Philippi. Lydia. The voyage from Troas to Samothrace was past Tenedos and Imbros, and Samothrace was about halfway. The voyage back took five days (Acts 20:6); this voyage only two, the wind being favourable. Neapolis on the Strymonian gulf had wharves and gold mines and lay in a fertile district. Philippi was 8 miles N. of Neapolis. How it could be called the first of the district is not clear; Thessalonica was the capital of Macedonia, Amphipolis of the district which embraced Philippi. Philippi (p. 872) was made a colony by Augustus; for its government, see below. Paul was happy in his Macedonian converts, to whom three of his extant epistles are addressed; their frankness and affection, with their freedom from conceit, made them fit for the Gospel.
Acts 16:13. It is Paul's custom to open his mission in a new place among the Jewish community. Philippi had not a large Jewish population the place of prayer was by the riverside, outside the town, perhaps in the open air, as in other cases; the persons Paul finds there are women only. The teaching is of an informal nature. Lydia (a Roman name; her name at Thyatira (Revelation 2:18 *), which is in the district called Lydia, would be different) is a Gentile devoted to the Jewish religion who has a house at Philippi; the industry in purple was carried on both at Thyatira and at Philippi and required capital. She becomes, instead of a sebomené (God-fearer, p. 625), a believer in the Lord, is baptized with all her house, and prevails on Paul and his party to stay with her. Many such women, affluent and devout, do we find in the second part of Ac. and in Paul's epistles (Acts 13:50 *, Romans 1:6, Php_4:2).