Because in the blood was the animal's life, and it was the blood that was consecrated to make atonement. See Genesis 9:6; Leviticus 17:10-14; Deuteronomy 12:23, Deuteronomy 12:24. The Gentiles had no scruples about eating blood; on the contrary, it was a special delicacy. Thus Homer:

"At the fire

Already lie the paunches of two goats,

Preparing for our evening meal, and both

Are filled with fat and blood. Whoever shows

Himself the better man in this affray,

And conquers, he shall take the one of these

He chooses."

Odyssey, xviii., 44 sq.

The heathen were accustomed to drink blood mingled with wine at their sacrifices.

Farewell (ἔῤῥωσθε)

Lit., be strong, like the Latin valete. Compare the close of Claudius Lysias' letter to Festus (Acts 23:30).

See on Acts 9:31.

Or, lit., much discourse; adding the spoken to the written consolation.

Exhorted

Or comforted. See on Acts 15:31. The latter agrees better with consolation there.

Confirmed

See on Acts 14:22.

Lit., Having returned, let us now visit. The A. V. omits now. See on Acts 13:2.

In every city (κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν)

Κατά has the force of city by city.

Lit., that one. It marks him very strongly, and is an emphatic position at the end of the sentence.

Departed (ἀποστάντα)

Rev., withdrew. It furnishes the derivation of our word apostatize.

More correctly, there arose a sharp contention. Only here and Hebrews 10:24. Our word paroxysm is a transcription of παροξυσμὸς. An angry dispute is indicated.

Barnabas

The last mention of him in the Acts.

Which was not the case with Barnabas, leading to the inference that the church at Antioch took Paul's side in the dispute.

The word is used of going forth as a missionary in Luke 9:6; 3 John 1:7.

Rather, were strengthened. Another word is used for established. See Acts 14:22; Acts 15:32, Acts 15:41; Acts 18:23. There is a difference, moreover, between being strengthened and established. See 1 Peter 5:10.

See on Acts 2:9.

Not avoiding, since they could not reach Troas without traversing it; but omitting it as a preaching-place.

Came down

From the highlands to the coast.

Note the introduction, for the first time here, of the first person, intimating the presence of the author with Paul.

Assuredly gathering (συμβιβάζοντες)

See on proving, Acts 9:22.

Lit., we ran a straight course. A nautical term for sailing before the wind.

Some explain, the first city to which they came in Macedonia.

A colony (κολωνία)

Roman towns were of two classes: municipia, or free towns, and colonies. The distinction, however, was not sharply maintained, so that, in some cases, we find the same town bearing both names. The two names involved no difference of right or of privilege. The historical difference between a colony and a free town is, that the free towns were taken into the state from without, while the colonies were offshoots from within. "The municipal cities insensibly equalled the rank and splendor of the colonies; and in the reign of Hadrian it was disputed which was the preferable condition, of those societies which had issued from, or those which had been received into, the bosom of Rome" (Gibbon, "Decline and Fall").

The colony was used for three different purposes in the course of Roman history: as a fortified outpost in a conquered country; as a means of providing for the poor of Rome; and as a settlement for veterans who had served their time. It is with the third class, established by Augustus, that we have to do here. The Romans divided mankind into citizens and strangers. An inhabitant of Italy was a citizen; an inhabitant of any other part of the empire was a peregrinus, or stranger. The colonial policy abolished this distinction so far as privileges were concerned. The idea of a colony was, that it was another Rome transferred to the soil of another country. In his establishment of colonies, Augustus, in some instances, expelled the existing inhabitants and founded entirely new towns with his colonists; in others, he merely added his settlers to the existing population of the town then receiving the rank and title of a colony. In some instances a place received these without receiving any new citizens at all. Both classes of citizens were in possession of the same privileges, the principal of which were, exemption from scourging, freedom from arrest, except in extreme cases, and, in all cases, the right of appeal from the magistrate to the emperor. The names of the colonists were still enrolled in one of the Roman tribes. The traveller heard the Latin language and was amenable to the Roman law. The coinage of the city had Latin inscriptions. The affairs of the colony were regulated by their own magistrates, named Duumviri, who took pride in calling themselves by the Roman title of praetors (see on Acts 16:20).

The best texts read τύλης, the gate.

River

Probably the Gangas or Gangites.

Where prayer was wont to be made (οὗ ἐνομίζετο προσευχὴ εἶναι)

The best texts read ἐνομίζομεν προσευχὴν, where we supposed there was a place of prayer. The number of Jews in Philippi was small, since it was a military and not a mercantile city; consequently there was no synagogue, but only a proseucha, or praying-place, a slight structure, and often open to the sky. It was outside the gate, for the sake of retirement, and near a stream, because of the ablutions connected with the worship.

An adjective: the Lydian; but as Lydia was a common name among the Greeks and Romans, it does not follow that she was named from her native country.

A seller of purple

On purple, see note on Luke 16:19.

Thyatira

The district of Lydia, and the city of Thyatira in particular, were famous for purple dyes. So Homer:

"As when some Carian or Maeonian dame

Tinges with purple the white ivory,

To form a trapping for the cheeks of steeds."

Iliad, iv., 141.

An inscription found in the ruins of Thyatira relates to the guild of dyers.

Heard (ἤκουεν)

Imperfect, was hearing while we preached.