The Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early church, by Luke the physician - Acts 16:6-15 comments: Lydia offers her home to Paul and Timothy

 

Acts 16:6 ¶  Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, 7  After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not. 8  And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. 9  And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. 10  And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. 11  Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; 12  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. 14  And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. 15  And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye havejudged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.

 

The Holy Spirit guides Paul and company not to proceed any further into the province of Asia, our Asia Minor and Turkey today. They got as far as central Turkey today, Galatia, but were forbidden to go northward into Bithynia. They passed by Mysia and entered Troas, the far western part of the Asian mainland. So, they went east, tried to go north, were stopped, and turned back westward.

What does it mean that the Spirit suffered them not? Perhaps they all, through prayer, had the same sense that they were not to go further. Many of us Christians, though, have had experiences where we intended to do something, good or bad, and were prevented by a force that could only be accounted for by the Holy Spirit.

It is here that a vision appeared to Paul of a man from Macedonia pleading with him to come to preach the gospel to them in Macedonia, a Roman province that included Alexander the Great’s old kingdom of Macedonia and neighboring regions. It is not the same area as the country of Macedonia today exactly.

Here we have mentioned a great woman of God named Lydia, a businessperson who engaged in the selling of purple. Clothing colored that way was so expensive that it came to signify royalty. The Roman soldiers put a purple robe on Jesus to mock Him as the king of the Jews.

Mark 15:17  And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, 18  And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! 19  And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. 20  And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.

The wealthy man in the story of Lazarus and the rich man wore purple.

Luke 16:19 ¶  There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

Purple was worn by Roman magistrates and it became the imperial color worn by the rulers of the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, and later by Roman Catholic bishops. Also, in Japan, the color is traditionally associated with the Emperor and the nobility.

Purple was made from a sea snail, traditionally by the seafarers of Tyre. It was known as Tyrian Purple in that context. The process of killing thousands of sea snails and making the dye was long and expensive, requiring a great deal of precision to get it right.

Lydia, as a purveyor of a luxury item, a businesswoman, was probably fairly successful and offered her home as place for Paul and company to stay after she became a Christian. Lydia came from a Greek city in Asia called Thyatira. It doesn’t say she was a Jew so she may have been a convert to Judaism. It is interesting to note that scholars believe that the name of the city is from an old language called Lydian spoken in the ancient kingdom of Lydia and thereabouts. Lydia was probably a fairly common girl’s name in Thyatira, I am thinking. But, we are in Macedonia now in the European mainland north of Greece.