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caused an incident which is of extreme importance in its bearing upon the dispensational
position of the Acts of the Apostles. Awakened by the heat, a viper fastened on Paul's
hand. We may well regard this as a malignant attack of the Evil One upon the servant of
the Lord, but there is another angle from which it must be considered. That the bite of a
viper was fatal was testified by the remarks and attitude of the inhabitants:
"They said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he
hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live . . . . . they looked when he
should have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly" (Acts 28: 4-6).
The word "vengeance" is dike, the equivalent of the Latin "justitia", an abstract
personification, like "nemesis". The words "swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly",
give a clear indication of the normal consequences of an attack such as Paul had
sustained, and in his escape we have therefore a miracle of the highest rank, and that
wrought at the close of the period covered by the Acts of the Apostles. Observe also the
effect of a miracle upon a people untaught by Scripture. At first they assumed that Paul
must be a murderer, but, on observing his exemption from the normal consequences of
his wound, they changed their mind and concluded that he must be a god. Similarly,
when a miracle was wrought in the presence of other untaught heathen, we find them
saying, "The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men" (Acts 28: 11).
From this we learn the important lesson that although miracles, when performed
before a people enlightened by the Scriptures, constituted a confirmation of truth and
evidence that was calculated to bring about repentance and faith (Matt. 11: 1-6, 20;
Heb. 2: 3, 4), their performance in the presence of untaught people might but deepen
their idolatry and superstition.
At the end of Mark's Gospel we read these words:--
"These signs shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out devils;
they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any
deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall
recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven,
and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere,
the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen"
(Mark 16: 17-20).
The fact that a viper, of all noxious creatures, should figure in these closing miracles
of the Acts is of itself suggestive. Gen. 3: introduces the Serpent, with his enmity, and
Rev. 20: sees his doom. When Moses received the call to leadership, he was given
power over a serpent. Thus, also, at the close of the kingdom testimony, Paul picks up
the creature which is the symbol of Satan and throws it into the fire, himself remaining
unhurt. The "falling down suddenly" which the islanders expected is a symptom of snake
bite confirmed by the ancient writer Lucian, and Shakespeare, with his embracive
knowledge, says of Charmian, in Antony and Cleopatra, "Trembling she stood, and on
the sudden dropped" (Ant. and Cleop. 5: 2).