which they could not be
justified by the law of Moses. This was very
vital doctrine, and it made a profound
impression upon those who now heard it for
the first time; and many of them, on leaving
the synagogue, pressed around the apostles,
and begged them that these words
meaning the same mattermight again be
preached to them, or rather more fully
opened to their, on the next Sabbath-day.
And when the mass of the congregation had
dispersed, there were still many, both Jews
and proselytes, more strongly than the others
smitten by the sword of the Spirit, who
walked along with or near the apostles, as if
reluctant to part from them, in their hunger
for spiritual nourishment. But these were at
length kindly dismissed, with the injunction
that, till the next meeting, they should
sedulously cherish the good impressions they
had already received.
Doubtless many of those who had been thus
impressed invited Paul and Barnabas to their
houses during the ensuing week, and enabled
them to declare the history and doctrine of
Christ more fully to these inquirers and their
circles of friends. Thus and by other means
was the intensity of the first excitement
deepened. It even extended to the Gentiles,
the nature of whose interest in such matters
has been lately explained; and many of them
were found among the crowd that flocked to
the Jewish synagogue on the next Sabbath-
day. The stricter Jews beheld this concourse
of Gentiles with an evil eye; and the eager
curiosity which they manifested, as in a
matter with which they had some concern,
alarmed their pride and excited their
displeasure; the rather when they called to
mind that Paul had in fact, on the last
Sabbath, opened his commission in very wide
terms, and had plainly enough intimated the
cessation of their exclusive privileges, and
the abolition of their ritual system.
Influenced by such feelings, these persons
clamorously opposed Paul in his present
discourse, contradicting his main
positions, and blaspheming that blessed
name which he declared to be above every
name that is named.
The contrast between the blind rage of the
Jews and the earnest solicitude of the
Gentiles on this occasion, forcibly struck the
apostles. They felt that the time for resolute
decision, for openly unfurling the banner of
the cross before the eyes of the Gentiles, was
fully come. They therefore silenced the
clamor with these grave and solemn words:
It was necessary that the word of God
should first have been spoken to you; but
seeing ye put it from you, and judge
yourselves unworthy of eternal lifeLo, we
turn to the Gentiles! Nor would they let it be
supposed for an instant that this was a mere
caprice or ebullition of wrath on their part.
They produced their authority: For so hath
the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set
thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou
shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of
the earth.
This bold declaration seems to have struck
the Jews dumb with amazement. But the
Gentiles were very glad. And they had reason,
for from this time forward Paul held forth
the gospel freely, and openly to Gentile
audiences whenever the opportunity offered
or was found, although the Jews engaged a
full share of his labors and hopes in the
various places to which he came. Now, at
Antioch he and Barnabas ceased to present
themselves to the notice of the Jews, but
prosecuted their evangelical labors
exclusively among the Gentiles, in public
places and private houses. Thus some time
was occupied; so that the word of the Lord
was fully preached with great success
throughout all that neighborhood.
The Jews could not endure this; and
therefore stirred up the devout and
honorable womenprobably proselytes,
whose husbands were men of consequence in
the cityto use their influence with the chief
men, to procure the expulsion of the
apostles. They succeeded, and Paul and
Barnabas left the city, shaking off the dust of
their feet for a testimony against it.