Now
Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem. But they, passing on from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia. They went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, speak.” Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen. The God of this people chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they stayed as aliens in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm, he led them out of it. For a period of about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land for an inheritance, for about four hundred fifty years. After these things he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Afterward they asked for a king, and God gave to them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
Acts 13:13-21
Acts 13 [9.] But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him, and said, “Full of all deceit and all cunning, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? Now, behold, the hand of the Lord is on you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a season!” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him. He went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Acts 13 [13.] Now Paul and his company set sail from Paphos, and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem. But they, passing on from Perga, came to Antioch of Pisidia. They went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, speak.”
Acts 13 [16.] Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen. The God of this people chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they stayed as aliens in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm, he led them out of it. For a period of about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land for an inheritance, for about four hundred fifty years.
Acts 13 [20.] After these things he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Afterward they asked for a king, and God gave to them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. When he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he also testified, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ From this man’s offspring, God has brought salvation to Israel according to his promise, before his coming, when John had first preached the baptism of repentance to Israel.
Acts 13 [25.] As John was fulfilling his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. But behold, one comes after me the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’ Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to you. For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they didn’t know him, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. Though they found no cause for death, they still asked Pilate to have him killed. When they had fulfilled all things that were written about him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb.
Meaning:
After the proconsul of Cyprus believed (Acts 13:12), the missionaries crossed to the mainland of what is now Turkey. These verses bring them to a synagogue in Pisidian Antioch and record the opening of Paul’s first sermon in Acts.
- “Paul and his company”
Luke now calls Saul by his Roman name, Paul, and names him first: leadership has passed to him. At Perga, John Mark left and went home to Jerusalem. Paul later saw this as withdrawing from the work (Acts 15:38).
- “Antioch of Pisidia … the synagogue on the Sabbath day”
Pisidian Antioch was a Roman colony in the interior. The synagogue service included readings “of the law and the prophets,” as in the synagogue at Nazareth where Jesus read from Isaiah (Luke 4:16).
- “Men of Israel, and you who fear God”
Paul addressed Jews, and also Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel without becoming full converts, like the centurion Cornelius, “one who feared God” (Acts 10:2).
- “The God of this people chose our fathers”
Like Stephen (Acts 7:2-4), Paul told Israel’s history as a story of God’s actions. God chose the fathers, not because Israel was great but “because Yahweh loves you” (Deuteronomy 7:8). He made the people grow in Egypt and brought them out “with an uplifted arm,” recalling his promise, “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm” (Exodus 6:6). He bore with them forty years in the wilderness and drove out the “seven nations greater and mightier than you” (Deuteronomy 7:1).
- “About four hundred fifty years”
Here the 450 years come before the judges and probably cover the years in Egypt (Genesis 15:13), the wilderness and the conquest. Other manuscripts, followed by the King James Version, attach them to the time of the judges.
- “He gave them judges … they asked for a king”
In the days of the judges, “Yahweh raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them” (Judges 2:16). Then, under Samuel, the elders demanded, “make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5), and God gave them Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin (1 Samuel 9:1-2). Paul, once called Saul, was also “of the tribe of Benjamin” (Philippians 3:5). The history leads to David (Acts 13:22) and to David’s greater Son.
The Significance of Acts 13:13-21
- God is the main actor in history
In Paul’s summary God chose, exalted, led, bore with and gave. Believers can read their own lives the same way, as a story of God’s faithful acts.
Cross-References:
Luke 4:16: "He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read." Jesus also taught in the synagogue.
Deuteronomy 7:7: "Yahweh didn’t set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people;" God’s free choice of Israel.
1 Samuel 8:5: "Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." The request that led to Saul.
Conclusion: After John Mark left them at Perga, Paul was invited to speak in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch. Addressing Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, he retold Israel’s history from the fathers to King Saul, showing God at work in every age. The survey prepares for the message that God’s promises reach their goal in Jesus.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible