The life and work of St. Paul

XHS CLOSE OP THE JOUBNBY, 213
that it rendered them more able to escape from one jurisdiction to another.
Tlieir ejection from Antioch must have received the sanction of the colonial
authorities, who were under the Propraetor of Galatia ; but at Iconiuin they
were beyond the Propraetor's province, in a district which, in the reign of
Augustus, belonged to the robber-chief Amyntas, and was still an independent
tetrarchy of fourteen towns.1
Doubtless, as at Antioch, their first care would be to secure a lodging among
their fellow-countrymen, and the means of earning their daily subsistence. On
the Sabbath they entered as usual the one synagogue which sufficed the Jewish
population. Invitations to speak were at first never wanting, and they preached
with a fervour which won many converts both among Jews and proselytes.
TkeBatlanim, indeed, and the Ruler of the Synagogue appear to have been
against them, but at first thoir opposition was in some way obviated. 8
Soim?
cf the Jews, however, stirred up the minds of tha .Gentiles
3
against them.
Over the Proselytes of the Gate the Apostles would be likely to gain a strong
influence. It would not be easy to shake their interest in such teaching, or their
gratitude to those who were sacrificing all that made life dear to their desire
to proclaim it. But when Jewish indignation waa kindled, when the synagogue
became the weekly scene of furioua contentions, 4 it would be easy enough to
persuade the Gentile inhabitants of tho city that these emissaries, who had
already been ejected from Antioch, were dangerous incendiaries, who everywhere
disturbed the peace of cities. In spite, however, of these gathering
storms tho Apostles held their ground, and their courage was supported by the
evident blessing which was attending their labour. So long as they wore able
not ouly to sway the souk of their auditors, but to testify the power of their
1 Plin. N.II. v. 25. Some doubt seems to rest on this, from tho existence of a com
of the reign of Nero in which it is called Claudiconium, and of a coin of Gallienus in
which it is called a colony ; but the adoption of the name of Claudius may have been
gratuitous flattery, and the privilege conceded long afterwards.
2 Although not authentic, there may be some basis of tradition in the reading of I>
and (in part) Syr. marg., ol it dpxisrwvoywyoi rdv 'lovSaitw KO.\ o opxoire? nji owaywyrjs cmryayw
fSrrolt uoyy.ci- tcara riav tmaliav . . . . 6 ( xvpios e'j>KCV ra^u etpiji/i;:'.
3 This seems to be suggested by the contrast of 'EAAr^i/ in verse 1 witheflviy in verse 2.
4 Beuan compares the journey of the Apostles from Ghetto to Ghetto to those of the
Arab Ibn Batoutah, and the mediaeval traveller Benjamin of Tudela. A more recent
analogy may be found in Dr. Frankl's Jews in the Hast. The reception of these Christian
teachers by remote communities of Jews has been exactly reproduced in modem times by
the bursts of infuriated curses, excommunications, mobs, and stone-throwings with which
modem Jews have received missionaries in some of their larger Moldavian communities.
Uere is the description of one such scene by a missionary :
"
Fearful excommunications
were issued in the synagogue, pronouncing most terrible judgments on any Jew holding
communication with us ; or who, on receiving any of our publications, did not at once
consign them to the flames. The stir and commotion were so great that I and my brother
missionaries were obliged to hold a consultation, whether we should face the opposition
or fly from the town. "We resolved to remain and face the danger in the name of God,
and the next day being Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, we went out with a stock of our
publication*. When we got near the synagogue we were driven away by a yelling, cursiu .;,
blaspheming crowd, who literally darkened the air with the stones they threw at us.
We were in the greatest danger of being killed. Ultimately, however, we faced them,
and by dint of argument and remonstrance gained a hearing." (Speech oj the Jtev. M.
WolterJberg at Salisbury, August 8, 1876.)