Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 13:15

"And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on." — Acts 13:15 (ASV)

After the reading of the law and the prophets.—The order of the Sabbath lessons was fixed as by a kind of calendar; the Law—that is, the Pentateuch—was divided into fifty-three or fifty-four paraschioth, or sections. These sections probably came into use soon after the return from Babylon. Afterwards, special lessons from the prophets, known technically as the Haphtaroth, were added to these.

We are enabled, by two curious coincidences, to determine with very little uncertainty the precise Sabbath on which the mission-work at Antioch opened. Saint Paul's opening words refer to Deuteronomy 1:31 (see Note on Acts 13:18). This passage was the lesson for the forty-fourth Sabbath in the year, which fell in July or August. The corresponding second lesson from the prophets was Isaiah 1:1-27, from which he also quotes.

He started, as was natural, from what the people had just been listening to, using it as the text for his discourse.

The rulers of the synagogue sent unto them . . .—The elders apparently saw strangers taking the position of teachers, probably in the garb of Rabbis, and it belonged to their office to offer such persons an opportunity of addressing the people.