seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Acts 17:10 As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.
13 But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. 14 The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea. 15 Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.
You know...If I didn't know better, I would think I was reading an outlaw's story in a book about the Old West. Paul would be the "Jesse James" of the story. "Ok let's split up". So far, Paul's been run out of four towns, this makes five. This is from the commentary.
Then immediately the brethren sent Paul away: The Christians in Berea sent Paul away to Athens, fearing for his life and a total disruption of the work going on there. But both Silas and Timothy remained there, because Paul wanted to leave them behind to teach and take care of the new Christians in Berea.
i. The fact that both Silas and Timothy remained there showed again that Paul had a passion for planting churches, not just making converts. It also showed that Paul didn’t believe that he alone could do the work of teaching and strengthening Christians; men like Silas and Timothy also could.
The Jews from Thessalonica were described as envious and jealous. Paul was like a lightning rod for angry Jews who didn't want the law of Moses messed with. Sure, this Jesus, Paul preached about, seemed to fill in all the dots.... God didn't have His Angels come down and run Rome out of town. God didn't give a burning bush to the top priest in the area. So, since God didn't send out invitations to the more miraculous acts like having a virgin give birth and a dead man walk out of a sealed hole in solid rock. Those jealous and envious Jews just would not let it drop. They wanted Paul to stop trying to "turn the whole world upside down"! To them, Paul's speeches were no better than Aaron's cauldron where the Jews fashioned up the golden calf.They'll follow Paul until they stop him. Like a Marshall, hunting down a murderer, they were not going to stop until Paul stopped.
One of the commentaries turned to what Matthew [the tax collector turned author] reported.
Matthew 10:21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
So.... Paul is on to stay alive to plant another church. Silas and Timothy are still in Berea.... feeding the poor, taking care of the widows and orphans, and healing those who need help. Paul's been run out of town 5 times!
