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Acts 13:1-12. Beginning of Saul’s first Missionary journey. He visits Cyprus

1. Now there were in the church that was at Antioch] Rather, “Now there were at Antioch in the church that was there.”

We now come to the history of those three great journeys which the Apostle of the Gentiles undertook in his special work. It is fitting that the point of departure should be Antioch, the city in which Gentiles had first in large numbers been joined to the Church, and where as yet there had risen no difficulty about the way in which they were received.

prophets and teachers] Cp. Acts 2:17. The prophecy of Joel was now to receive a wider fulfilment.

Simeon that was called Niger] The first name points out the man as of Jewish origin, and the second is a Latin adjective = black, which may have been assumed, or given to him, as a name from his dark complexion. Jews were, and are still, in the habit of having another name beside their national one, for use when they mixed among foreign nations.

Lucius of Cyrene] This name is Latin, though his birthplace or home may indicate that he was one of the Jews who abounded in Cyrene and the other parts of the North of Africa. Perhaps it is he who is mentioned in Romans 16:21.

Manaen] i.e. Menahem. This name is Jewish, and is found in Josephus (Antiq. xv. 10. 5) as the name of an Essene who foretold that Herod the Great would become king. It may well be that the name became, when the prophecy had received its fulfilment, a favourite one among those who were attached to or favoured the rulers of the Herodian family.

which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch] Rather, “foster-brother of Herod, &c.” The Vulgate gives “collactaneus.” Herod the Tetrarch (Antipas) had a brother Archelaus by the same mother. Manaen would hardly be said to have “been brought up with” one brother and not with the other.

The various connections and nationalities of the men who are here. named, are worthy to be noticed when we reflect on the work which was to have its beginning from Antioch. One a Cypriote, another a Cyrenian, another a Jew, but from his double name accustomed to mix among non-Jews, one a connection of the Idumean house of Herod, and Saul the heaven-appointed Apostle of the Gentiles, the list may be deemed in some sort typical of “all the world,” into which the Gospel was now to go forth.

2. As they ministered to the Lord] The word is the one usually employed by the LXX. for the ministerial services in the Temple, as it is also Hebrews 10:11, but the parallelism with the next verse, where the service here mentioned is described as “fasting and prayer,” shews us that we are not to attach the former strict signification to it. Such has been the mind of the Church also, for from this verb comes our word “Liturgy.” The old order is giving place to the new, and the terminology is receiving a new sense.

and fasted] as a solemn act of devotion in the prospect of the work which was before them.

the Holy Ghost said] Speaking to and through the prophets who were there.

Separate me Barnabas and Saul] Saul had from the first been a “vessel of election,” and so specially severed for this work, and we can see why Barnabas, who had been the first to introduce Saul to the Church at Jerusalem, and whose education may have been very like his own, (for there was much inter-communication between Cyprus and Tarsus,) was appointed to be the sharer of Saul’s labours.

for the work whereunto I have called them] As the one portion of this admonition was from the Holy Ghost, we may perhaps be warranted in concluding that the whole course of this first great missionary journey was pointed out also by the Spirit. There is no notice of a deliberation in the Church about the best way for the Apostles to set forth.

3. This verse implies a solemn dedication service at the end of the ministration and fasting with which the devotions of the Church had commenced.

4. sent forth by the Holy Ghost] A repetition which marks the solemn character which St Luke and also his informant attached to this new form of the Christian work.

unto Seleucia] which was the seaport of Antioch at the mouth of the Orontes. See Dictionary of the Bible.

and from thence they sailed to Cyprus] Probably, if not specially directed, the missionary Apostles were induced to take this route because Cyprus was the birthplace of one of them, and there were in the island already many Jews resident, and also some Cypriote Christians (Acts 11:20), who perhaps had been in Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost among the various nationalities then assembled, and who had, when driven away by persecution, turned their steps homeward and preached Jesus to their fellow-countrymen (Acts 11:19).

5. And when they were at Salamis] Salamis was the nearest port of Cyprus for voyagers from Seleucia. It is at the eastern end of the island in the bay which is now called Famagousta.

in the synagogues of the Jews] who were living in Salamis in sufficient numbers to need several synagogues.

they had also John to [as] their minister] This is John Mark, the nephew of Barnabas. His office may have been to baptize, from which service the Apostles seem to have refrained where it was possible (see above on Acts 10:48). But there is perhaps also implied in the word rendered “minister” some degree of the same service which in old times Elisha rendered to Elijah (2 Kings 3:11). The same Greek word is used for the minister in a synagogue (Luke 4:20).

6. And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos] Probably teaching at other places in the same way as they had done in Salamis. Paphos was the capital of Cyprus, and therefore the residence of the Roman governor. It was the more modern city, not the old city of Paphos, to which Paul and Barnabas came. See Dictionary of Bible.

they found a certain sorcerer [magician], a false prophet, a Jew] That there were living among the Jews persons well known as pretenders to magic powers we can see from a story told T. B. Berakhoth 59 a, of a certain Rab Katina who, in his walk, as he was passing the door of one who was known as a professor of witchcraft and magic arts, felt a slight shock of an earthquake. He thereupon called out and asked “Does this wizard diviner know what that shock is?” Upon this the man cried with a sanctimonious promptness worthy of his profession, “In the hour when the Holy One, blessed be He, remembers His children who dwell in sorrow among the nations of the world, He lets fall two tears into the great sea, and that is the cause of the tremor of the earth.” Chaldæan astrologers and impostors are mentioned by Juvenal (vi. 562; xiv. 248) and Horace (Sat. i. 2. 1) and by many other Latin writers, and these were probably Babylonian Jews. See Lucian, Necyomantia, where a wonderful story is told of a magician named Mithrobarzanes. Also Lucian, Philopseudes, where one of the wonder-workers is described as “a Syrian from Palestine.”

Bar-jesus] This was his Jewish name. The Arabic name or title Elymas = wise, was a self-assumed designation; and for that reason he is called “Magus” = the magician, a name originally applied to the Persian priests, who were deemed the wise men of the realm both in policy and religion, though their title in after times was degraded to baser arts and persons.

7. which was with the deputy of the country [proconsul], Sergius Paulus] Under Augustus the Roman provinces were divided into two classes, one class of which (needing the presence of troops for their government, and the possession of which gave the Emperor the control of the army) was called imperatorial, while the others were called senatorial provinces. The former were governed by an officer named proprætor, the latter by a proconsul. We know from Dio Cassius (liii. 12) that Cyprus was originally an imperatorial province, and therefore under a proprætor. This also Strabo confirms (xiv. 685), but says that Augustus made it over to the people along with Cyprus and part of Galatia, and took instead of these Dalmatia for one of his provinces. So that the government was at St Paul’s visit held by a proconsul for the Roman Senate, as is here recorded; and this is another instance of the historic faithfulness of St Luke’s record.

Of Sergius Paulus we know nothing, but the opportunities now afforded, by the English occupation of Cyprus, for the investigation of the antiquities of the island, may lead to some discovery of his name and office in coin or inscription.

a prudent man] The presence of Elymas among his staff shews that the proconsul was a man of enquiring mind, and the same is displayed by his desire to hear Barnabas and Saul.

8. seeking to turn away [aside] the deputy [proconsul] from the faith] Sergius had not yet accepted the doctrine of the Apostles, though we may presume that both he and Elymas had heard much about their teaching since their landing at Salamis. Report going before had roused the proconsul’s curiosity and the magician’s fear, and the wish of the latter was to divert the attention of Sergius, that he might not send for the new teachers.