Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 28:3
And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid [them] on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
3. And [ R. V. But] when Paul had gathered ] This is only another sign of the active spirit of the Apostle. Whatever was to be done, if he were able to take a part in it, he was never wanting, whether it was in counselling about a difficulty, in comforting under danger, or helping by bodily labour to relieve the general distress.
a bundle of sticks ] The word in the original would apply very fitly to the brushwood and furze which is said to be the only material growing near St Paul’s Bay of which a fire could be made.
there came a viper ] Dr Farrar ( Life of St Paul, ii. 384, note) has noticed that the viper has disappeared from the isle of Arran, as it is now said to have done from Malta.
out of the heat ] [ R. V. by reason of the heat] The original has the preposition usually rendered “from.” The R.V. gives the better explanation of its meaning here. The creature had been numbed by the cold, and feeling the sudden warmth, woke up and sprang away from it.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Had gathered a bundle of sticks – For the purpose of making a fire.
There came a viper – A poisonous serpent. See the notes on Mat 3:7. The viper was doubtless in the bundle of sticks or limbs of trees which Paul had gathered, but was concealed, and was torpid. But when the bundle was laid on the fire, the viper became warmed by the heat, and came out and fastened on the hand of Paul.
And fastened on his hand – kathepsen. This word properly means to join oneself to; to touch; to adhere to. It might have been by coiling around his hand and arm, or by fastening its fangs in his hand. It is not expressly affirmed that Paul was bitten by the viper, yet it is evidently implied; and it is wholly incredible that a viper, unless miraculously prevented, should fasten himself to the hand without biting.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Act 28:3-6
And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire.
How to keep up the fire
If a man wants a fire kept up, he must do his share in supplying its fuel. It will not burn long unless it is replenished. Those who need its warmth, because of the present rain, and because of the cold, are the ones to gather sticks for it. It was down on the coast of Florida, in war time. A little band of Christian soldiers held a weekly prayer meeting in a church building, deserted of its ordinary congregation. One evening a new voice was heard there. An officer who had been in frequent attendance, but who had not before taken part in the exercises, said: I am not accustomed to speak in prayer meetings. I do not feel competent to that service. But I have so greatly enjoyed these meetings, week after week, that I have thought it was hardly fair for me to be always warming myself by this Christian fire without ever furnishing an armful of fuel; so I rise to tell you that your Saviour is my Saviour, and that I am very grateful for all the help and cheer you have been to me in His service, at these week night prayer meetings. And as that little bundle of sticks was thrown into that army prayer meeting fire, the flame flashed up there in new light and warmth, and more than one soldier present rejoiced afresh in its glow. When did you gather the last bundle of sticks for the fire of your church or neighbourhood prayer meeting? It may be by timely words of exhortation or prayer, that you supply your share of the fuel. It may be by a part in the service of song. Or it may be by the responsive look in your face, which helps him who leads, through its assurance that one at least of those before him is all aglow with love for the truth he emphasizes. In one way or another, you ought to supply a bundle of sticks to keep your prayer meeting fire a-going. (H. Trumbull, D.)
There came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his hand.
Vipers and hands
There are certain hands that the viper does not mind to fasten upon. It pays little heed to the idle, greedy, or prayerless hand; it has poisoned these already, and can leave them alone. Let us look at–
I. The viper and the busy hand. It was when Pauls hand was busy that the viper fastened on it. Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do, or rather allows them to find mischief for themselves. But he hates the busy hand and tries to poison it and make it idle. When you are diligent at any task look out for the viper. Whenever you say, Oh I whats the use! or, Never do today what can be done tomorrow, beware of the viper on the busy hand. Shake it off! It will sting you into idleness, and then Satan will have no difficulty in getting you to do what he likes.
II. The viper and the open hand. Satan likes close-fistedness; but when he sees an open, generous hand, the old serpent fastens on it. I will tell you how you may know when it is there. Here is a lad who yesterday got his weeks wages. When in church he hears the minister pleading on behalf of some heathen children, he begins to ask, What have I to do with them? The money is my own. Or on your way to the Sabbath school you may be tempted to halve the penny you had determined to put into the mission box. Satan does not wish you to give anything to carry the gospel to your brothers and sisters afar off. He knows that you are helping Christ to bruise his head. There is a beautiful legend of an old English open-handed king. After King Oswald learned Christ, he was feasting one day with Aidan the Bishop, when he was told that a hungry multitude waited around his door. He sent out to them the untasted feast, and divided among them the silver dishes, so that Aidan blessed his hand, saying, May this hand never grow old. Some time afterwards Oswald fell in battle, and, as his limbs were cruelly cut up and hung upon stakes by the enemy, it was observed that the hand that Aidan had blessed–the open hand of Oswald–remained white and uncorrupted. God loves the open hand, but the viper fastens on it. Look to God and shake it off!
III. The viper and the praying hand. We are told to lift up holy hands of prayer without wrath and doubting. Satan hates the hands of prayer. The praying boy or girl keeps so near Christ that Satan can scarcely do any harm. He wishes you to stop praying, in order to get the better of you. Have you never felt weary, or heard a voice saying to you, What does God care for a boy or girl like you? or, How can He hear you in the heavens? The viper has fastened on your hand. Pray all the more earnestly for power to shake it off! (W. Dickie, M.)
The shipwrecked apostle
Luke puts the personality of Paul before us with great vividness. He was the foremost of the apostles.
1. Notice this conspicuousness of Paul in its many features.
2. The personal qualities of Paul. He was a born leader, a many-sided man. Again, we notice that with this promptness, readiness and power of controlling circumstances there is also a cheerfulness of spirit. Some look only on the dark side. They seem unwilling to admit that the moon itself has a bright side. Pauls cheerfulness is contagious. He tells the men that they will be saved. The face of Keats wore the radiance of an angel. Lord Holland each morning looked as if he had just received good news. I think that they must have prayed, Lord, lift Thou the light of Thy countenance upon us. Though smarting, bleeding, hungering, and oppressed, Paul was always rejoicing in hope and making others glad.
3. The usefulness of St. Paul is seen in his building a fire. He gathers a bundle of sticks. He is foremost in service. He does not say that this is the work of a servant. The higher a man is, the more a minister he comes to be. Nobility obliges. He does not preach to them, but gathers fuel. He is useful when away from home. See how this usefulness worked out. The barbarians–that is, the bearded people, as the shaven Greek looked on the unshaven foreigner–showed us no common kindness. Paul healed the sick among them, and yet said that he was debtor to them. In doing good you reap a benefit.
4. Finally, see the terrible irony of life. The hands are stretched out for warmth, and poison enters. We look for good, and behold evil is ours. This is the sarcasm of life. Hezekiah has the added years he prays for, and finds in them added sorrow. Samson carries off the gates of Gaza that vainly held him, but comes eyeless and woful into a Philistine prison at the end. Abraham has a son, but is told to slay him. David has the crown, but weeps over the treason of Absalom and finally over his dishonourable death. (H. Gallaher, D.)
The deadly viper
There are a great many vipers with deadly poison in their fangs, ready to fasten on the hand of any Christian man or woman who gathers a bundle of sticks, i.e., has to do with secular affairs. There are–
I. The viper to which the business man is exposed. How many hands, busy in trade, that old serpent fastens on, and will not let go! If he does not kill them outright with his poisonous principles and temptations, he at least wounds their honour, peace, usefulness, and Christian standing. Shake off the viper into the fire, man of business! Hesitate not, or you are a dead man!
II. The viper of indifference has fastened itself on the hand of very many nominal Christians. Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion! And how many there are, and what peril they are in! I would thou wert cold or hot, etc.
III. The viper of unbelief. To reject and cast away Gods Word, as many do, is to uncover a nest of vipers and lie down in the midst of them.
IV. The viper of prejudice. This, when it gets firm hold of a man, is a terrible power, a most malign influence, and if he do not shake it off into the fire, it will poison his life, warp his judgment, and kill his influence. How intense is the power of prejudice in social life, in politics, in matters theological and ecclesiastical!
V. The vipers of evil habits, such as gambling, drunkenness, tippling, Sabbath desecration, social dissipation at the theatre, are of the deadliest sort. Few escape on whom they once fasten. Their sting is deadly. Shake off into the fire that venomous serpent which has wriggled out of the bundle of sticks you have gathered; or, as sure as the wages of sin is death, you are doomed, and that speedily! (Homiletic Monthly.)
The vipers dart
I. Everywhere in the pursuit of duty we must expect the viper or the serpent to dart out upon us. Everywhere in the path of obedience to the higher calls of life we shall find ourselves beset by difficulties and assaults which will probably succeed too well in doing what the viper failed to do to the apostle. We shall find ourselves often wounded in the hand, at any rate according to the old prophecy, in the heel. Well for us if we are on our guard and ready instinctively to shake off the attacks and, God-protected by Divine grace, to feel no harm!
1. Professional life, business life, trade, or work well illustrates what I mean. It is one of the most necessary things in the world. It supplies the needs of human life. It is the method by which the members of the human family perform their duties as members one of another. It creates some of the most valuable parts of human character. Energy, quickness, power of organisation, invention, discovery, method, calculation, experience, soberness of mind–these are some of its results on character. But how often do we see the viper dart out from the midst, and fasten on a mans hand! How often do we see trade or business blunting the higher and nobler faculties of human life, blinding the soul to the spiritual world, exhausting all the natural energies in merely material interests, and sometimes–alas! too often–undermining the uprightness and honesty of a hitherto spotless character! How often do we see the hand or the heel wounded, while all power to shake off the venomous beast seems to have deserted the soul!
2. Or look at knowledge in its many branches. What is more fascinating or delightful? It moves at will up and down the history of the world, entering into all great events, revealing the motives and actions of the greatest of mankind, making the past almost as real as the present. It penetrates into the deepest and closest recesses of mans being–his instincts, his motives, his intellectual powers, his loves, his joys, his sorrows. But even here, my friends, be on your guard; even here the viper darts out and is ready to fasten on the hand. For there are spheres of truth which reason can only enter hand in hand with faith, and reason is apt to rise in rebellion, and flash scorn on that which is beyond its ken, and glory in its ignorance or, as it prefers to phrase it, its agnosticism.
3. Or is there anything more beautiful than friendship in its many forms? It is on its widest score the bond of society, and without society of some sort life would be intolerable. It is in narrower limits the bond of that home life of which we in England are so justly proud. In its deepest and intensest forms it is one of the dearest bonds we know on earth. Grow on, dear friends, deeper and deeper into the joys of friendship and of love; make your homes more homelike; let society be worthy of the name; but still beware of the trail of the serpent. Under the guise of friendship and of love how many evil influences are at work, you all know too well. Too often the viper has fastened on the hand, and desolate homes and ruined lives and wasted love have been the last results.
4. The serpent has penetrated paradise, and all mans life is henceforth lived in his presence. The Church is the paradise of God on earth; the nearest meeting place of man with God; the home of grace; the refuge of penitent sinners; the resting place of Gods revelation; the souls best and truest home. It is here that you can do the greatest works for God; that you can lead others to know the happiness which you have found. It is here that you may be the light of the world, and the salt of the earth. It is here that you may be Gods band of labourers, fellow workers with God. Yet here, too, beware the dart of the serpent. Here he fastens upon and wounds the hand. Here sometimes narrowness, and bitterness, and obstinacy, and self-will, and proud contemptuousness, and prejudice, and jealousy, and littleness of spirit may mar and spoil what God intended.
II. St. Paul shook off the venomous beast into the fire, and felt no harm, because he did it instinctively the moment the dart was made, and because he was God-protected by the last promise of our Lord to His disciples. It is only by the religion of Jesus Christ that we can cast off the serpent. It can only he through high communion with God and a constant sense of His loving presence that you and all can dwell safely and have the blessings of life. (J. Weston Townroe.)
Paul and the viper
Or the servant of God, the conqueror of serpents in the power of his Lord (Mar 16:18). He casts from him,
1. The venomous serpent of slander (verses 3, 4).
2. The shining adder of flattery (verse 6).
3. The dangerous reptile of worldly anxiety and cares (verses 8, 9).
4. The old serpent of sin (with application to verse 4, a murderer). (K. Gerok.)
Paul bitten by a viper, and uninjured
I. In what light it was viewed by the people present.
1. As a judgment for a heinous crime.
2. As an evidence that he was a god.
II. In what light it should be viewed. It was intended by God as–
1. A means to awaken their attention to the gospel.
2. A standing memorial of His care over His faithful servants.
Conclusion: Learn from hence–
1. Justice to man.
2. Confidence in God. (C. Simeon.)
They said no doubt this man is a murderer whom vengeance suffereth not to live.–
Uncharitable judgments
How easy it is to be sure that other people deserve punishment, and are getting it. If we are in trouble, we wonder why God afflicts us. At all events, we are not to blame for our misfortunes. If the trouble is at our next-door neighbours, it is plain enough where the fault lies. If their house is robbed, there is no doubt that they were very careless in leaving their doors and windows unfastened. If their children are disobedient or graceless, there is no doubt that the parents sadly neglected them. If those neighbours lose their property, there is no doubt that they are always extravagant or shiftless. With what guileless simplicity the disciples came to Jesus, asking about the blind man, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? After all, those Maltese barbarians were not so different from the rest of us. It is good enough for him, or, It is what we might have expected, is the judgment we too often pass upon one whom, without good reason, we esteem smitten of God, and afflicted. Who art thou that judgest another? (H. Trumbull, D.)
The general belief in justice and retribution
I. There is a general sense of divine justice among men.
1. This conviction exists, often imperfect and perverted, but still so manifesting itself, as it did on this occasion, as to show that it lies deep in the human mind. There are things remaining in fallen man–perceptions of what is right, and promptings to what is right, which show what he originally was, and which show also the character of the government under which he is placed. These things resemble the half-effaced inscriptions found on ancient tombs and monuments. The letters and dates are half-obliterated; but skill may enable us to fill up the inscription; to put in a letter here, and a figure there, so as to leave no doubt that the true words are restored. In like manner, there are in the soul, half-effaced records of mans original nature and dignity. From them alone we never could know entirely what man originally was. Yet when they are filled up with the knowledge imparted by revelation, the record becomes complete. Among these traces left upon the hearts of men, are–
(1) The belief in some form of a Divinity, or Divine government, as was indicated in the case of these islanders.
(2) A sense of justice, and a feeling that the guilty deserve to be punished.
2. Whenever men have embodied their sentiments in codes of morals, it has been done in accordance with this view. There are no books on morals, in any language, or age, which do not make a distinction between right and wrong; and for the most part, in regard to the same actions.
3. The same views are found in a community before there are regular laws in regard to the administration of justice. There never has been a nation or tribe which had not some notions that the guilty should be punished, and especially that a murderer ought not to escape. In the earliest ages it was a universal conviction that the duty of avenging the blood of the slain devolved on the nearest of kin (Num 35:19, seq.; Deu 19:6; Deu 19:12; Jos 20:3; 2Sa 14:11). Such a person was recognised in all Oriental nations, and among American savages. The avenger of blood was the minister of justice–one who represented that every man felt to be a carrying out of the Divine purpose in the infliction of vengeance.
4. The same thing is true in regard to the laws of men. As the world advances in civilisation, arrangements for the punishment of crime enter into all laws.
II. There is an arrangement under the divine government by which crime will be detected and punished. This was evidently the belief of these islanders; and it was founded on a state of things which was then open to observation, and which exists everywhere. This might be proved in reference to all forms of guilt. The boy at school who does a wrong on the supposition that it will be undiscovered, or the boy who robs an orchard at night, is often surprised to find that there was some observer, or that some circumstance of which he was not aware has brought his deed to light. But it will be more appropriate to illustrate this in reference to murder. These islanders believed that the goddess of vengeance would not suffer the murderer to go unpunished, although he had survived one peril. They were in error in supposing that this particular thing was proof; but they were in the right in believing that there is an arrangement designed to find out the murderer. Murder will out. There is–
1. The awakened vigilance in every community, making every man feel that he has a personal responsibility in securing, it he can, the punishment of the murderer.
2. The difficulty of concealing the crime. In itself considered, it would not seem to be difficult to obliterate all traces of a murder; to place the knife where it could not be found; to burn a garment so that it should not reveal the stain; or to dispose of the body so that no traces of it could be found. Yet nothing is more difficult.
3. The slight circumstances through which detection occurs–a lock of hair, a footprint, an unguarded remark, the possession of some article of little value, etc.
4. The madness of him who has committed the crime. Remorse, compelling him to confess; troubled dreams; the fear of every man.
III. There is a general conviction that it is proper and right that this should be so. These islanders acquiesced in the arrangement, and saw in the fastening of the viper on Pauls hand that which was right in the case. On no subject have the sentiments of men been more decided and unanimous than on this. We may observe here that punishment is not primarily for the reformation of the guilty, nor for the mere security of a community against the commission of crime. There is a higher idea, which is founded on the fact that justice demands it; and when punishment is inflicted–when the murderer dies, the world at large acquiesces in it as right. Conclusion:
1. These things have been written in the human heart by the hand of God Himself.
2. The sinner lives in a world over which a just Being presides, and where justice demands punishment.
3. Wherever the sinner goes, this demand will follow him.
4. The universe will assent to the final punishment of the sinner.
5. There is a way in which the guilty may escape from impending judgment (Isa 53:4-6). In Christ the guilty may find pardon; through Him the pardoned sinner will be safe on sea or land; whoso believeth on Him will be no more exposed to wrath in this world or in the world to come. (A. Barnes, D.)
Why we suffer
I. For sin.
1. This exclamation would not have been less impressive or natural had these Maltese been barbarians in our sense of the word. But they were barbarians only in the sense in which we should be barbarians in France or Germany if we did not understand the language. The conviction they expressed was universal. Neither barbarism nor civilisation had anything to do with it. A Jew, no less than a pagan, a Roman, or a Greek, would have jumped to the same conclusion. The very apostles themselves, over a much less striking and dramatic instance, asked: Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? And no modern advance of thought has eradicated, or will eradicate, the stubborn instinct which teaches men to connect suffering with guilt. Even the most advanced thinkers admit, not only that there is some connection between sin and suffering, but also that the connection is one of cause and effect. It is a natural and primitive instinct, and it is only by a resolute use of our reasoning faculty that we have been able to control it.
2. Admitting the instinct, we ought also to admit its testimony. We are so made and bred that we cannot, without a supreme effort, attribute the ordering of events to chance or accident. We feel instinctively that a Divine Nemesis manifests itself both in the order of the world at large and in the lot of individual men. Before a man can get rid of this wholesome religious conviction he must both unmake and remake himself: and then he will be very apt, despite the prevalent petticoat positivism, to revert to his original type.
3. For the conviction is a true one, though it often assumes questionable forms. It is true that all suffering springs from sin and bears witness against it, though it is not true either that we can always trace the suffering to its cause, or that the effects of a sin are always confined to the person who commits it. St. Paul traces death, e.g., to sin; yet not every mans death to every mans sin. On the contrary he argues–one sinned, all died. And it is at this point that men have always been apt to go wrong. The broad fact is true, but men have commonly misinterpreted it. They have assumed that they can invariably trace the physical effect to its immediate ethical cause, and that the cause is invariably to be found in the conduct of those who suffer the effect. You know how impossible it proved for our Lord Himself to dislodge these assumptions from the minds of the men of His own day. Suppose ye, He said, that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, etc. An hour before the tower of Siloam fell, many of them, I dare say, would have shrunk from placing themselves high above those on whom it crashed down. But the moment the tower fell, that question was settled for them by God Himself, and their escape was a most gratifying proof of their moral superiority, though of course they were very sorry for the poor people who had been killed. Let us learn, then, that suffering, either personal, domestic, or national, is not always the result of sin; Job suffered many calamities; yet Job was a perfect man and an upright. If men always suffered for or in proportion to their sins we should be driven to the intolerable conclusion that the Greatest Sufferer was also the Greatest Sinner; that He who knew no sin was the very Chief of Sinners!
II. For our good. We are purged, not because we do not bring forth fruit unto holiness, but that we may bring forth more fruit. The greater welfare of Job, e.g., was both an intention, and an effect, of the sufferings inflicted on him. In like manner St. Paul long writhed on the stake in his flesh, in order that the unsuspected resources both of his own nature and of the grace of God might be developed in and upon him. And, still in the like manner, we are taught that the Man Christ Jesus learned by the things which He suffered; and that He was the more highly exalted because He humbled Himself to pain, and grief, and death.
III. For the good of others.
1. If Christ suffered more than other men, it was that He might become the Saviour of all men. If St. Paul long writhed in agony, it was that the power and grace of God might shine the more conspicuously through him on the world around. The affliction of Job was designed for the teaching of his friends and neighbours, and for ours. The blind man about whose sin the disciples were perplexed suffered that the works of God should be made manifest in him–not because he was a sinner, but that he might first open his eyes on the Friend and Saviour of sinners, and get sight for his spirit as well as for his body. And through this man the enlightening and redeeming power of Christ has been set forth, in an impressive figure, to all the world.
2. By calling our attention to him, Christ has taught us to look, in all our own sufferings, for some similar Divine intention and work. They may, or may not, be the consequences of, or the correction for, our sins. But they are always designed for the manifestation of some work of God Which will promote our welfare and that of those around us.
3. Now we all see, I think, that if, when we suffer, we were to fling away, as St. Paul flung off the venomous beast, all that is evil in suffering, all in it that tempts us to distrust or complaint, and to recognise the loving work and intention of God in it, we should be the gainers by it. And we can also see that, were we to take our suffering patiently, bravely, cheerfully, we should be teaching a valuable lesson and giving valuable help to others; that even those who once thought we were sinners above other men because we suffered such things would come to think we were braver and better because we suffered them so patiently, and be led to ask whence we got our patience and our courage.
4. This suffering for the good of others is, indeed, demanded of all who follow Christ. For if any man will follow Him, he must take up his cross, etc. Now the very commonest form of affliction is the pain we feel at the loss of those whom we love. Is it love, is it not rather self-love, which makes us so bitterly regret our loss that we refuse to be comforted? If, for them, to die is gain, shall we grudge them the gain because it involves loss for us, and yet call ourselves the servants and friends of Christ, who loved not Himself, but lived in and for others? If we had more of the spirit of Christ, love would teach us a joy in our friends gain which would more than counterbalance our grief for their own loss. And common as this kind of affliction is, it affords us a rare opportunity of bearing witness to the power and grace of God. (S. Cox, D.)
Howbeit after they saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said he was a God.—
Heathen conclusions from portents
This was quite in accordance with heathen modes of thought. The whole story of the wanderings of the wine god, Dionysus, is little more than a record of how the god came to this or that place and was received as a man, till, astounded by some portent, the people changed their minds, and said that he was a god. Thus, when he came to Argos, the people would not acknowledge him; but, after he displayed his divine powers in the punishment of certain offenders, they hailed him as a god, and erected temples in his honour. How large a place was occupied in heathen thought by portents is shown in the list given for Dionysuss voyage from Icaria to Naxos. The sailors decided to sell him as a slave, and so abandoned the proper route. Thereupon the masts and oars became serpents, ivy grew up around the vessel, the sound of invisible flutes was heard, Dionysus transformed himself into a lion, and the sailors, struck with madness, flung themselves into the sea. The people would also have a certain selfish element in their recognition of Paul as a god. Doubtless many of them remembered how Jupiter and Mercury came down to earth as men, and how those who refused to receive them were destroyed by an inundation, while only Philemon and Baucis, their kindly host and hostess, were saved. (S. Times.)
The fickleness of popular opinion
When a good man is roundly abused by the public, he may find comfort, if he needs it, in the conviction that the pendulum of popular opinion will doubtless soon swing as far toward the other extremity of its are as it now swings toward this. Illustrations of this truth are innumerable. If the ten Americans of our first century, who in their day had most of denunciation from press and platform, were now to be designated, it would perhaps be found that bronze statues of no less than six of them are already in our public parks, and that the names of at least as many are popularly counted synonyms of political pretty or of personal integrity. But, after all, popular opinion is as likely to be extreme and unfair in one direction as in another. We may well hesitate to believe that a political candidate, a representative official, or a religious teacher, is either a murderer or a god–merely because editors or other people say so. (H. Trumbull, D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. There came a viper out of the heat] We may naturally suppose that there had been fuel laid before on the fire, and that the viper was in this fuel, and that it had been revived by the heat; and, when St. Paul laid his bundle on the fire, the viper was then in a state to lay hold on his hand.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A viper; a creature so venomous, that not only its biting, but (some say) its breath, is deadly: this, upon the warmth of the fire, being benumbed with the cold, and now refreshed, began to stir itself.
Fastened on his hand; as it used to do when it biteth. God by this miracle prepares this people not only to be civil and courteous unto Paul, but to believe the gospel which he preached, wheresoever he went. And this wonderful work of God was (as Gods seal to his ministry) to show his authority to be from him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. when Paul had gathered a bundleof sticks“a quantity of dry sticks.” The vigorousactivity of Paul’s character is observable in this comparativelytrifling action [WEBSTERand WILKINSON].
and laid them on the fire,there came a viper out of the heatHaving laid itself up amongthe sticks on the approach of the cold winter season, it had suddenlyrecovered from its torpor by the heat.
and fastenedits fangs.
on his handVipers dartat their enemies sometimes several feet at a bound. They have nowdisappeared from Malta, owing to the change which cultivation hasproduced.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks,…. Had picked up some sticks, and put them in a bundle fit for the fire, as everyone was busy to assist in this extremity; nor did the apostle think such an action below him, who in all things was a man of great humility and condescension:
and laid them on the fire; to increase it:
there came a viper out of the heat: a viper is a kind of serpent, which brings forth its young living, to the number of twenty, only one in a day, which come forth wrapped up in thin skins, which break on the third day, and set them at liberty; and so is reckoned among viviparous animals, from whence it seems to have its name, whereas other serpents lay eggs and hatch them. It is said k, that this remarkable reptile has the biggest and flattest head of all the serpent kind; its usual length is about half an ell, and its thickness an inch; its snout is not unlike that of a hog; it has sixteen small immovable teeth in each jaw, besides two other large, sharp, hooked, hollow, transparent, canine teeth, situate at each side of the upper jaw, which are those that do the mischief: these are flexible in their articulation, and are ordinarily laid flat along the jaw, the animal never raising them but when it would bite The roots or bases of these teeth, or fangs, are encompassed with a vesicle or bladder, containing the quantity of a large drop of a yellow insipid salivous juice.–It has only one row of teeth, whereas all other serpents have two; its body is not at all fetid, whereas the inner parts of the bodies of other serpents are intolerable.–It creeps very slowly, and never leaps like other serpents, though it is nimble enough to bite when provoked.–Its body is of two colours, ash coloured or yellow, and the ground speckled with longish brown spots; the scales under its belly are of the colour of well polished steel. Its bite is exceeding venomous, and its poison the most dangerous. Now when this viper here is said to come out of the heat, the meaning is, that it came out from the sticks, which were laid upon the fire, being forced from thence by the heat of it: and so the Syriac version renders it, “there came out of them” (the sticks) “a viper, because of the heat of the fire”; it lay quiet among the sticks, among which, and such like things, this creature often lies; but when the fire began to heat it, it sprung out:
and fastened on his hand; or wrapped itself about his hand: the Syriac and Arabic versions render it, “bit his hand”; but that does not seem so likely, since he felt no harm by it; the Ethiopic version, “hung upon his hand”; which agrees with what follows; nor is it inconsistent with its wrapping itself about his hand, which is the more proper signification of the word used.
k Chambers’s Cyclopaedia in the word “Viper”.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When Paul had gathered ( ). Genitive absolute with first aorist active participle of , old verb to twist or turn together or roll into a bundle. In N.T. only here and Mt 17:22.
A bundle of sticks ( ). “Some multitude (or pile) of dry twigs” ( from or , to dry. Only here in N.T.).
Laid (). So genitive absolute again with second aorist active participle of , to place upon. Few things show Paul to better advantage than this incident.
By reason of the heat ( ). Old word, only here in N.T. Ablative case with (from the heat). The viper was in a state of torpor in the bundle of sticks. The heat wakened him.
A viper (). The old word used by the Baptist of the Pharisees (Matt 3:7; Luke 3:7) and by Jesus also (Matt 12:34; Matt 23:33). It is objected that there is little wood in the island today and no vipers, though Lewin as late as 1853 believes that he saw a viper near St. Paul’s Bay. But the island now has 1,200 people to the square mile and snakes of any kind have a poor chance. The viper has also disappeared from Arran as the island became more frequented (Knowling). Ramsay thinks that the small constrictor (Coronella Austriaca) which still exists in the island may be the “viper,” though it has no poison fangs, but clings and bites. The natives thought that it was a poisonous viper.
Fastened on his hand ( ). First aorist active indicative of , to fasten down on with the genitive case. Old verb, here only in N.T. Cf. Mr 16:18.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Of sticks [] . Only here in New Testament. From ajpo to roast or parch. Hences dry sticks.
Out of [] . The best texts read ajpo, by reason of.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And when Paul had gathered,” (sutrepsantos de tou Paulou) “Then when Paul had collected,” had gotten together, cheerfully desiring to be useful, do his part, avoid being a drag, a freeloader.
2) “A bundle of sticks,” (phruganon ti plethos) “A quantity (good pile) of sticks,” of firewood or brush for the fire, that the kindly Islanders had kindled for them, Act 28:2.
3) “And laid them on the fire,” (kai epithentos epi ten puran) “And had placed them upon the fire”‘ not leaving by example, all the work for the Islanders to do, showing to all that he was willing to work with his own hands, 2Th 2:8; 2Th 2:10-12; Act 20:34-35. This reflects Paul’s vigor and character, even now in old age.
4) “There came a viper out of the heat,” (echidna apo tes thermes ekselthousa) “A snake (viper) came out from the heat,” a venomous (poisonous) reptile darted out of the heat, perhaps coming out of a hollow limb where it was about to hibernate for the winter, Deu 32:24; Job 20:16.
5) “And fastened hold on his hand.” (kathepsen tes cheiros autou) “And fastened hold on his hand,” whether by coiling around the hand or by penetrating fang bite, or by both, is not made clear. But the hold on Paul’s hand was so tight or hard that natives who saw it were shocked. It is likely that it was a viper with long teeth called fangs in the upper jaw (grooved fangs) attached to poison glands above. When the poison fangs are driven into a victim, the venom flows quickly from the fang grooves into the flesh wound of the victim, causing partial paralysis, pain, and often near sudden death.
HOW TO KEEP UP THE FIRE
It was down on the coast of Florida, in war-time. A little band of Christian soldiers held a weekly prayer meeting in a church building, deserted of its ordinary congregation. One evening a new voice was heard there. An officer who had been in frequent attendance, but who had not before taken part in the exercises, said: “I am not accustomed to speak in prayer- meetings. I do no feel competent to that service. But I have greatly enjoyed these meetings, week after week, that I have thought it was hardly fair for me to be always warming myself by this Christian fire without ever furnishing an armful of fuel; so I rise to tell you that your Saviour is my Saviour, and that I am grateful for all the help and cheer you have been to me in His service, at these week-night prayer meetings.” And as that little “bundle of sticks” was thrown into that army prayer-meeting fire, the flame flashed up there in new light and warmth, and more than one soldier present rejoiced afresh in its glow. When did you gather the last bundle of sticks for the fire of your church or neighborhood prayer-meeting?
– Trumbull.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(3) And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks . . .The act was characteristic of the cheerful energy which had been shown throughout the previous night. The fact thus mentioned has been dwelt on as militating against the identity of Melita and Malta, no wood being now found in the island except at one spot (Bosquetta), not near St. Pauls Bay. The Greek word, however, is applied to the dry stalks of herbaceous plants rather than to the branches of trees, and, as such, exactly describes the stout, thorny heather that still grows near the bay. It is clear, however, apart from this, that the people of Malta did not live without fire, and, not having coal, must therefore have had wood of some kind as fuel.
There came a viper out of the heat.There are said to be no venomous serpents now in Malta, and this again has been pressed into the question of the identity of the island. Mr. Lewin, however (St. Paul, ii. 208), states that he saw a serpent, near St. Pauls Bay, that looked very like a viper; and even if he were mistaken in this, it would be natural enough that venomous snakes should disappear under the influence of culture, as they have done elsewhere, in the course of 1800 years.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Paul had gathered The prisoners, safe on an island from which they could not escape, were probably not yet chained again.
A viper The viper is the only viviparous species of serpent, and very venomous. There are no vipers at the present day in Malta. On that island, as in our own country, the increased density of a civilized population exterminates venomous reptiles.
Out of the heat The viper stiffens with a small degree of cold, and recovers his activity with warmth. Supposing himself assaulted, he made a fierce assault. The enraged viper will dart several feet upon his victim.
Fastened With his teeth, and, as appears by the next verse, hung to Paul’s hand until flung off.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out as a result of the heat, and fastened on his hand.’
The able ones among the rescued no doubt busied themselves in doing what they could for the others. And as usual Paul was busy seeking to serve, and he assisted by gathering a bundle of sticks, laying them on the fire. But then a snake came out as he tossed them on the fire. It had been comatose in the cold, but disturbed by the heat, fastened itself on Paul’s hand.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Act 28:3 . . .] (see the critical remarks) on account of the heat. [176] See Winer, p. 348 [E. T.465]; Hermann, ad Arist. Nub. 834. The reading would have to be rendered: from out of the heat.
] Plat. Pol . iii. p. 405 C; Phaed . p. 109 E; Xen. Anab . vi. 6. 38; 2Sa 2:23 . It denotes that the viper came out from the brushwood in which it was, and through the layer of the same which was above it. See Bornemann, and Khner, ad Xen. Anab . vi. 6. 38.
] it seized on his hand . Comp. Arr. Epict . iii. 10. 20; Lobeck, ad Aj . 700. The reading , recommended by Griesbach, following C, min. Chrysostom, al. , appears to be an emendation. That this took place by means of a bite , Luke himself makes sufficiently evident in Act 28:4 by ; but it follows decidedly, and without rashly leaping to a conclusion, from the judgment, from the expectation, and from the subsequent . of the Melitenses, Act 28:4 ; Act 28:6 , in all which it is necessarily presupposed that they, the near bystanders, had actually seen the bite of the serpent. From this at the same time it follows just as certainly, that the animal must have been definitely known to the islanders as a poisonous viper. Hence we must reject the view of Bochart, Hieroz . ii. 3, p. 369: “illigavit se etc., nempe ut morderet, sed earn cohibuit Deus, sicut leones illos, Dan 4:22 ,” and of Kuinoel (comp. Heinrichs): “erat autem vipera ista aut non venenata, etsi Melitenses eam pro venenata habuerint, aut si erat, insinuavit quidem se Pauli manui, non vero momordit.” The latter (also hinted at by Ewald) follows least of all from , Act 28:5 , by which the very absence of result (brought about by special divine help) is placed in contrast with the poisonous bite. Nevertheless, Lange ( apost. Zeitalt . II. p. 344 f.) supposes that the reptile may have hung encircling his hand without biting, and Lekebusch, p. 382, that Luke had in view the alternative contained in Kuinoel’s explanation. Indeed, according to Hausrath, the judgment in Act 28:5 is only ascribed to the islanders by Luke. They were, as he thinks, aware that there were no poisonous serpents with them, and that thus the bite was not dangerous.
[176] On the late form , instead of , see Lobeck, ad Phryn . p. 331.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1816
PAUL BITTEN BY A VIPER, AND UNINJURED
Act 28:3-6. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.
IT is curious to observe how, in this chequered scene of life, judgments and mercies, trials and deliverances, crosses and comforts, are intermixed. In the space of a few hours Paul was shipwrecked, and saved; destitute, and relieved; bitten by a viper, and preserved from injury; judged as a murderer, and honoured as a god.
These events, though not of primary importance, are yet deserving of consideration.
The inhabitants of Malta, here called Barbarians, as not being learned and polished like the Greeks and Romans, shewed great kindness and hospitality to the shipwrecked crew: and in this they put to shame many who bear the Christian name, who would have plundered, rather than relieved, the unhappy sufferers. A fire being made to warm the people and to dry their clothes, St. Paul gladly exerted himself for the general good, and, gathering a bundle of sticks, put them on the fire. But a viper that had lain concealed in the fagot, no sooner felt the heat, than he seized the hand of Paul, and held it fast with his teeth. Paul however, betraying no fear, held up his hand for a time with great composure, and then shook off the venomous creature into the fire. This event gave rise to various conjectures, which now we proceed to notice.
Let us see,
I.
In what light it was viewed by the people present
At first they regarded it as a judgment on him for some heinous crime
[There is even in the minds of heathens some idea of a superintending Providence, who, though in general inattentive to the concerns of men, interposes sometimes on great occasions, especially to detect and punish the crime of murder. The first thought therefore of the spectators was, that Paul was thus singled out as a monument of Divine vengeance, which, though it had spared him in the shipwreck, would not suffer his iniquity to pass unpunished.
Now this sentiment is to a certain degree just: but it is erroneous when carried to too great an extent. Certain it is that God does on some occasions mark, as it were, in a visible manner his indignation against sin: but in numberless instances even the most aggravated transgressions pass unpunished in this life, and are reserved for adequate retribution to the judgment of the great day. It is certain also that temporal calamities are by no means to be regarded as certain marks of Gods displeasure: for they are often sent as fruits of his paternal love [Note: Heb 12:6.]. The great error of Jobs friends was, that they judged him as a hypocrite, because of the heavy calamities that came upon him: and our blessed Lord has especially guarded us against forming such uncharitable conclusions, in relation to those whose blood Pilate mingled with the sacrifices, or those on whom the tower of Siloam fell [Note: Luk 13:1-5.]. The truth is, that in this world all things come alike to all; nor can any man know either love or hatred by all that is before him [Note: Ecc 9:1-3]. Josiah, as well as Saul or Ahab, may be slain in battle; and Paul, as well as the rebellious Israelites, may be bitten by a serpent: and therefore to condemn any on account of the afflictions with which they are visited, is to act like those who accounted David, yea, and Christ himself, as judicially stricken and smitten of their God [Note: Psa 41:8. Isa 53:4.].]
Afterwards, they considered it as an evidence that he was a god
[As the heathen imagined that there was a superior Being who punished sin, so they believed that their gods sometimes came down to them in the likeness of men [Note: Act 14:11.]. Hence, when the people saw that Paul had sustained no injury, they concluded that he must be a god. But here they ran to an opposite extreme. Having no knowledge of the only true God, and of his power to protect his servants, they missed entirely the true construction, which they should have put upon the event before them. But indeed, there is this propensity in every man to judge too favourably of those who prosper, as well as too unfavourably of those who suffer. The just medium can be attained by those only, who investigate matters with a dispassionate mind, and take every thing into consideration that should regulate and decide the judgment.]
From shewing in what light they viewed the event, we proceed to consider,
II.
In what light it should be viewed
God had doubtless some gracious design in this dispensation. We apprehend it was intended by him,
1.
As a means whereby to awaken their attention to his Gospel
[Paul was sent to Rome that he might testify of Christ in Csars palace. And as he was now on his way thither, God ordained that he should have an opportunity of making known the Saviour to the barbarians at Malta. But Paul was now a prisoner, and therefore not likely to gain much attention from the people: besides that, he was not at liberty to go amongst them as he would willingly have done. But, by this miracle, the attention of all was instantly fixed on him, and a way was opened for a free communication of the Gospel of Christ. That he availed himself of the opportunity, we cannot doubt: and that he had considerable success, there is reason to conclude, from the gratitude expressed by all ranks of people amongst them at his departure.
The same object, we apprehend, God has in view, by numberless dispensations which occur from time to time. Both mercies and judgments are continually represented as designed of God for this end; And they shall know that I am the Lord. The miraculous powers with which the Apostles were invested were not credentials only, for the authenticating of their divine mission, but means also of recommending the Gospel to the attention and acceptance of men. And we shall do well to regard the various events that are now passing in the world, as calls from God to embrace and hold fast the Gospel of Christ.]
2.
As a standing memorial of the care which God takes of all his faithful servants
[Many and glorious are the promises which God gives us of security in his service. That we are not to expect visible and miraculous interpositions in our favour, is true: but we are not to suppose that he will leave us to the influence of blind chance, or give us up into the hand of our inveterate enemies. Were his gracious care withdrawn, Satan would soon sift every one of us as wheat. But Jehovah keeps us in his everlasting arms, so that no weapon that is formed against us can prosper. As our Lord could not be apprehended till his time was come, so neither can any of his faithful people be destroyed, till God himself has signed the warrant. See how amply this is set forth by David [Note: Psa 91:9-13.], and in the book of Job [Note: Job 5:19-23.]: and shall these promises fail of their accomplishment? Hath God said, and will he not do it; hath he spoken, and will he not make it good? The promises made directly to the Apostles, must, as to their literal sense, be limited to them [Note: Mar 16:17-18. Luk 10:19.]: but, in the spirit of them, they must be applied to all, who put themselves under the shadow of Jehovahs wing [Note: Psa 91:3-7.]. The wrath of man shall praise him: and every occurrence, however adverse to the eye of sense, shall work for the present and eternal good of all his faithful people [Note: Rom 8:28. 2Co 4:17.].]
Let us learn then from hence,
1.
Justice to man
[We all are prone to judge one another: but this is to usurp the prerogative of Jehovah. The command of Christ, and of his Apostles is, Judge not; Judge nothing before the time, &c. [Note: Mat 7:1-2. 1Co 4:5.]]
2.
Confidence in God
[It may be, that in the service of our God our trials may be great and numerous; yea, and we may be judged by our fellow-creatures with the severest judgment: but we may safely commit every event to him [Note: 1Co 4:3.], assured, that he will bring forth our righteousness as the noon-day, if not in this world, yet most certainly in the world to come.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
Ver. 3. And fastened on his hand ] Thus, many are the troubles of the righteous; but out of them all the Lord delivereth them. No country hath more venomous creatures than Egypt, none more antidotes; so godliness hath many troubles, and as many helps against trouble. The devil’s design here was to have destroyed Paul, but he was deceived. So he desired to have Peter, Luk 22:31 , sc. to hell, but that was more than he could do.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
3. ] “vincti officium fuciebat submisse, aliis quoque inserviens.” Bengel.
] From the circumstance of the concealed viper, these were probably heaps of neglected wood gathered in the forest.
. . .] The difficulty here is, that there are now no venomous serpents in Malta. But as Mr. Smith observes, “no person who has studied the changes which the operations of man have produced on the animals of any country, will be surprised that a particular species of reptiles should have disappeared from Malta. My friend, the Rev. Mr. Landsborough, in his interesting excursions in Arran, has repeatedly noticed the gradual disappearance of the viper from the island since it has become more frequented. Perhaps there is no where a surface of equal extent in so artificial a state as that of Malta is at the present day, and no where has the aboriginal forest been more completely cleared. We need not therefore be surprised that, with the disappearance of the woods, the noxious reptiles which infested them should also have disappeared.” pp. 111, 112.
The reading . . has been an explanation of , which here signifies from locally , not ‘ on account of .’ To suppose the converse (“the was adopted by those who thought the sense was ‘ on account of the fire,’ ” Dr. Bloomf.), is simply absurd; for 1) no man ever could suppose the sense of in such a connexion to be this: and 2) even if any one did, he would not have substituted another ambiguous preposition, . Paul had placed the faggot on the fire, and was settling or arranging it in its place, when the viper glided out of the heat and fixed on his hand.
. gives the more precise sense, and is a less usual word than . The serpent glided out through the sticks.
] attached itself : a usage unexampled in earlier Greek. The narrative leaves no doubt that the bite did veritably take place.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 28:3 . : here only in Acts, but cf. Act 11:27 , Act 16:39 , in [425] text; = exemplum , Bengel. Cf. Mat 17:22 , W.H [426] , R.V. margin; of collecting men, 2Ma 14:30 . : brushwood, copse; the furze still growing near St. Paul’s Bay would well afford material for a fire (Lewin), and it may be quite true that wood is found nowhere else but in a place at a distance from the Bay; in classical Greek used in plural for dry sticks, especially firewood; here only in N.T., but several times in LXX, for straw, stubble, and bramble. before , see critical note: implying as much as he could carry, Weiss; . used elsewhere of persons. : the objection that no poisonous serpents are found to-day in Malta, like that based on the absence of wood in Act 28:2 , may well be dismissed as “too trivial to deserve notice; such changes are natural and probable in a small island, populous and long civilised,” Ramsay, St. Paul , p. 343, Breusing, p. 191, Vars, p. 243; so too J. Smith, p. 151, 4th edition, refers to the gradual disappearance of the viper in Arran as the island became more frequented, and cf. Hackett’s note for similar proof. Mr. Lewin, as late as 1853, believed that he saw a viper near St. Paul’s Bay, St. Paul , ii. 200. : “out of,” but if “by reason of,” R.V. margin, “from the heat,” the viper numbed by the cold felt the sudden heat, and was restored to activity, cf. on its habits (Hackett), “in caus significatu spe apud Grcos,” Grotius, Bengel. cf. Act 20:9 , and Luk 21:26 . , see critical note. . supported by Meyer and Alford, as if the serpent glided out through the sticks. : only in Luke in N.T., but in classics and in LXX, Job 6:17 , Psa 18 (19):6, Ecc 4:11 , Sir 38:28 ; often used in medical writers instead of (Hobart), but the latter is also used in Hipp. : only here in N.T., but frequent in classical Greek, and usually in middle, although not found in LXX, cf. however Symm., , Cant. i. 6, cf. Epict., Diss. , iii., 20, 10, i.e. , : (Grimm): Blass, Page, Felten render “bit,” momordit . So Nsgen and Zckler, who think that this is evidently meant from the context, although not necessarily contained in the verb itself; Dioscorides used it of poisonous matter introduced into the body (Hobart, p. 288). Blass thus expresses the force of the aorist, “momento temporis hoc factum est, priusquam . manum retraxisset”.
[425] R(omana), in Blass, a first rough copy of St. Luke.
[426] Westcott and Hort’s The New Testament in Greek: Critical Text and Notes.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
gathered. Greek. sustrepho. Only here.
bundle = multitude. Greek. plethos.
sticks. Greek. phruganon Only here.
viper. Greek. echidna. Only here, Mat 3:7; Mat 3:12, Mat 3:34; Mat 23:33. Luk 3:7.
out of. Greek. ek. App-104. but the texts read apo (App-104.)
heat. Greek. therme. Only here.
fastened. Greek. kathapto. Only here.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
3. ] vincti officium fuciebat submisse, aliis quoque inserviens. Bengel.
] From the circumstance of the concealed viper, these were probably heaps of neglected wood gathered in the forest.
…] The difficulty here is, that there are now no venomous serpents in Malta. But as Mr. Smith observes, no person who has studied the changes which the operations of man have produced on the animals of any country, will be surprised that a particular species of reptiles should have disappeared from Malta. My friend, the Rev. Mr. Landsborough, in his interesting excursions in Arran, has repeatedly noticed the gradual disappearance of the viper from the island since it has become more frequented. Perhaps there is no where a surface of equal extent in so artificial a state as that of Malta is at the present day,-and no where has the aboriginal forest been more completely cleared. We need not therefore be surprised that, with the disappearance of the woods, the noxious reptiles which infested them should also have disappeared. pp. 111, 112.
The reading . . has been an explanation of , which here signifies from locally, not on account of. To suppose the converse (the was adopted by those who thought the sense was on account of the fire, Dr. Bloomf.),-is simply absurd; for 1) no man ever could suppose the sense of in such a connexion to be this: and 2) even if any one did, he would not have substituted another ambiguous preposition, . Paul had placed the faggot on the fire, and was settling or arranging it in its place, when the viper glided out of the heat and fixed on his hand.
. gives the more precise sense, and is a less usual word than . The serpent glided out through the sticks.
] attached itself: a usage unexampled in earlier Greek. The narrative leaves no doubt that the bite did veritably take place.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 28:3. , when Paul had gathered) An example of his working with his own hands (): ch. Act 27:19. He did the office of a prisoner submissively, helping others also thereby.-, of sticks, brushwood) in which the viper lay hid in the cold season.- ) is omitted by more modern copies.[155]-) is the reading of more recent copies.[156] , from the heat [owing to the heat], is considered by Grotius to be clearer. So, saith he, , , are often used among the Greeks in signifying a cause.-) viz. , attached itself to his hand. See Suicers Thesaurus. Presently there follows , hanging, Act 28:4.
[155] ABC support . Vulg. Amiat. MS. omits it. as also later Syr. and Rec. Text.-E. and T.
[156] ABC, . Rec. Text, .-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
came: Job 20:16, Isa 30:6, Isa 41:24, Isa 59:5, Mat 3:7, Mat 12:34, Mat 23:33
fastened: Act 28:4, Amo 5:19, 2Co 6:9, 2Co 11:23
Reciprocal: Gen 3:15 – enmity Exo 4:4 – put forth Psa 91:13 – adder Mar 16:18 – shall take
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE VIPER
And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
Act 28:3
This chapter records the sequel to the wreck. The two hundred and seventy-six souls had escaped from the ship and had all got safely to land. They found themselves upon the island which we now call Malta, but which was then known by the name of Melita. The Maltese had cherished and retained a belief in God as the moral ruler of the universe. God, they believed, punished wrong-doing, and rewarded virtue fully in this world. Human justice often failed in its work; Divine justice never! When, therefore, they saw the viper dart out upon the Apostles hand, they at once concluded that the man whom the soldiers watched with vigilance was a murderer. When St. Paul shook off the viper into the fire, and felt no harm, they changed their minds, and said he was a god.
The incident contains a lesson full of value and importance in the right guidance of all our lifesocial, religious, business, intellectual, or political. Everywhere in the pursuit of duty we must expect the viper to dart out upon us. Well for us if we are on our guard, and ready instinctively to shake off the attacks, and, God-protected, by Divine grace feel no harm.
I. The viper in business life.Business is one of the most necessary things in the world. Those engaged in such duties may well seem, like St. Paul, to be energetically and characteristically helping to do something in the rain and cold, easing and ameliorating the condition of human life. But how often do we see the viper dart out of the midst of the work, and fasten on a mans hand! How often do we see trade or business blunting the higher and nobler faculties of human life, blinding the soul to the spiritual world, exhausting all the natural energies in mere material, earthly interests, and sometimesalas! too oftenundermining the uprightness and honesty of a hitherto spotless character! How often do we see the hand or the heel wounded, while all power to shake off the venomous beast would seem to have deserted the soul!
II. The viper in knowledge.Or look at knowledge in its many branches. What is more fascinating or delightful? But even here be on your guard! Even here the viper darts out and is ready to fasten on the hand. For there are spheres of truth which reason can only enter hand in hand with faith, and reason is apt to rise in rebellion, and flash scorn on that which is beyond its ken, and glory in its ignorance, or, as it prefers to phrase it, its agnosticism.
III. The viper in the Church.The serpent has penetrated paradise, and all mans life is henceforth lived in his presence. The Church is the paradise of God on earth. It is the nearest meeting-place of man with God. It is the Home of Grace. It is the refuge of penitent sinners. It is the resting-place of Gods revelation. It is the souls best and truest home. It is here that you can do the greatest works for God. It is here that you can lead others to know the happiness that you have found. It is here that you may be the light of the world, and the salt of the earth. It is here that you may be Gods band of labourers, fellow-workers with God. Yet here, too, beware of the dart of the serpent. Here he fastens upon and wounds the hand, Here sometimes narrowness, bitterness, obstinacy and self-will. proud contemptuousness, prejudice, jealousy, and littleness of spirit may mar and spoil what God has intended.
IV. To shake off the viper.St. Paul shook off the venomous beast into the fire, and felt no harm, because he did it instinctively the moment the dart was made, and because he was God-protected by the last promise of our Lord to His disciples. It is only by the religion of Jesus Christ that we can cast off the serpent. No profession of morality, no trusting in ones own strength, no force of character, no amount of self-respect will do it. No; nothing but the indwelling guidance and strength of the Divine Spirit, perpetually cherished, perpetually invoked, perpetually obeyednothing but this will help us to shake off the power of evil, and to take no harm.
Rev. P. M. Chamney.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
3
Act 28:3. A cold rain was falling and Paul was building a fire for warmth. A viper is a poisonous snake that came out of ‘the- sticks and clung to his hand. It had evidently been sheltering itself among the sticks and was numb from the cold. The heat brought it to its feeling and caused it to attack him as might be expected to be done by such a creature.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 28:3. When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks. More exactly, had twisted together a large quantity of sticks. We see the apostle here helping with his own hands to improve the fire, as we saw him before (Act 27:19) in the storm helping with his own hands to lighten the ship by throwing tackling overboard. Another remark, too, may be permitted here. We see St. Paul warming himself at a fire, just as St. Peter did on a very different occasion (see Joh 18:13-25). Such incidents are part of that natural framework which gives life and reality to the biographies of the New Testament.
There came a viper out of the heat. Here we encounter another objection, similar to the preceding, against the identification of Malta. It was put forward in a very random way by Coleridge in a conversation quoted in his Table Talk. But this objection falls with the other. It is true that there are no poisonous serpents now in Malta; but with the increase of population, wood has been cleared away, and with the clearing away of wood noxious reptiles have disappeared. Mr. Smith adduces a similar experience of recent date, in the island of Arrant, and quotes from Sir C. Lyells Principles of Geology the following sentence, written by travelers in Brazil, concerning the poisonous serpents and other dangerous animals of that country: With the increasing population and cultivation of the country, these evils will gradually diminish: when the inhabitants have cut down the woods, drained the marshes, made roads in all directions, and founded villages and towns, man will, by degrees, triumph over the rank vegetation and the noxious animals. By the expression, came out of the heat, is meant that the animal came through the bundle of sticks in consequence of being awakened into activity from a torpid state by the heat. Dr. Hackett quotes Professor Agassis as saying that such reptiles become torpid as soon as the temperature falls sensibly below the mean temperature of the place which they inhabit; also that they lurk in rocky places, and that they are accustomed to dart at their enemies sometimes several feet at a bound.
Fastened on his hand. The impression given by these words is, that St. Paul was bitten by the viper; and this, no doubt, is the true impression. We gain nothing in such a case by attenuating a miracle.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Act 28:3-4. And when Paul Who had learned to make himself servant of all, and would stoop to any thing by which he might be serviceable, was laying on the fire a bundle of sticks Which he had gathered; there came a viper Which had been concealed among the wood; out of the heat, and fastened on his hand Round which it probably twisted itself, and bit it. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast Or the fierce animal, as should rather be translated; the word beast being a very improper term for it; they said Seeing also his chains; No doubt this man is a murderer They concluded he was a murderer, (says Elsner,) rather than a person guilty of any other crime, because they saw the viper hanging on his hand, which therefore they judged to have been the offending member, according to the rule which prevailed among the ancients, that persons were often remarkably punished in that part of the body which had been the immediate instrument of their sin; whom, though he hath escaped the sea Hath not been destroyed by the tempest and shipwreck; yet vengeance suffereth not (Greek, , hath not suffered) to live They looked upon him as, in effect, a dead man already, after having been bit by that venomous creature. The poison of a viper so inflames the blood, that a person infected with it is usually tormented as with fire, and quickly dies. For this reason, the ancient Scythians, in war, used to dip their arrows in the blood and gaul of vipers, that their enemies wounded by them might die a painful and sudden death. And, in some remote times, some condemned criminals were put to death by vipers set to their breasts: by this means Cleopatra despatched herself. Though , (justice, or judgment,) here rendered vengeance, may be understood of the divine vengeance in general; yet, as these were the words of heathen idolaters, possibly they might refer to a deity worshipped among them under that name; as we know the Greeks and Romans had a goddess whom they termed , Nemesis, the daughter of Justice, who, they supposed, punished the wicked. It must give us pleasure to trace among these barbarians the force of conscience, and the belief of a particular providence; which some people of more learning have stupidly thought it philosophy to despise. But they erred in imagining that calamities must always be interpreted as judgments. Let us guard against this error, lest, like them, we condemn, not only the innocent, but the excellent of the earth.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3-6. While they were endeavoring to make themselves comfortable around the fire, an incident occurred which had an important bearing upon the future welfare of the travelers. (3) “Now Paul, having gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, a viper came out from the heat, and fastened on his hand. (4) And when the barbarians saw the beast hanging from his hand, they said one to another, No doubt this man is a murderer; whom, though he has escaped from the sea, Justice permits not to live. (5) Then he shook off the beast into the fire, and suffered no harm. (6) But they were waiting for him to swell up, or suddenly fall down dead. And when they had waited a great while, and saw that no harm came to him, they turned about, and said that he was a god.” This scene is like that at Lystra reversed. There the people first took Paul for a god, and afterward stoned him. Here they first suppose him to be a murderer, and then a god. Their bad opinion of him had not been based upon the mere fact that he was bitten by a serpent, for they knew that innocent men were liable to the same misfortune, but by the occurrence of this incident in so close connection with his safe escape from an almost hopeless shipwreck. The fact that he was a prisoner helped them to the conclusion that he had committed murder, and was now receiving a just retribution in a violent death. They attributed his punishment to the goddess of justice, using the Greek term Dike, the name of that goddess. When, after watching a long time, they found that the bite, so fatal to other men, had no effect on him, their heathen education led them irresistibly to the conclusion that he was god.
It is almost universally conceded that the island here called Melita is the modern Malta, which lies directly south of Sicily. The evidence for this conclusion is fully summed up by Mr. Howson, to whom the inquisitive reader is referred.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 3
Out of the heat; driven out by the heat.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
28:3 {1} And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid [them] on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand.
(1) The godly are sure to have danger upon danger, but they alway have a glorious outcome.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Paul made himself useful by gathering firewood; he did not sit around expecting others to take care of him. Evidently he unknowingly picked up a small snake with his wood. It would have been sluggish because of the cold weather, but the heat of the fire woke it up. This snake is a "viper" in Greek. A viper is, of course, a specific variety of poisonous snake. The fact that there are no vipers on Malta now, which has been a stumbling block to some, simply shows that this variety of snake became extinct there after Paul’s visit. [Note: See Ramsay, St. Paul . . ., p. 343.] Vipers do not normally fasten on what they bite; they strike and then retreat. However in this case the snake was evidently still somewhat lethargic and did not behave normally. Perhaps it got hung up on Paul’s hand by its fangs.
This was the third life-threatening situation that Paul faced on his journey to Rome, the others being the storm at sea and the shipwreck.