- uted, each one according to his ability, they made Barnabas and
Saul the messengers of their charity, who were accordingly dispatched to Jerusalem, on this noble errand. They remained in Jerusalem through the period of Agrippa's attack upon the apostles by murdering James, and imprisoning Peter; but they do not seem to have been any way immediately concerned in these events; and when Peter had escaped, they returned to Antioch. How long they remained here, is not recorded; but the date of subsequent events seems to imply that it was a space of some years, during which they labored at Antioch in company with several other eminent prophets and teachers, of whom are mentioned Simeon, who had the Roman surname of Niger, Lucius, the Cyrenian, and Manaen, a foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch. During their common ministrations, at a season of fasting, they received a direction from the spirit of truth which guided them, to set apart Saul and Barnabas for the special work to which the Lord had called them. This work was of course understood to be that for which Saul in particular, had, at his conversion, been so remarkably commissioned,—"to open the eyes of the Gentiles,—to turn them from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan to God." His brethren in the ministry therefore, understanding at once the nature and object of the summons, now specially consecrated both him and Barnabas for their missionary work; and after fasting and praying, they invoked on them the blessing of God, in the usual oriental form of laying their hands on them, and then bade them farewell.
"That this famine was felt chiefly in Judea may be conjectured with great reason
from the nature of the context, for we find that the disciples are resolving to send relief
to the elders in Judea; consequently they must have understood that those in Judea
would suffer more than themselves. Josephus declared that this famine raged
so much there, [Greek: pollôn hypo endeias analômatôn phtheiromenôn], 'so that many perished for
want of victuals.'"
"'Throughout the whole world,'[Greek: pasan tên oikoumenên], is first to be understood, orbis terrarum habitabilis: Demosth. in Coron. Æschines contr. Ctesiph. Scapula. Then the Roman and other empires were styled [Greek: oikoumenê], 'the world.' Thus Isaiah xiv. 17, 26, the counsel of God against the empire of Babylon, is called his counsel, [Greek: epi tên holên oikoumenên], 'against all the earth.'—(Elsley, Whitby.) Accordingly Eusebius says of this famine, that it oppressed almost the whole empire. And as for the truth of the prophecy, this dearth is recorded by historians most averse to our religion, viz., by Suetonius in the life of Claudius, chap. 18, who informs us that it happened 'ob assiduas sterilitates;' and Dion. Cassius Hist. lib. lx. p. 146, that it was [Greek: limos ischyros], 'a very great famine.' Whitby's Annot. Doddridge enumerates nine famines in various years, and parts of the empire, in the reign of Claudius; but the first was the most severe, and affected particularly Judea, and is that here meant." (J. M. Williams's notes on Pearson.)
HIS FIRST APOSTOLIC MISSION.
Going from Antioch directly eastward to the sea, they came to
