THE APOSTLE OF THE RECONCILIATION 17

understanding from above'. We have suggested that Paul left Corinth August, A.D. 53, so if we deduct the `certain

days' of verse 18, we can say that the Gallio incident was about midsummer of that year.

Claudius had appointed Marcus Annaeus Novatus to be proconsul of Achaia, this man having been adopted by

the rhetorician Lucius Junius Annaeus Gallio, by which name he was known. Gallio's brother was the famous Stoic,

Seneca. Now Seneca had been banished, but had been recalled in A.D. 49, and in A.D. 53 he was at the height of

his popularity. Gallio was not in Achaia in A.D. 54 (Dion. ix. 35); hence A.D. 53 is the latest date in which Paul

could have been brought before him, and 18 months before this would bring us to the year 52.

Upon leaving Corinth, Paul sailed to Syria, intending to arrive at Jerusalem for the feast (18:21) which would be

Tabernacles, Sept. 16th, A.D. 53. After the visit to Jerusalem alluded to in verse 22, the apostle went down to

Antioch and from thence `he went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order'. This would bring us to the

spring of A.D. 54. Paul now passed to Ephesus (19:1) and remained there for the space of three years (Acts 20:31).

As he had promised to return after the feast, he doubtless arrived at Ephesus in the spring of A.D. 54. It will be seen

that a whole series of events revolves around this approximate date, and helps us to feel that we are not very far from

the truth. Another incidental note is introduced by the reference of Paul to Aretas.

In 2 Corinthians 11:32 the apostle says of his humiliating departure from Damascus:

`In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to

apprehend me'.

This Aretas was the fourth of his dynasty, and reigned roughly from B.C. 9 to A.D. 40. Inscriptions are extant

which speak of his 48th year, and he died somewhere between the death of Tiberius and the middle of the reign of

Claudius, for his successor is found engaged in war in A.D. 48. Damascus was under Roman administration A.D.

33, 34 and A.D. 62, 63, for coins of Tiberius and Nero give no evidence of a local prince at the time. This narrows

the period to somewhere after A.D. 34.

Gaius who succeeded Tiberius at this time was noted for the way in which he sought to encourage local

princelings; and it is very probable that Damascus was assigned by him to Aretas. We are at any rate shut up to

A.D. 34-40, and as other calculations bring us down to A.D. 37, it appears that such dates can well be accepted.

Agabus, a prophet of Jerusalem, foretold a famine which came to pass in the reign of Claudius Caesar. Upon

this being made known, and before the famine had actually commenced, the believers at Antioch determined to send

relief to Judaea by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

Now Josephus tells us that the famine began in the year of Herod's death, for it took place during the government

of Cuspius Fadus and Tiberius Alexander (Ant. xx. 5, 2). Cuspius Fadus was appointed in the latter half of A.D. 44,

and was succeeded by Tiberius Alexander in A.D. 46. As Tiberius Alexander was in turn succeeded by Cumanus in

A.D. 50, we have a period of six years in which the famine could develop and disappear.

Premonitions of the coming dearth are evident in the care which the people of Tyre and Sidon betray to

conciliate Herod. They desired peace, says Acts 12:20, `because their country was nourished by the king's (Herod's)

country'.  This supplies a fairly approximate date for the journey of Barnabas and Saul to Jerusalem as

A.D. 44.

We have now ascertained the dating of the Acts so far as its main outlines are concerned, namely A.D. 29, 44,

60, 64. We have also found indications of the probable dates of the famine predicted by Agabus, and the apostle's

first arrival at Corinth. We will now endeavour to place the missionary journeys that were undertaken by the

Acts 13,14 - This journey has been located somewhere between A.D. 44-48. C.H. Turner, in Hastings'

Dictionary of the Bible, considers that eighteen months are required for this journey. Professor Ramsay estimates