But the Jews stirred up - Excited opposition.

Honourable women - See the notes on Mark 15:43. Women of influence, and connected with families of rank. Perhaps they were proselytes, and were connected with the magistrates of the city.

And raised persecution - Probably on the ground that they produced disorder. The aid of "chief men" has often been called into oppose revivals of religion, and to put a period, if possible, to the spread of the gospel.

Out of their coasts - Out of the regions of their country; out of their province.

Devout and honorable women - It is likely that these were heathen matrons, who had become proselytes to the Jewish religion; and, as they were persons of affluence and respectability, they had considerable influence with the civil magistracy of the place, and probably their husbands were of this order; and it is likely that they used that influence, at the instigation of the Jews, to get the apostles expelled from the place.

But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women,.... These seem not to be Jewish women; could they be thought to be such, they might easily be concluded to be of the sect of the Pharisees, which was the strictest and most devout sect among the Jews; for there were women Pharisees, as well as men; so we read of , "a woman Pharisee" (b); but these were Gentile women, proselyted to the Jewish religion, and were in their way very religious and devout, and were also "honourable": the word used signifies, not only that they were of a comely form, of a decent habit, and of good manners, as it is by some interpreted; but that they were persons of figure and distinction, of good families; the Syriac version renders it "rich", whose husbands were the principal men of the city; wherefore the Jews applied to these women, and stirred up them to work upon their husbands, who seem to be those next mentioned:

and the chief men of the city; the magistrates and officers in it:

and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas; raised the mob, and set them upon them:

and expelled them out of their coasts; drove them out of their city and suburbs.

(b) Misn. Sota, c. 3. sect. 4.

Honorable (εὐσχήμονας)

See on Mark 15:43. Women of rank, or, as Rev., of honorable estate.

Coasts (ὁρίων)

Not a good rendering, because it implies merely a sea-coast; whereas the word is a general one for boundaries.

{20} But the Jews stirred up the {u} devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.

(20) Such is the craft and subtlety of the enemies of the Gospel, that they abuse the simplicity of some who are not altogether evil men, in order to execute their cruelty.

(u) Those who embraced the Law of Moses.

13:50 The Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women. Gentile women of high rank ( devout women of honourable estate, Revised Version), who had learned to revere the One God (see PNT Ac 10:2 ). Strabo, a Roman writer, declares that the women in this part of Asia exerted a powerful influence.

And the chief men. Probably the husbands of these women.

Raised persecution. There was probably no appeal to the magistrates, who were Romans (Antioch of Pisidia was a Roman colony), but they excited tumultuous opposition. The missionaries retired for the time, because their work was interrupted. They were not exiled, for they returned afterward (Ac 14:21).

50. the devout and honourable women-female proselytes of distinction, jaundiced against the new preachers by those Jewish ecclesiastics to whom they had learned to look up. The potent influence of the female character both for and against the truth is seen in every age of the Church's history.

expelled them-an easier thing than to refute them.

13:42-52 The Jews opposed the doctrine the apostles preached; and when they could find no objection, they blasphemed Christ and his gospel. Commonly those who begin with contradicting, end with blaspheming. But when adversaries of Christ's cause are daring, its advocates should be the bolder. And while many judge themselves unworthy of eternal life, others, who appear less likely, desire to hear more of the glad tidings of salvation. This is according to what was foretold in the Old Testament. What light, what power, what a treasure does this gospel bring with it! How excellent are its truths, its precepts, its promises! Those came to Christ whom the Father drew, and to whom the Spirit made the gospel call effectual, Ro 8:30. As many as were disposed to eternal life, as many as had concern about their eternal state, and aimed to make sure of eternal life, believed in Christ, in whom God has treasured up that life, and who is the only Way to it; and it was the grace of God that wrought it in them. It is good to see honourable women devout; the less they have to do in the world, the more they should do for their own souls, and the souls of others: but it is sad, when, under colour of devotion to God, they try to show hatred to Christ. And the more we relish the comforts and encouragements we meet with in the power of godliness, and the fuller our hearts are of them, the better prepared we are to face difficulties in the profession of godliness.