Miracles on Malta

Eleventh Tuesday after Pentecost

Lectionary Texts:

Tuesday:

2 Samuel 18:1-18

John 6:4`-47 

Wednesday:

2 Samuel 18:19-33

John 6:48-51

We return to Acts Bible Study. Please read Acts 28:1-10.

Paul and the rest on board have survived the shipwreck. They have washed up on an island that they soon learn is Malta. The natives (Luke uses the Greek word barbaroi translated here as "natives." It the same word from which we get the English word barbarian) are friendly, building a fire for Paul and others on what Luke says was a cold day (probably mid to late October). Luke's portrayal of the Maltese is on the whole negative. They are superstitious and quick to change their minds.

The Maltese also appear ignorant of their own herpetology. Venomous snakes do not live on Malta. Luke's writing never says that the snake was venomous. Some non-venemous snakes do. Moreover, venomous snakes bite and let go. This non-venomous snake did not let go. Paul shook it off. The natives expect Paul to swell up and die, which he does not. The story may therefore be less a miracle than the natural course of a non-venomous snakebite. The story might also be non-historical or perhaps Lucan exaggeration.

The natives' superstition leads them to think that the bite is a divine criminal judgment.The word justice should probably be captialized. It is likely a reference to the Greek god dikae=the English word Justice.

When Paul survives, the jump to the opposite conclusion that he is a god. He has been called a god before (Acts 14:8-18). He quickly disabuses the Maltese of that notion. 

Publius in vv. 7-10 may not be native Maltese but a Roman appointed official. The transliteration of his name Poplios (Greek) to Publius (Latin) seems odd to me and to quite a few commentators. 

Paul lays hands of Publius's sick father and he is healed. Others come to Paul for healing. The word honors in v.10 more likely refers to money offerings than gold medals or keys to the island. Paul and Luke an the rest would have stayed there the entire winter, a season of no sailing in the Mediterranean. They would have embarked to Rome in March. The year was probably 61 A.D.