Acts 14:19

Jews from Antioch. Clearly Pisidian Antioch, as the context makes evident (see on ch. 13:14). The force of the enmity of the Antiochian Jews is apparent from the fact that the Jews of Antioch and Iconium acted in concert, and that the Jews from Antioch traveled more than 100 mi. to hamper the work of the apostles.

That a close relationship existed between the people of Antioch and those of Lystra is suggested by an inscription discovered on a statue at Antioch stating that the monument had been set up in honor of that city by the people of Lystra.

These Jews knew that Paul and Barnabas were of their own nation, and their wrath was aroused against them, probably because they thought the apostles were casting away the legal requirements that were so dear to them. At Lystra these accusing Jews would have to present some other charge, however, to be able to arouse the heathen against the apostles. The miracle of healing the cripple had proved the reality of the apostles’ power, but not the source of it, and the Jews may now have attributed it to an evil agency in order to influence the heathen (compare the similar experience of Jesus, Matt. 12:24-27).

Persuaded the people. The sudden change of attitude on the part of the people of Lystra is reminiscent of that which transformed the hosannas of the Jerusalem multitude into the cry, “Let him be crucified” (Matt. 21:9; 27:22). Such tides of emotion are not difficult to understand in the case of a superstitious people, such as the Lycaonians, who are traditionally described as untrustworthy. A comparable change, in the reverse direction, appeared among the heathen people of Melita (Malta; Acts 28:3-6). The people of Lystra probably reasoned that if Paul and Barnabas possessed such mysterious powers, and were not gods in the likeness of men, they must be sorcerers, possibly demons. The Jews could have enhanced this feeling and urged the people on to barbaric action.

Stoned Paul. Such a mode of punishment was characteristically Jewish, and the Jews, aided, of course, by the heathen inhabitants of Lystra, were doubtless its instigators. This is the one recorded instance in Paul’s life of his having suffered this form of persecution (see 2 Cor. 11:25). At Iconium, Paul had just escaped stoning (Acts 14:5, 6). Both occasions are mentioned by Luke, but the apostle mentions only the actual suffering itself. This experience at Lystra stood out in Paul’s memory with distinctness to the close of his life (2 Tim. 3:11, 12).

Out of the city. Hebrew law provided that stoning should take place outside the camp (Lev. 24:14), or city. In the present instance, however, perhaps both because Lystra was a heathen city and because the stoning was the result of mob action, it seems to have taken place within the city. Therefore Paul’s body had to be dragged out of the city.