Acts 28:6

Acts 28:6

4 So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.”

5 But he shook off the creature into the fire and ^asuffered no harm.

6 However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and ^asaid that he was a god.

7 In that region there was an estate of the¹ leading citizen of the island, whose name was Publius, who received us and entertained us courteously for three days.

8 And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and ^aprayed, and ^bhe laid his hands on him and healed him.

9 So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.

10 They also honored us in many ^aways; and when we departed, they provided such things as were ^bnecessary.

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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Acts 28:7 >>

When he should have swollen - , When he should have been inflamed: by means of an acrid poison introduced into the blood, it is soon coagulated; and, in consequence, the extremities of the vessels become obstructed, strong inflammation takes place, and all the parts become most painfully swollen. Lucan, ix. v. 791, gives a terrible account of this effect of the bite of a serpent: -

- illi rubor igneus ora

Succendit, tenditque cutem, pereunte figura

Miscens cuncta tumor jam toto corpore major:

Humanumque egressa modum super omnia membra

Efflatur sanies late tollente veneno.

Ipse latet penitus, congesto corpore mersus;

Nec lorica tenet distenti corporis auctum .

And straight a sudden flame began to spread,

And paint his visage with a glowing red.

With swift expansion swells the bloated skin,

Nought but an undistinguished mass is seen;

While the fair human form lies lost within,

The puffy poison spreads and heaves around,

Till all the man is in the monster drown' d.

Rowe.

See other ensamples, in the notes on Numbers 21:6 (note).

Said that he was a god - As Hercules was one of the gods of the Phoenicians, and was worshipped in Malta under the epithet of , the dispeller of evil, they probably thought that Paul was Hercules; and the more so, because Hercules was famous for having destroyed, in his youth, two serpents that attacked him in his cradle.

**Other Adam Clarke entries containing Acts 28:6:**

Acts 14:19

<< Acts 28:5

Acts 28:7 >>

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