Acts 16:16 - Exposition

Were going to the place of prayer for went to prayer, A.V. and T.R.; that a certain maid for a certain damsel, A.V.; having for possessed with, A.V. The place of prayer . The ἡ προσευχή of the R.T. undoubtedly means "the place of prayer," the proseuchē. They went there, doubtless, every sabbath. What follows happened on one occasion after Lydia's baptism. A spirit of divination ( πνεῦμα πύθωνος , A.V.; πύθωνα , R.T.). " πύθων denotat quemlibet ex quo πύθωσθαι datur ," "any one of whom inquiry may be made" (Bengel). It was a name of Apollo in his character of a giver of oracles. Delphi itself, where his chief oracle was, was sometimes called Pytho (Schleusner, s.v. ) , and Pythius was a common epithet of Apollo. The name Python came thence to be applied to a ventriloquist (Hebrew בוֹ ) ), or to the spirit that was conceived to dwell in ventriloquists and to speak by them, just as in Hebrew the ventriloquist was sometimes called בוֹא לעַבְ (or תלַעֻבַ if a woman), the owner of a spirit of divination, or simply בוֹ ) , a diviner (see 1 Samuel 28:7 (twice) for the first use, and Le 1 Samuel 20:27 ; Deuteronomy 18:11 ; 1 Samuel 28:3 ; for the second). In some passages, as 1 Kings 28:6 and Isaiah 29:4 , it is doubtful whether בוֹ ) means the ventriloquist or the spirit. The feminine plural תוֹבוֹ ) (Le 19:31; Isaiah 20:6 ; 1 Samuel 28:3 , 1 Samuel 28:9 ; Isaiah 8:19 ) seems always to denote the women, who, like the damsel in the text, practiced the art of ventriloquistic necromancy, whether really possessed by a spirit or feigning to be so. The word πύθων is only found here in the New Testament. The LXX . usually render תוֹבוֹ ) by ἐγγαστρίμυθος . Gain ( ἐργασία ) , literally, work, craft, or trade; then, by metonymy, the gain proceeding from such trade ( Acts 19:24 , Acts 19:25 ). By soothsaying ( μαντευομένη ). So one name of these ventriloquists was ἐγγαστρίμαντις .