9 and when certain were hardened and were disbelieving, speaking evil of the way before the multitude, having departed from them, he did separate the disciples, every day reasoning in the school of a certain Tyrannus.
And there came, at that time, not a little stir about the way,
did ask from him letters to Damascus, unto the synagogues, that if he may find any being of the way, both men and women, he may bring them bound to Jerusalem.
and the Jews having seen the multitudes, were filled with zeal, and did contradict the things spoken by Paul -- contradicting and speaking evil. And speaking boldly, Paul and Barnabas said, `To you it was necessary that first the word of God be spoken, and seeing ye do thrust it away, and do not judge yourselves worthy of the life age-during, lo, we do turn to the nations;
`Therefore, watch, remembering that three years, night and day, I did not cease with tears warning each one;
`And this way I persecuted unto death, binding and delivering up to prisons both men and women,
except concerning this one voice, in which I cried, standing among them -- Concerning a rising again of the dead I am judged to-day by you.'
so, then, to whom He willeth, He doth kindness, and to whom He willeth, He doth harden.
What then? What Israel doth seek after, this it did not obtain, and the chosen did obtain, and the rest were hardened,
thou hast known this, that they did turn from me -- all those in Asia, of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes;
having a form of piety, and its power having denied; and from these be turning away,
but exhort ye one another every day, while the To-day is called, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of the sin,
and many shall follow out their destructive ways, because of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of,
and these, as many things indeed as they have not known, they speak evil of; and as many things as naturally (as the irrational beasts) they understand, in these they are corrupted;
let them alone, guides they are -- blind of blind; and if blind may guide blind, both into a ditch shall fall.'
and they are mocking at the messengers of God, and despising His words, and acting deceitfully with His prophets, till the going up of the fury of Jehovah against His people -- till there is no healing.
`And they and our fathers have acted proudly, and harden their neck, and have not hearkened unto Thy commands, yea, they refuse to hearken, and have not remembered Thy wonders that Thou hast done with them, and harden their neck and appoint a head, to turn back to their service, in their rebellion; and Thou `art' a God of pardons, gracious, and merciful, long-suffering, and abundant in kindness, and hast not forsaken them.
and dost testify against them, to bring them back unto Thy law; and they -- they have acted proudly, and have not hearkened to Thy commands, and against Thy judgments have sinned, -- which man doth and hath lived in them -- and they give a refractory shoulder, and their neck have hardened, and have not hearkened.
Harden not your heart as `in' Meribah, As `in' the day of Massah in the wilderness,
O the happiness of the man hearkening to me, To watch at my doors day by day, To watch at the door-posts of my entrance.
And they have not hearkened unto Me, Nor inclined their ear, and harden their neck, They have done evil above their fathers.
`Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, God of Israel: Lo, I am bringing in unto this city, and on all its cities, all the evil that I have spoken against it, for they have hardened their neck -- not to hear My words!'
`A generation evil and adulterous doth seek a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet;' and having left them he went away.
In that hour said Jesus to the multitudes, `As against a robber ye did come forth, with swords and sticks, to take me! daily with you I was sitting teaching in the temple, and ye did not lay hold on me;
`Think ye that peace I came to give in the earth? no, I say to you, but rather division; for there shall be henceforth five in one house divided -- three against two, and two against three; a father shall be divided against a son, and a son against a father, a mother against a daughter, and a daughter against a mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.'
`He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they might not see with the eyes, and understand with the heart, and turn back, and I might heal them;'
`Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and in ears! ye do always the Holy Spirit resist; as your fathers -- also ye;
And certain of them did believe, and attached themselves to Paul and to Silas, also of the worshipping Greeks a great multitude, of the principal women also not a few.
and on their resisting and speaking evil, having shaken `his' garments, he said unto them, `Your blood `is' upon your head -- I am clean; henceforth to the nations I will go on.' And having departed thence, he went to the house of a certain one, by name Justus, a worshipper of God, whose house was adjoining the synagogue, and Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue did believe in the Lord with all his house, and many of the Corinthians hearing were believing, and they were being baptized.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Acts 19
Commentary on Acts 19 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 19
We left Paul in his circuit visiting the churches (ch. 18:23), but we have not forgotten, nor has he, the promise he made to his friends at Ephesus, to return to them, and make some stay there; now this chapter shows us his performance of that promise, his coming to Ephesus, and his continuance there two years; we are here told,
Act 19:1-7
Ephesus was a city of great note in Asia, famous for a temple built there to Diana, which was one of the wonders of the world: thither Paul came to preach the gospel while Apollos was at Corinth (v. 1); while he was watering there, Paul was planting here, and grudged not that Apollos entered into his labours and was building upon his foundation, but rejoiced in it, and went on in the new work that was cut out for him at Ephesus with the more cheerfulness and satisfaction, because he knew that such an able minister of the New Testament as Apollos was now at Corinth, carrying on the good work there. Though there were those that made him the head of a party against Paul (1 Co. 1:12), yet Paul had no jealousy of him, nor any way disliked the affection the people had for him. Paul having gone through the country of Galatia and Phrygia, having passed through the upper coasts, Pontus and Bithynia, that lay north, at length came to Ephesus, where he had left Aquila and Priscilla, and there found them. At his first coming, he met with some disciples there, who professed faith in Christ as the true Messiah, but were as yet in the first and lowest form in the school of Christ, under his usher John the Baptist. They were in number about twelve (v. 7); they were much of the standing that Apollos was of when he came to Ephesus (for he knew only the baptism of John, ch. 18:25), but they had not opportunity of being acquainted with Aquila and Priscilla, or had not been so long in Ephesus or were not so willing to receive instruction as Apollos was, otherwise they might have had the way of God expounded to them more perfectly, as Apollos had. Observe here,
Act 19:8-12
Paul is here very busy at Ephesus to do good.
Act 19:13-20
The preachers of the gospel were sent forth to carry on a war against Satan, and therein Christ went forth conquering and to conquer. The casting of evil spirits out of those that were possessed was one instance of Christ's victory over Satan; but, to show in how many ways Christ triumphed over that great enemy, we have here in these verses two remarkable instances of the conquest of Satan, not only in those that were violently possessed by him, but in those that were voluntarily devoted to him.
Act 19:21-41