John Gill Commentary Acts 18

After these things
The Arabic version renders it, "after these words, or discourses"; after the apostle's disputation with the philosophers, and his sermon in the Areopagus, the effects of which are before related:

Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth ;
the metropolis of Achaia, or Peloponnesus. The city was formerly called Ephyra, from Ephyra ^F16 , the daughter of Oceanus, and had its name of Corinth from Corinthus, the son of Maratho, who repaired it when destroyed; or, as others say, from Corinthus the son of Pelops, others of Orestes, and others of Jupiter: though more probably it was so called from the multitudes of whores in this place, as if it was (korai enya) , "corai entha, here are girls, or whores"; for in the temple of Venus there were no less than a thousand whores provided, to be prostituted to all comers thither; (See Gill on 2 Corinthians 12:21). It was situated between two great seas, the Aegean and Ionean; hence ^F17 Horace calls it Bimaris: it had a very strong tower, built on a high mount, called Acrocorinthus, from which these two seas might be seen, and where was the fountain Pirene, sacred to the Muses: the city was about sixty furlongs, or seven miles and a half, from the shore ^F18 :

it was a city that abounded in riches and luxury. Florus

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: Vellei Patercull Hist. Rom. l. 1. Pausanias, Corinthiaca, sive l. 2. p. 85.
• F17: Carmin. l. 1. Ode 7.
• F18: Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 4. c. 4.

And found a certain Jew named Aquila
This seems to have been his Roman name, which he had took, or was given him, while he was at Rome; very likely his Jewish name was (dvn) , "Nesher", which signifies an eagle, as "Aquila" does: unless it should rather be thought to be a Greek name; and as "Olympas" is from "Olympios", and "Nymphas" from Nymphios"; so "Akilas", as it is in the Greek text, from Akylios", and this from (akulov) , "Akylos", which signifies an acorn.

There was a Jewish proselyte of this name, who translated the Bible into Greek, who is called by the Jewish writers (olyqe) , "Akilas" ^F1 ; and Eusebius ^F2 calls him (akulav o pontikov) , or "Akylas" or "Aquila" of Pontus, as here, but cannot be the same; for one was a Jew, the other a Gentile, then a Christian, and afterwards a Jewish proselyte, and lived after the destruction of Jerusalem many years, even in the times of Adrian: nor is it the same name with Onkelos, the famous Chaldee paraphrast, as some have thought, and much less the same person; for though their age better agrees, yet neither their name, nor their nation; for Onkelos was only a proselyte, not a Jew, as this man was; and the agreement the names of these proselytes may be thought to have with this, does but confirm it to be a Roman name; and in a decree of Claudius the Roman emperor, mention is made of Akylas, or Aquila, a Roman governor of Alexandria ^F3 : and in the reign of Caius Caligula, there was a consul of Rome whose name was M. Aquila Julianus. This is said to be afterwards bishop of Heraclea; but that is not to be depended upon:

born in Pontus; a country in Asia; (See Gill on Acts 2:9) where many Jews lived; though he was born in a Heathen country, his parents were Jews:

lately come from Italy ;
a famous and well known country in Europe: (See Gill on Hebrews 13:24).

with his wife Priscilla ;
she and her husband are both highly spoken of in (Romans 16:3Romans 16:4) (See Gill on Romans 16:3), (See Gill on Romans 16:4):

because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome ;
of which edict Suetonius ^F4 makes mention, who says, that Claudius ``expelled the Jews from Rome, who were continually making tumults, being moved thereunto by one Chrestus,'' who is generally understood to be Christ; and it is thought that the reason of this edict was, that the Jews in Rome continually opposing and disputing with the Christians, about Jesus being the Messiah, Claudius, who was of a timorous disposition, was afraid of a tumult, and that it might issue in his detriment, and therefore banished all the Jews, with whom the Christians were involved;

for by the Heathens they were all called Jews, the first Christians being Jews: though others say the reason was, that the Jews had contracted an acquaintance with Agrippina, the wife of Claudius, and had drawn her into Judaism: but be it as it will, such an edict was made, on account of which Aquila and Priscilla were obliged to leave Rome, and come to Corinth. It must be something that was very provoking to him, otherwise before he had shown much favour to the Jews; for he not only granted to the Jews at Alexandria, that they should continue in the observance of their laws and customs, but permitted the same to them in all parts of the empire, by a special decree, which runs thus ^F5 ; ``Tiberius Claudius Caesar decrees, seeing the Kings Agrippa and Herod, my dearest friends, have entreated me that I would suffer the Jews in every government under the Romans, to observe their laws as in Alexandria; I most willingly grant it, not only for the sake of gratifying those who ask it, but judging that those are worthy, for whom it is asked, because of their faithfulness and friendship to the Romans; especially accounting it most just that no Grecian city should be deprived of these rights, seeing they were kept for them by the divine Augustus; wherefore it is right also that the Jews throughout all our empire should observe the customs of their country without any hinderance, whom I now command that in love to us they would behave more moderately, and not despise the religion of other nations, but keep their own laws; and I will that governors of cities, and colonies, and freedoms, both in Italy and without, have this my edict transcribed, and also kings and princes by their ambassadors, and that it be put in such a place in less than thirty days, from where it may be plainly read.'' This Claudius was the "fifth" emperor of Rome; and this decree passed in the "ninth", or, as others, in the "eleventh" year of his reign, and about the year of Christ 51, or, as others, 54.

And came unto them :
that is, the apostle, having found out Aquila and Priscilla, he came and visited them, and took up his lodging with them.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Ganz Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 28. 2.
• F2: Eccl. Hist. l. 5. c. 8.
• F3: Joseph. Antiqu. l. 19. c. 5. sect. 2.
• F4: In Vita. Cluadii, c. 25.
• F5: Joseph. ib. sect. 3.

And because he was of the same craft ,
Art, occupation, or trade:

he abode with them ;
in the same house in which they were:

and worked ;
with his own hands, to support himself, for he was a stranger in this place; and as yet here was no church to minister to him; and when there was, he would take nothing from them, that the false teachers, who rose up among them, might not make any handle of it against him, and to the prejudice of the Gospel; though otherwise he thought it his just due to receive a maintenance from the churches; and insisted upon it as an ordination of Christ.

He learned a trade while among the Jews, among whom it was common for their greatest doctors to be trained in some trade or another; (See Gill on Mark 6:3).

for by their occupation they were tent makers ;
either for the soldiers, made of sack cloth of hair, or of leather, and of the skins of various animals ^F6 , sewed together; hence the phrase, "sub pellibus", "under the skins", is used for to lie in tents {g}: or the tents they made were canopies made of linen, and other things, which were erected in the summer season to shade and screen from the heat of the sun; though others take them for a sort of tapestry, or hangings, which they made for theatres, palaces, and stately rooms;

and according to the Syriac version, they were horses' trappings which they made: Perhaps they were of the same occupation with Menedemus the philosopher, who was (skhnorrafov) , "a sewer of tents" ^F8 .

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 1. c. 12.
• F8: Laert. Vit. Philosoph. l. 2. p. 172.

And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath
In Corinth there was a synagogue of the Jews, in which they met together for worship on the seventh day of the week, which was their sabbath; and hither Paul went, and took the opportunity of reasoning with them out of the Scriptures, concerning Christ, his person, and offices, his incarnation, obedience, sufferings, and death, and about redemption and salvation by him: we may observe the diligence, industry, and indefatigableness of the apostle; on the sabbath day he went to the synagogue, and preached Christ to those who there attended; and on the weekdays he laboured with his own hands. Beza's most ancient copy, and the Vulgate Latin version add here, "interposing the name of the Lord Jesus"; frequently making mention of his name, or calling upon it, and doing miracles in it.

And persuaded the Jews and the Greeks ;
this was the effect of his reasoning, and the success that attended it; some, both of the Jews, who were so by birth, as well as religion, and of the Greeks, or Gentiles, who were Jewish proselytes, and attended synagogue worship, were convinced by his arguments, and were induced to believe the truth of his doctrine, and to embrace it; or at least he endeavoured to persuade them that they were lost sinners, and that there was salvation for them in Christ, and in him only.

And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia
Not from Berea in Macedonia, for from here they came to the apostle while at Athens, and from where he sent them, at least Timothy, to Thessalonica, to know the state of the saints there, as appears from (1 Thessalonians 3:1 1 Thessalonians 3:2) and from here they now came to the apostle at Corinth: when

Paul was pressed in Spirit ;
either by the Holy Spirit, by which he was moved and stirred up to preach the Gospel more frequently, and more powerfully; for he has not always the same measure of the Spirit, or was not always under the same influence; or else in his own spirit, and so the Arabic version renders it, "grief beset the spirit of Paul"; his soul was filled with trouble and sorrow, when he observed the nonrepenitence and unbelief, the contradiction and blasphemy of the greater part of the Jews; and being filled with zeal for their welfare, he continued preaching Christ unto them. The Alexandrian copy, and some others, and the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions, instead of "in spirit", read "in speech", or "in word"; and the sense is, not that he was straitened in his speech, and knew not what to say to the Jews, or had not freedom of speech with them; but he was instant in preaching to them, and preached the word more frequently and fervently, upon the coming of Silas and Timothy to his assistance:

and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ ;
he continued to produce more testimonies out of the writings of Moses, and the prophets, to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, or Messiah, prophesied of in those writings, and promised to the Jews, and whom they expected.