Albert Barnes Commentary Acts 28

Chapter 28

They knew. Either from their former acquaintance with the island, or from the information of the inhabitants.

Was called Melita. Now called Malta.

It was celebrated formerly for producing large quantities of honey and is supposed to have been called Melita from the Greek word signifying honey.

It is about twenty miles in length from east to west, and twelve miles in breadth from north to south, and about sixty miles in circumference.

It is about sixty miles from the coast of Sicily.

The island is an immense rock of white soft freestone, with a covering of earth about one foot in depth, which has been brought from the island of Sicily.

There was also another island formerly called Melita, now called Meleda, in the Adriatic Sea, near the coast of Illyricum, and some have supposed that Paul was shipwrecked on that island.

But tradition has uniformly said that it was on the island now called Malta.

Besides, the other Melita would have been far out of the usual tract in going to Italy.

It is further evident that Malta was the place because, from the place of his shipwreck, he went directly to Syracuse, Rhegium, and Puteoli, thus sailing in a direct course to Rome.

In sailing from the other Melita to Rhegium, Syracuse would be far out of the direct course.

The island now is in the possession of the British.

And the barbarous people. (See Barnes on Romans 1:14).

The Greeks regarded all as barbarians who did not speak their language and applied this name to all nations other than their own. The term does not signify, as it sometimes does for us, people of savage, uncultivated, and cruel habits, but simply those whose speech was unintelligible. (See 1 Corinthians 14:11).

The island is thought to have been populated first by the Phoecians, then by the Phoenicians, and later by a colony from Carthage. The language of the Maltese was that of Africa, and for this reason, the Greeks called it the language of barbarians. It was a language unintelligible to the Greeks and Latins.

The rain. This refers to the continuance of the storm.

And of the cold. This refers to the exposure to the water in getting to the shore, and probably to the coldness of the weather. It was now in the month of October.

Had gathered a bundle of sticks. For the purpose of making a fire.

There came a viper. A poisonous serpent. (See Barnes on Matthew 3:7).

The viper was, doubtless, in the bundle of sticks or limbs of trees that Paul had gathered, but was concealed and torpid. But when the bundle was laid on the fire, the viper became warmed by the heat, ran out, and fastened on Paul’s hand.

And fastened on his hand. kayhqe. This word properly means to join oneself to, to touch, or to adhere to. It might have been by coiling around his hand and arm, or by fastening its fangs in his hand.

It is not expressly affirmed that Paul was bitten by the viper, yet it is evidently implied. Indeed, it is wholly incredible that a viper, unless miraculously prevented, should fasten itself to the hand without biting.

The venomous beast. We usually apply the word "beast" to an animal of larger size than a viper. But the original word—thērion—is applicable to animals of any kind and is especially applied by Greek writers to serpents. See Schleusner.

No doubt. The fact that the viper had fastened on him, and that, as they supposed, he must now certainly die, was the proof from which they inferred his guilt .

Is a murderer. Why they thought he was a murderer rather than guilty of some other crime is not known. It might have been for one of the following reasons:

1. Because they inferred that he must have been guilty of some very atrocious crime; and as murder was the highest crime a person could commit, they inferred that he had been guilty of this.
2. More probably, they held the opinion that when divine vengeance overtook a person, they would be punished in a manner similar to the offense. Since murder is usually committed with the hand, and the viper had fastened on Paul’s hand, they inferred that he had been guilty of taking life. It was supposed among the ancients that individuals were often punished by divine vengeance in that part of the body which had been the instrument of the sin.

Whom, though he hath escaped the sea. They supposed that vengeance and justice would still follow the guilty; that though he might escape one form of punishment, he would yet be exposed to another. And this, to a certain extent, is true. These barbarians reasoned from great original principles, written on the hearts of all people by nature: that there is a God of justice, and that the guilty would be punished.

They reasoned incorrectly, as many do, because they supposed that every calamity is a judgment for a particular sin. People often draw this conclusion, supposing that suffering can be traced to a specific crime and should be regarded as a direct judgment from heaven (compare to John 9:1-3, and see Barnes' commentary on these verses).

The general proposition that all sin will be punished at some time is true, but we are not always qualified to affirm that particular calamities are direct judgments for sin. In some cases, we may. For instance, in the case of the drunkard, the gambler, and the profligate, we cannot doubt that the loss of property, health, and reputation is the direct result of specific crimes.

In the ordinary calamities of life, however, it requires a more profound understanding of the principles of divine government than we possess to affirm that each instance of suffering is a particular judgment for some crime.

Yet vengeance. Dikē (Justice) was represented by the pagans as a goddess, the daughter of Jupiter, whose office it was to take vengeance or inflict punishment for crimes.

Suffereth not to live. They regarded him as already a dead man. They supposed the effect of the viper’s bite would be so certainly fatal that they might speak of him as, in effect, already dead—Beza.

And he shook off, etc. In this, the promise of the Savior was remarkably fulfilled: They shall take up serpents, etc. (Mark 16:18).

"Beast," "serpent"; "no harm" (Mark 16:18; Luke 10:19).