John Gill Commentary Acts 2:9

"Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, in Judaea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia," — Acts 2:9 (ASV)

Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites
These are the words of the men continued, and not of the historian, as appears from (Acts 2:10); and so the Arabic version reads, "of us Persians, Parthians, and Medes"; that is, we hear them speak in the language of everyone of us: the order in this version is inverted, otherwise the same persons are intended; for the Elamites and Persians are the same: by the Parthians are meant, Jews that were born in Parthia, and had dwelt there, and who spoke the language of that country; and that there were Jews, in those parts, is clear from Josephus ^F26, who speaks of them together with the Jews of other nations.

Many of the Parthian Jews were afterwards converted to the Christian faith; to whom the Apostle John is thought, by some, to have written his first epistle; and which, by some of the ancients, is called the epistle to the Parthians.

The kingdom of Parthia, according to Pliny ^F1, Ptolomy ^F2, and Solinus ^F3, had Media on its west, Hyrcania on its north, Aria, or Ariana, on its east, and the desert of Carmania on its south; the metropolis of it was Hecatompylos, so called from the hundred gates that belonged to it; and which, it is thought, stood on the same spot of ground that Ispahan does now, the seat of the Sophies of Persia.

And by the Medes are intended the Jews that were natives of Media: so called from "Madai", one of the sons of Japhet, (Genesis 10:2); and this, according to Ptolomy ^F4, has on its north the Hyrcanian, or Gasptan sea, on its west Armenia Major and Assyria, and on its east Hyrcania and Parthia, and on its south Parthia.

The Elamites are so called, from Elam the son of Shem, (Genesis 10:22); and these, according to Josephus ^F5, were the founders of the Persians, or from whom they sprung; and so we find Elam and Media, and the kings of Elam, and the kings of the Medes, mentioned together in Scripture, (Isaiah 21:2) (Jeremiah 25:25).

And certain it is, that Elam was at least a part of the empire of Persia, in Daniel's time; for Shushan, where the kings of Persia then kept their palace, was in the province of Elam, (Daniel 8:2); and it is evident that the Jews were carried captive here, (Isaiah 11:11) (Jeremiah 49:34–39).

So that there might be some remaining in those parts, that were their descendants; and people were also brought from here by Asnapper, into the cities of Samaria, to supply the room of those who were carried captive, and are called Elamites, (Ezra 4:9).

And that there were Elamite Jews, may be concluded from the writings of the Jews, for they say ^F6, that ``the Hagiographa, or holy writings, which were written in the Coptic, Median, Hebrew, (tymlye), "Elamite", and Greek tongues; though they did not read in them (on the sabbath day in time of service) they saved them from the fire,'' when in danger of being burned:

so the Megilla, or book of Esther, might not be read in the Coptic, Hebrew, Elamite, Median, and Greek languages; but it could be read in Coptic to Coptites, in Hebrew to Hebrews, (Mymlyel tymlye), in "Elamite" to the "Elamites", and in Greek to the Greeks ^F7; and these in the text were such sort of Jews as the Elamite ones:

the Syriac version reads Elanites; and so R. Benjamin in his Itinerary ^F8 mentions a country called, (hynla), "Alania", and of a people called, (Nala), "Alan"; and whom he speaks of alongside Babylon, Persia, Choresan, Sheba, and Mesopotamia; and may intend the same people as here:

now these Parthian, Median, and Elamite Jews were such who descended from the captives of the ten tribes, carried away by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, whom he placed in Halah and Habor, and in the cities of the Medes, (2 Kings 17:6) (18:11).

But besides these, there were also at Jerusalem, at this time, those who are next mentioned:

and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in
Pontus and Asia ;
who did not come quite as far as the former:

Mesopotamia is the same as what is called in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, Aram Naharaim, or Syria between the two rivers; that is, Tigris and Euphrates; the former was on its east, and the latter on its west, and Babylon was on its south, and Caucasus on its north; and so the Greek word Mesopotamia signifies a place between two rivers; see (Genesis 24:10) (Deuteronomy 23:4) (Judges 3:8Judges 3:10) (1 Chronicles 19:6).

And the Jews have adopted it into their own language, calling it, (aymjwpom), "Mesopotamia" ^F9; and the same name is used by other writers ^F11, and it has since been called Azania and Halopin; it belonged to that part of Assyria, called Chaldea; and these Mesopotamian Jews were the remains of those who were carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon;

and though the Chaldean, or Syriac language was now spoken by the Jews, yet in a different manner than it was in Chaldea and Syria:

and there were also the dwellers in Judea; by which is meant, that part of the land of Israel, which was distinct from Galilee, and where they used a different dialect from the Galilean Jews;

and there were others, who were born, and had lived in Cappadocia.

This was a country in Asia, in which were many famous cities; as Archalais, where Claudius Caesar established a Roman colony; and Neo Caesarea (the birthplace of Gregory Thaumaturgus); and Melita, built by Semiramis; and Mazaca ^F12, which was the chief city; and so called from Meshech, the son of Japhet, since called Caesarea.

The inhabitants of this country, Herodotus says ^F13, ``were called Syrians by the Greeks, and they were Syrians; and before the Persians had the government, they were subject to the Medes, and then to Cyrus.''

And they are called by Pliny ^F14, Leucosyrians.

This country, according to Ptolomy ^F15, had Galatia and part of Pamphylia on its west, and Cilicia and part of Syria on its south, and Armenia the Great on its east, and part of the Euxine Pontus on its north; it is now called Amasia, or Almasin:

many Jews were scattered abroad here, some of whom were afterwards believers in Christ, to whom Peter sent his epistles, (1 Peter 1:1).

It had its former name from the river Cappadox, which, as Pliny ^F16 says, divided the Galatians and Leucosyrians, and this is indeed the reason for its name;

in the Syriac language it is called, (Kdpq), "Capdac", which comes from (dpq); which signifies to "cut off" or "divide", as this river divided the above people from one another; and hence the country was called Cappadocia and the inhabitants Cappadocians:

it is called in the Jewish writings, (ayqjwpq), Capotakia; and which Maimonides ^F17 says is the same as Caphtor; and in the Arabic language is called Tamiati; and so Caphtor is rendered Cappadocia and the Caphtorim Cappadocians, in the Targums of Onkelos, Jonathan, and Jerusalem, in (Genesis 10:14) (Deuteronomy 2:23) (Jeremiah 47:4) (Amos 9:7) and so in the Septuagint version of (Deuteronomy 2:23) (Amos 9:7).

This country was near the land of Israel, and many Jews dwelt in it; they had schools of learning here and traditions peculiarly relating to it:

as for instance, ``if a man married a wife in the land of Israel, and divorced her in Cappadocia, he must give her (her dowry) of the money of the land of Israel; and if he marries a wife in Cappadocia, and divorces her in the land of Israel, he may give her of the money of the land of Israel; Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel says, he must give her of the money of Cappadocia ^F18;''

for it seems the Cappadocian money was larger and weighed more than that in the land of Israel:

however, ``if a man marries a wife in Cappadocia, and divorces her in Cappadocia, he must give her of the money of Cappadocia.''

And so R. Akiba speaks of one whom he saw shipwrecked at sea; and when, he says, I came to the province of Cappadocia, he came and sat and judged before me in the constitutions and traditions of the elders:

from which it is manifest that people of the Jewish nation dwelt in this country, and so at this time.

As also in Pontus.

Hence the first epistle of Peter is sometimes called the epistle to the Pontians; that is, to the Jews of Pontus who had then become Christians;

Pontus was a country in Lesser Asia, and according to Ptolomy ^F20, it had the mouth of Pontus, the Thracian Bosphorus, and part of Propontis on its west; part of the Euxine Sea on its north; the country which is properly called Asia on its south; and Galatia by Paphlagonia on its east;

it was the birthplace of Marcion the heretic, of whom Tertullian ^F21 gives a most dismal account:

Asia here intends neither Asia the Greater nor the Less, but Asia properly so called; which had Lycia and Phrygia on its east, the Aegean shores on its west, the Egyptian Sea on its south, and Paphlagonia on its north ^F23;

in which were Ephesus the chief city, Smyrna, and Pergamus, and where many Jews lived;

these might be the remains of those who were carried captive and dispersed by Ptolomy Lagus;

those who dwelt in the three last places spoke the Greek language.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F26: Prooem. ad Lib. de Bello Jud. sect. 2. & l. 2. c. 16.
• F1: Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 15, 25.
• F2: Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.
• F3: Polyhistor. c. 69.
• F4: Geograph. l. 6. c. 2.
• F5: Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.
• F6: T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 115. 1.
• F7: T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 18. 1.
• F8: P. 73.
• F9: Bereshit Rabba, sect. 30. fol. 25. 1. & sect. 44. fol. 38. 3.
• F11: Plin. l. 5. c. 12, 26. & 6. 26, 27. Ptolom. l. 5. c. 18.
• F12: Solin. Polyhistor. c. 57.
• F13: L. 1. c. 72.
• F14: L. 6. c. 3.
• F15: L. 5. c. 6.
• F16: Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 3.
• F17: In Misn. Cetubot, c. 13. sect. 11. & Bartenora in ib.
• F18: Misn. Cetubot, c. 13. sect. 11. T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 110, 2.
• F19: T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 121. 1.
• F20: L. 5. c. 1.
• F21: Adv. Marcion. l. 1. c. 1.
• F23: Solinus, ib. c. 53.