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Concerning the hold of these sorcerers upon the public, Tacitus, the great historian,
says, with scathing sarcasm, that they "will always be discarded and always cherished"
(Tac. Hist. 1: 22). Pliny tells us that at Paphos there were two schools of soothsayers, one
of which professed connection with Moses, Jannes and Jotapes, who were Jews, and
tauto recentior est Cypria, "a much more recent Cyprian one". We have already
mentioned that Pliny wrote of Sergius Paullus, and there is a possibility that in the words
quoted he refers to the school of Elymas the Sorcerer. However that may be, there is no
doubt that whether Elymas was officially connected with the Deputy, or whether he was
only a mere hanger-on, there would be a financial aspect of the association that would
cause him to view with jealousy, and oppose with ferocity, any new claimant for favour.
It is significant that Sergius Paullus called for Barnabas and Saul, not they for him. It
will be remembered also that it was the Gentiles who asked Paul to preach to them in
Acts 13: 42. Thus it will be seen that the time for direct evangelizing of the Gentile
irrespective of the Jew had not yet come.
The opposition of the sorcerer Bar-Jesus, and Paul's denunciation of him, is closely
parallel with the experience of Peter recorded in Acts 8: This is no accident. The
parallels that are discernible in the Acts between Peter and Paul would fill several pages
of this magazine, and would make a contribution to our understanding of their specific
ministries. For the moment we must be satisfied with observing a few points in
connection with the two sorcerers, Simon Magus, and Elymas.
Acts 8: 9-24.
Acts 13: 6-12.
PETER.
PAUL.
Consequent upon gospel in Samaria.
Consequent upon gospel in Cyprus.
SIMON the SORCERER.
ELYMAS the SORCERER.
Attack by imitation: "Thou art in the gall
Attack by perversion: "Thou child of the
of bitterness and the bond of iniquity."
devil and enemy of all righteousness."
Simon, a type of Israel with opportunity
Elymas, a foreshadowing of Israel in
still left for repentance: "Pray for me,
Acts 28:, stricken with blindness:
that none of these things come on me."
"Immediately there fell on him a mist
and a darkness."
At this point, the inspired writer tells us that Saul possessed a Gentile name, Paul. It
cannot be mere accident that the first convert in this new mission bore the same name as
the apostle himself, Paullus and Paul of course being identical. There are many examples
both in the Scriptures and in secular history of the possession of a double name. We
think of Abram, Joseph and Daniel. Esther was known to the Persians as Hadassah.
Hillel was known to the Greeks as Pollio. Peter was also called Cephas. Augustine in his
sermon says:
"Paul suffers what Saul had inflicted; Saul stoned, and Paul was stoned; Saul
inflicted scourgings on Christians, and Paul five times received forty stripes save one;
Saul hunted the church, Paul was let down in a basket; Saul bound, Paul was bound."
It was, and still is, the custom, for a Jew to have a Hebrew and a Gentile name. In our
own Whitechapel it would be easy to find someone known familiarly in the street as Bill