A city of Macedonia, the first of the district, a Roman colony for the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony, A.V.: this for that, A.V.; tarrying for abiding, A.V. A city of Macedonia, etc.
This is a difficult sentence. The natural way of construing the words undoubtedly is, as in the A.V., "which is the chief city of the [or, ' that'] district of Macedonia, and a colony." The only difficulty in the way of so taking it is that when AEmilius Paulus, as related by Livy (xlv.
29), divided the conquered kingdom of Macedonia into four districts (regiones or partes), Amphi-pelts was made the capital of the district.in which Philippi was situated. But the epithet πρώτη does not necessarily mean the capital; it is found on coins applied to cities which were not capitals.
Besides, in the interval of above two hundred years between AEmilius Paulus and St. Paul, it is very probable that the city of Philippi, with its gold-mines and its privileges as a colony, may have really become the capital.
And so Lewin, following Wetstein, understands it. We know that in the reign of Theodosius the Younger, when Macedonia was divided into two provinces, Philippi became the ecclesiastical head of Macedonia Prima.
It had been made a colony by Augustus Caesar, with the name "Col. Jul. Aug. Philip.," i.e. Colonia Augusta Julia Philippensis ('Dict. of Greek and Roman Geog.'). It must, therefore, anyhow have been a place of first-rate importance at this time.
Those, however, who do not accept this explanation, couple κολωνία with πόλις, "which is the first colony-city," etc, Others take πρώτη in a local sense, "the first city you come to in Macedonia" (Conybeare and Howson, Alford, Bengel, etc.
). The R.V. seems to take ἥτις ἐστὶ … ΄ακεδονίας πόλις together, and πρώτη τῆς μερίδος as a further description of it—a most awkward construction. Alford renders it, "which is the first Macedonian city of the district.'
But the natural way of construing a passage is almost always the best, and nothing prevents us from believing that St. Luke, who knew Philippi intimately, was strictly accurate in calling it "the chief city of the district of Macedonia," i.
e. the district in which it was situated. That μέρις is the technical name of the division of a province appears from the title μεριδάρχης, applied by Josephus to a certain Apollonius, governor, under Antiochus Epiphanes, of the district in which Samaria was included ('Ant.
Jud.,' 12. Luke 5:5). The ancient name of Philippi was Dates first, then Krenides—the springs, or wells; and the word used by Livy of the districts of Macedonia, pars prima, secunda, etc., is an exact translation of μέρις It received the name of Philippi, from Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, who extracted a great revenue from its gold-mines.
Its great historical celebrity arises from the battle in the plain of Philippi, in which the republican party, under Brutus and Cassius, received its death-blow from Octavius and Antony. (For a full description of Philippi, and of the privileges of a colony, see Conybeare and Howson, vol.
1.311, etc., and Lewin, vol. 1. Acts 11:1-30.) This. Alford, following certain manuscripts, reads αὐτῇ, "in the city itself," as distinguished from the place outside the city, where the προσευχή was.
But, perhaps, St. Luke uses the word "this" from Philippi being the place of his own residence, and where he may have drawn up the narrative on the spot.