Acts 17:10

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea.—Timotheus apparently remained behind, partly to help the Thessalonian converts under their present trials, partly to be able to bring word to St. Paul as to their condition. At Berœa Paul and Silas were alone. The city lay to the south of Thessalonica, not far from Pella, on the banks of the Astræus, and still retains its name in the modern Kara Feria, or Verria. It has now a population of 20,000. Here also there was a Jewish population, but the city was a far less important place commercially than Thessalonica.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

17:10-15 The Jews in Berea applied seriously to the study of the word preached unto them. They not only heard Paul preach on the sabbath, but daily searched the Scriptures, and compared what they read with the facts related to them. The doctrine of Christ does not fear inquiry; advocates for his cause desire no more than that people will fully and fairly examine whether things are so or not. Those are truly noble, and likely to be more and more so, who make the Scriptures their rule, and consult them accordingly. May all the hearers of the gospel become like those of Berea, receiving the word with readiness of mind, and searching the Scriptures daily, whether the things preached to them are so.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas - Compare Acts 9:25. They did this for their safety. Yet this was not done until the gospel had taken deep root in Thessalonica. Having preached there, and laid the foundation of a church; having thus accomplished the purpose for which they went there, they prepared to leave the city.

Unto Berea - This was a city of Macedonia, near Mount Cithanes. "Bercea is on the eastern slope of the Olympian range, and commands an extensive view of the plain which is watered by the Haliacmon and Axius. It has many natural advantages, and is now considered one of the most agreeable towns in Rumili. Plane trees spread a grateful shade over its gardens. Streams of water are in every street. Its ancient name is said to have been derived from the abundance of its waters; and the name still survives in the modern Verria, or Kara-Verria. It is situated o the left of the Haliacmon, about 5 miles from the point where that river breaks through an immense rocky ravine from the mountains to the plain. A few insignificant ruins of the Greek and Roman periods may yet be noticed. It still boasts of 18,000 or 20,000 inhabitants, and is placed in the second rank of the cities of European Turkey" - Life and Epistles of Paul.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10-12. the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night—for it would have been as useless as rash to attempt any further preaching at that time, and the conviction of this probably made his friends the more willing to pledge themselves against any present continuance of missionary effort.

unto Berea—fifty or sixty miles southwest of Thessalonica; a town even still of considerable population and importance.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Berea; a city of Macedonia, not far from Pella and Thessalonica.

Went into the synagogue of the Jews; they went still first unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel; in which Paul’s invincible love, which he speaks of, Romans 9:2,3, does manifestly appear. The Jews had every where endeavoured his destruction; he still requites them (what he may) in promoting their salvation.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the brethren,.... The believers in Thessalonica, the young converts there, who were full of love and affection to their spiritual fathers:

immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea; another city in Macedonia: and so it is placed by Pliny (l) in the north part of it; and, according to Ptolomy (m) it was, in that part of Macedonia called Emathia, and was not far from Pella, the native place of Alexander the great. It is now called Veria; some say it was called Berea from Beraea, daughter of Beres, son of Macedo, by whom it is said to have been built; others from Pheron; and some think it has some agreement with the Syriac word Barja and Baraitha; since what is called Berytus, is Beroe with others: there was besides this another Beraea, a city of Syria, which Josephus (n) speaks of; and is mentioned by Pliny (o) along with Hierapolis and Chalcis, and very likely is the same that is spoken of in:

"But the King of kings moved Antiochus' mind against this wicked wretch, and Lysias informed the king that this man was the cause of all mischief, so that the king commanded to bring him unto Berea, and to put him to death, as the manner is in that place.'' (2 Maccabees 13:4)

Hither the brethren sent Paul and Silas, when it was night and dark, and they could pass unobserved, in order to preserve them from the fury of the mob.

Who coming thither; to Berea; that is, Paul and Silas:

went into the synagogue of the Jews; which was in that city; not being at all daunted or discouraged with what they had met with at Thessalonica.

(l) Nat. Hist. l. 4. c. 10. (m) Geograph. l. 3. c. 13. (n) Antiqu. l. 12. c. 8. sect. 7. (o) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 23, 26.

Geneva Study Bible

{4} And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

(4) That is indeed the wisdom of the Spirit which always sets the glory of God before itself as a mark with which it directs itself, and never wavers from it.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Acts 17:10-12. Διὰ τ. νυκτ.] As in Acts 16:9.

Beroea, a city in the third district of Macedonia, Liv. xvi. 30, to the south-west of Thessalonica. See Forbiger, Geogr. III. p. 1061. Now Verria.

ἀπῄεσαν] ἄπειμι, so frequent in Greek writers, only here in the N.T. Comp. 4Ma 7:8; 2Ma 12:1. They separated, after their arrival, from their companions, and went away to the synagogue.

εὐγενέστεροι] of a nobler character; Plat. Def. p. 413 B, Polit. p. 310 A; Soph. Aj. 475; 4Ma 6:5; 4Ma 9:27. Theophyl. after Chrys.: ἐπιεικέστεροι. An arbitrary limitation; tolerance is comprehended in the general nobleness of disposition.

τῶν ἐν Θεσσαλ.] than the Jews in Thessalonica.

τὸ καθʼ ἡμέραν] daily. Comp. Luke 11:3; Luke 19:47; Bernhardy, p. 329.

ἀνακρίνοντες τὰς γρ.] searching the Scriptures (John 5:39), namely, to prove: εἰ ἔχοι ταῦτα (which Paul and Silas stated) οὕτως (as they taught). “Character verae religionis, quod se dijudicari patitur,” Bengel.

εὐσχημ.] see on Acts 13:50.

The Hellenic women and men are to be considered partly as proselytes of the gate who had heard the preaching of Christ in the synagogue, and partly as actual Gentiles who were gained in private conversations. Comp. on Acts 11:20.

Ἐλληνίδων] construed with γυναικῶν, but also to be referred to ἀνδρῶν. See Matthaei, § 441.

That the church of Beroea soon withered again, is quite as arbitrarily assumed by Baumgarten, as that it was the only one founded by Paul to which no letter of the apostle has come down to us. How many churches may Paul have founded of which we know nothing whatever!

Expositor's Greek Testament

Acts 17:10. εὐθέως … ἐξέπεμ.: there was need of immediate action, either in obedience to the direct charge of the magistrates that Paul should not come again to Thessalonica, or from danger of a revival of the tumult. That St. Paul left Thessalonica with grief and pain is evident from 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20, but he felt that the separation was necessary at least for a time. But still he looked back upon Thessalonica and his work with an ungrudging affection, and his converts were his glory and joy. In the opening words of his First Epistle, Acts 1:7 (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:4, 2 Corinthians 8:1), he speaks in a way which not only implies that his own work extended further in and from Thessalonica than the Acts alone enables us to learn, but that the furtherance of the Gospel was due to the Thessalonians themselves. See McGiffert, p. 255, on St. Paul’s quiet hand-to-hand work at Thessalonica. For it was not only in the synagogue that St. Paul laboured, as in the message of the Gospel was formal and official, but amongst them who were working like himself for their daily bread, 1 Thessalonians 2:9, 2 Thessalonians 3:8, see Ramsay’s note, Church in the Roman Empire, p. 85, on St. Paul’s work at Thessalonica. The phrase “night and day,” 1 Thessalonians 2:9, need not imply, as the Speaker’s Commentary, that Paul had only the Sundays for preaching, because his other days were so fully occupied; but the phrase means that he started work before dawn, and thus was able to devote some of the later part of the day to preaching. On the striking parallel between the characteristics of the Thessalonians of St. Paul’s Epistles and the Acts and the characteristics which were marked by St. Jerome in his day, see Speaker’s Commentary, iii., 701.—Βέροιαν (or Βέρροια): in the district of Macedonia called Emathia, Ptol., iii., 12, originally perhaps Pherœa, from Pheres, its founder (see Wetstein): about fifty miles southwest of Thessalonica. It was smaller and less important than the latter, but still possessing a considerable population and commerce, owing to its natural advantages, now Verria or Kara Feria, see B.D.2 and Hastings’ B.D., Renan, St. Paul, p. 162, and C. and H., small edition, p. 261. According to the Itineraries, two roads led from Thessalonica to Berœa, Wetstein quotes a curious passage from Cicero, In Pisonem, xxvi., which may possibly indicate that Paul and Silas went to Berœa on account of its comparative seclusion (so Alford, Farrar, Felten): Cicero calls it “oppidum devium”.—εἰς τὴν συν. The Jewish population was at least considerable enough to have a synagogue, and thither Paul, according to his custom, went first.—ἀπῄεσαν: only here in N.T., cf. 2Ma 12:1, 4Ma 4:8; here it may imply that on their arrival Paul and Silas left their escort, and went into the synagogue.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10–15. Paul and Silas sent away to Berea. Noble character of the Bereans. The Jews from Thessalonica follow after Paul, and by reason of their enmity he is conducted to Athens

10. sent away Paul and Silas] The after-conduct of the Thessalonian Jews shews that they were resolved to bring the missionaries into danger, therefore their friends sent them secretly away.

Berea] Still the journey is south-west. The old name of Berœa may be recognized in the modern Verria.

synagogue of the Jews] See above, Acts 17:2.

Bengel's Gnomen

Acts 17:10. Ἐξέπεμψαν) They sent him forth from Thessalonica, and sent him to Berea.—ἀπῄεσαν) went away into the synagogue, boldly braving a new danger.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Beraea for Berea, A.V.; when they were come for coming, A.V. Beraea. In the third division of Macedonia, about sixty miles from Thessalonica; its modern name is Verria. Went into the synagogue. No amount of ill usage from the Jews could weaken St. Paul's love for "his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh" (Romans 9:3); and no amount of danger or suffering could check his zeal in preaching the gospel of Christ. Acts 17:10