Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Acts: Chapter 17]
and rabble. {Assaulting the house of Jason} (\epistantes t•i
oiki•i Iasonos\). Second aorist (ingressive) active of
\ephist•mi\, taking a stand against, rushing at, because he was
Paul's host. He may have been a Gentile (Jason the name of an
ancient king of Thessaly), but the Jews often used it for Joshua
or Jesus (II Macc. 1:7). {They sought} (\ez•toun\). Imperfect
active. They burst into the house and searched up and down.
{Them} (\autous\). Paul and Silas. They were getting ready to
have a lynching party.
17:6 {When they found them not} (\m• heurontes\). Usual negative
\m•\ with the participle in the _Koin•_, second aorist
(effective) active participle, complete failure with all the
noise and "bums." {They dragged} (\esuron\). Imperfect active,
vivid picture, they were dragging (literally). See already 8:3;
16:19. If they could not find Paul, they could drag Jason his
host and some other Christians whom we do not know. {Before the
rulers of the city} (\epi tous politarchas\). This word does not
occur in Greek literature and used to be cited as an example of
Luke's blunders. But now it is found in an inscription on an arch
in the modern city preserved in the British Museum. It is also
found in seventeen inscriptions (five from Thessalonica) where
the word or the verb \politarche•\ occurs. It is a fine
illustration of the historical accuracy of Luke in matters of
detail. This title for city officers in Thessalonica, a free
city, is correct. They were burgomasters or "rulers of the city."
{Crying} (\bo•ntes\). Yelling as if the house was on fire like
the mob in Jerusalem (21:28). {These that have turned the world
upside down} (\hoi t•n oikoumen•n anastat•santes\). The use of
\oikoumen•n\ (supply \gen\ or \ch•ran\, the inhabited earth,
present passive participle of \oike•\) means the Roman Empire,
since it is a political charge, a natural hyperbole in their
excitement, but the phrase occurs for the Roman Empire in Lu
2:1. It is possible that news had come to Thessalonica of the
expulsion of the Jews from Rome by Claudius. There is truth in
the accusation, for Christianity is revolutionary, but on this
particular occasion the uproar (verse 5) was created by the
rabbis and the hired loafers. The verb \anastato•\ (here first
aorist active participle) does not occur in the ancient writers,
but is in LXX and in Ac 17:6; 21:38; Ga 5:12. It occurs also in
Harpocration (A.D. 4th cent.) and about 100 B.C. \exanastato•\ is
found in a fragment of papyrus (Tebtunis no. 2) and in a Paris
Magical Papyrus l. 2243f. But in an Egyptian letter of Aug. 4, 41
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