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Acts 14:12
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10 said with a loud voice, a“Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked.  
11 Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, a“The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!”  
12 And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.  
13 Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, aintending to sacrifice with the multitudes.  
14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, athey tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out  
15 and saying, “Men, awhy are you doing these things? bWe also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from cthese useless things dto the living God, ewho made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them,  
16 awho in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways.  
17 aNevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, bgave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with cfood and gladness.”  
18 And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them.

Stoning, Escape to Derbe

19 aThen Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, bthey stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be cdead.  
Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
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Acts 14:12

They called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius - The heathens supposed that Jupiter and Mercury were the gods who most frequently assumed the human form; and Jupiter was accustomed to take Mercury with him on such expeditions. Jupiter was the supreme god of the heathens; and Mercury was by them considered the god of eloquence. And the ancient fable, from which I have quoted so largely above, represents Jupiter and Mercury coming to this very region, where they were entertained by Lycaon, from whom the Lycaonians derived their name. See the whole fable in the first book of Ovid' s Metamorphoses. As the ancients usually represented Jupiter as rather an aged man, large, noble, and majestic; and Mercury young, light, and active, the conjecture of Chrysostom is very probable, that Barnabas was a large, noble, well-made man, and probably in years; and St. Paul, young, active, and eloquent; on which account, they termed the former Jupiter, and the latter Mercury. That Mercury was eloquent and powerful in his words is allowed by the heathens; and the very epithet that is applied here to Paul, ̔ ̔ , he was the chief or leader of the discourse, was applied to Mercury. So Jamblichus de Myster. Init. ̔ ̔ ̔ ̔ . And Macrobius, Sat. i. 8: Scimus Mercurium vocis et sermonis potentem . We know that Mercury is powerful both in his voice and eloquence. With the Lycaonians, the actions of these apostles proved them to be gods; and the different parts they took appeared to them to fix their character, so that one was judged to be Jupiter, and the other Mercury.




Other Adam Clarke entries containing Acts 14:12:

2 Corinthians 10:10

 

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