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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Acts 13:6 - 13:6
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Unto Paphos (achri Paphou). The new Paphos at the other end of the island, reached by a fine Roman road, some eight miles north of the old Paphos famous for the worship of Venus.
A certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew (andra tina magon pseudoprophētēn Ioudaion). Literally, “a certain man” (andra tina) with various descriptive epithets. The word magon does not necessarily mean “sorcerer,” but only a magus (Mat 2:1, Mat 2:7,Mat 2:10 which see). The bad sense occurs in Act 8:9, Act 8:11 (Simon Magus) and is made plain here by “false prophet.” In Act 13:8here Barjesus (Son of Jesus) is called “Elymas the sorcerer (or Magian),” probably his professional title, as Luke interprets the Arabic or Aramaic word Elymas. These Jewish mountebanks were numerous and had great influence with the uneducated. In Act 19:13 the seven sons of Sceva, Jewish exorcists, tried to imitate Paul. If one is surprised that a man like Sergius Paulus should fall under the influence of this fraud, he should recall what Juvenal says of the Emperor Tiberius “sitting on the rock of Capri with his flock of Chaldaeans around him.”