35:2  The priests, during the reign of Manasseh, would not have been much used or encouraged by the king. They had fallen away from their dedication – again. Josiah ‘encouraged’ them – he did not reprove them. They needed faithful leadership. This they got and so it was a time for spiritual development – not recrimination.

Josiah was a great encourager, as already noted. In this he was taking after Hezekiah 2Chron 30:22  Hezekiah had also kept a great Passover, but this one was even greater, & we notice the much larger quantity of animals sacrificed, which perhaps implies that many more people were present. v 7-9 cp 2Chron 30:24  We also note v 18 where it is said that there was no equal to this Passover back to Samuel's day, before the Temple was built, but Samuel's day was when the 1st king, Saul, was anointed.

35:8 In saying that the princes ‘gave willingly’ we learn that not only was Josiah faithful but at this time his princes were also. Implementing the principle that Paul outlines in 2Cor 9:7

35:2 Both Hezekiah – 2Chron 30:1 - and Josiah each kept the passover. But of Josiah it is said – 22Chron 35:18  – there was no passover kept like the one in Josiah’s reign seemingly suggesting that Hezekiah’s passover was in some way inferior. There is one significant difference between the two. Whilst Hezekiah, for good reason, kept the passover in the second month Josiah kept the passover in the first month. This might explain the comment about Josiah’s passover.

35:15 The mention of Asaph along with David reminds us of the collective work of these men in putting the worship of God to music in the days of David. 1Chron 25:1

35:18 This passover ordained and kept by Josiah is only the second passover that is recorded in the days of the kings of Judah!

2Chron 35:18;2Kin 23:25 - it seems the Passover of Josiah was superior in that he observed the Law of Moses more strictly than Hezekiah. In this sense perhaps Josiah was greater than Hezekiah.

2Chron 30:18;2Kin 18:5 - Hezekiah perhaps saw beyond the letter of the law and was perhaps more involved with the spirit of the law. In this sense perhaps Hezekiah was greater than Josiah.

3:4  Whilst the previous verse presents a very bleak picture this verse presents a wonderful hope – even for rebellious Israel who are about to go into captivity. This is a measure of the love and mercy of their God.

3:1 ‘… beloved of her friends …’ is exactly how things are when we are serving sin. The world loves its own and hates those who are different. John 3:20

3:1 The behaviour of Hosea’s wife clearly is a proverb of Israel’s behaviour as Hosea actually speaks of Israel’s idolatry.

3:4 The testimony that Israel would abide without a prince and sacrifice may look forward to the Assyrian captivity for the northern kingdom and Babylonian captivity for Judah however it was not completely fulfilled then because they did have prophets. The passage had its complete fulfilment when the Romans destroyed the temple in AD 70.

18:8 Crispus and 18:17 Sosthenes were both chief rulers of the synagogue at Corinth. Sosthenes may well have followed on from Crispus. We know that both of them were baptised 1 Corinthians 1:14 1:1, so effective was the preaching at Corinth that two of the chief rulers of the Jewish synagogue believed the gospel.

19:3 John Baptist's message went further than just the borders of the land of Israel. This is the second time that reference is made to someone who has been influenced by John the Baptists teaching. The previous occasion is Acts 18:25 which speaks of Apollos.

18:5 And now Silas and Timothy rejoin Paul

19:1 The information that Apollos was still at Corinth again helps us to develop a picture of who was where when.

18:9 Having said that he would go to the gentiles Paul may well have felt that there was little to be gained by staying in Corinth - the vision would correct such a view if present and spur Paul for the work.

19:27 The observation of the 'town clerk' is most interesting. On hearing the accusation of the silversmiths he can see that the brethren are not in the least subversive or offensive in their message - even though they were very effective in gaining converts. Surely a lesson for us who might be tempted to personalise our preaching and condemn certain individuals in other communities.

18:6 This is not the first time that Paul has said that he will go to the gentiles. See also  13:46 . We see the same message again later in 22:21, 26:17, 28:28.  On each occasion Paul first presents the message to the Jews and only when they reject it does he then take the message to the gentiles.

19:8 Yesterday we saw how that Paul took the message to the gentiles when the Jews rejected it. However here we see that such a decision was not taken hastily. In Ephesus Paul spent 3 months disputing with the Jews before going to the gentiles and then it was only because 'divers were hardened' (:9)

19:19 The value of the sorcery scrolls which were burned is stated at fifty thousand drachmas.  The Greek drachma was a silver coin having the same value as the Roman denarius, also a silver coin that had the image of Caesar stamped on one side (Luke 20:24). 

 One denarius was the daily wage given to laborers and Roman soldiers (Matt 20:2).  Thus, the precious ointment which was used to anoint the Lord Jesus was worth about one year's wages (John 12:5).  And so, by the same calculation, the sorcerers scrolls were worth about 140 year's wages.

18:13-16The way in which Gallio dealt with the Jews opposition to Paul highlights that the Roman authorities did not see the Christian gospel as a threat. This is similar to Pilate ‘I find no fault in him’ John 19:4 – though Gallio dealt with the matter more appropriately.

19:13The word translated ‘vagabond’ is the same word as the word translated ‘wandering’ in 1Tim 5:13 which indicates that those who opposed Paul here traveled around following him and the other apostles trying to thwart the effects of their preaching.

19:34  In Ephesus the people shouted ‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians’ in defence of their God weho could say nothing to defend herself. When writing to Timothy, who was at Ephesus, Paul contrasted the cry of the multitude with the words "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." (1Tim 3:16) Diana was of man’s making. Jesus by contrast was glorified by God.

18:11 So Paul stayed in Corinth for 18 months. We should not think that we can preach the gospel and then quickly move on. Preaching is a long term activity wherever it is conducted. Once there are baptisms there is a need to consolidate that which has started.

18:19 From this little comment we learnt that Aquila and Priscilla spent some time in Ephesus which probably explains why Paul sent greetings to them – 2Tim 4:19 –indicating that they remained in Ephesus for some considerable time.

19:17-19 We have to infer that those who burnt their books had accepted the gospel and were baptized. There was, therefore, a tremendous change in their way of life. Doubtless also there was a significant drop in their income.