Slide: Acts 27-28

Slide 1

Acts 27

Sea travels dangerous (both novels and histories)

Alexandrian grain ships

-       276 here, “Isis” had 600

-       Risks, esp. during winter (2 T 4)

-       But so profitable some owners risked it

-       Had expensive insurance

-       If enough ships, worth the risk

-       Not to sailors; mostly slaves or poor

-       But sailors want to winter somewhere larger than fishing village

Slide 2

Passengers bring own food, sleep on deck

Places and number of days in each place during Medit. storms all fit accurately (book by 19^th cent. Medit. seafarer James Smith)

Soundings when nearing Malta fit

Discarding wheat 2x

-       Like bucket brigade

-       Couldn’t empty all (largest ships; month to unload)

Paul speaks

-       In part of hold?

-       On deck during lull

-       Generals to armies, others at sea

Cf. George Whitefield ( a mile away)

Slide 3

Coming ashore

On planks: maybe for separating cargo

-       Tide to shore (surfing)

Luke’s papyrus? Or vellum?

-       Backup in Caesarea: but voyage details precise

St. Paul’s Bay (near Valetta)

Hospitality for shipwrecked

Malta on trade route

“Barbarians”

-       Local Punic language

-       Contrast reception in e.g., Athens, Jerusalem

Slide 4

Poisonous snakes on Malta?

-       Human habitation wider now

-       Saint Paul’s Bay heavily inhabited

-       Some: power encounter

28:4:

-       Paul guilty? (implications for 22-28)

-       Justice as a god

. Punic (but also Greek, Roman)

-       Changed mind when unharmed: deity

. Hospitality to deities

. Lk’s humor again, as in ch 12; 17-18

Slide 5

Publius’s hospitality

Roman citizen, Latin speaker

Maybe educated enough to speak Greek

“First man” of island

-       Sometimes just = “prominent” (e.g., Philippi)

-       But on Malta, maybe highest office

Slide 6

Setting:

Paul wrote Romans from Corinth (cf. Rom 16:1; Acts 20:2-3)- ties to Rome

Will write (probably) Phil, etc., from Rome

Rome’s population: quarter million (water supply) to million (census)

Slide 7

Rome

Probably about 1 million people

Tenements

-       Rich on bottom, poor on top

-       Shops with mezzanine apartments

-       Long hallway perhaps sometimes used

Jewish residents: perhaps 5% (20-50,000, usually 40-50,000)

Slide 8

Setting: Rome’s Jewish community

Jewish population of Rome: 20,000 to 50,000

Most Jews: Transtiberium (today Trastevere), across Tiber from city’s center

Most Jews poor, many probably worked on Tiber docks

Synagogues

-       Several synagogues known by name

-       Not united, unlike Alexandria (Rome disallowed)

Greek speaking immigrants (resident aliens) from many parts of Diaspora

Over half have Latin names

Many descended from these enslaved by Pompey, freed

Citizens (Philo)

Slide 9

Roman Xenophobia

Romans detested:

-       Sabbaths

-       Circumcision

-       Food practices

Banishment:

-       Tiberius

-       Claudius

Slide 10

Roman history and church there

Claudius expelled Jewish Christian leaders in 49 CE (slides)

Repealed, 54 CE

Nero in 64 CE massacred hundreds or thousands of Christians

Church still strong afterward- massive growth in 15 years

Mostly Gentile, but Jewish base

Slide 11

Paul’s triumphal entry

Light custody- own rented quarters

-       Praetorian guard (also Phil 1, 4)

Acts 28:17ff:

-       Paul again meets with Jewish community

-       No centralized authority for Rome’s synagogues

. many syn’s, e.g. Olive Tree

-       Unaware of Christians?

. Luke has omitted cause in 18:2

. but want to hear from peer, Jerusalemite and leader

-       Divided response

No prosecution for 2 years

Case against Paul baseless