And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.
13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
Ver. 13. And on the sabbath] A day that God had sanctified to be a means to convey sanctity into the hearts of his hidden ones, as here of Lydia the purpurisse, a Ezekiel 20:12. It is his exchequer day, his market day.
Where prayer was wont to be made] Or where was a public oratory. So the synagogues are called by Philo in his embassy to Gaius the emperor, minus invidioso nomine.
Unto the women which resorted] St Paul (it may seem) at first had no other hearers but a few women at Philippi. But afterwards they became a flourishing Church. Nec minor ab exordio, nec maior incrementis ulla, saith Eutropius concerning Rome; so may we say concerning the Church of Christ.
a A kind of red or purple colouring matter, used by the ancients. ŒD