SEV Biblia, Chapter 14:11
Entonces la multitud, visto lo que Pablo había hecho, alzaron la voz, diciendo en lengua licanica: Dioses semejantes a hombres han descendido a nosotros.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Acts 14:11
Verse 11. Saying, in the speech of Lycaonia] What this language was has puzzled the learned not a little. Calmet thinks it was a corrupt Greek dialect; as Greek was the general language of Asia Minor. Mr. Paul Ernest Jablonski, who has written a dissertation expressly on the subject, thinks it was the same language with that of the Cappadocians, which was mingled with Syriac. That it was no dialect of the Greek must be evident from the circumstance of its being here distinguished from it. We have sufficient proofs from ancient authors that most of these provinces used different languages; and it is correctly remarked, by Dr. Lightfoot, that the Carians, who dwelt much nearer Greece than the Lycaonians, are called by Homer, barbarofwnoi, people of a barbarous or strange language; and Pausanias also called them Barbari. That the language of Pisidia was distinct from the Greek we have already seen, note on chap. xiii. 15. We have no light to determine this point; and every search after the language of Lycaonia must be, at this distance of time, fruitless. The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.] From this, and from all heathen antiquity, it is evident: 1. That the heathen did not consider the Divine nature, how low soever they rated it, to be like the human nature. 2. That they imagined that these celestial beings often assumed human forms to visit men, in order to punish the evil and reward the good. The Metamorphoses of Ovid are full of such visitations; and so are Homer, Virgil, and other poets. The angels visiting Abraham, Jacob, Lot, &c., might have been the foundation on which most of these heathen fictions were built.
The following passage in HOMER will cast some light upon the point: - kai te qeoi, xeinoisin eoikotev allodapoisi, pantoioi teleqontev, epistrwfwsi polhav, anqrwpwn ubrin te kai eunomihn eforwntev. Hom. Odyss. xvii. ver. 485.
For in similitude of strangers oft, The gods, who can with ease all shapes assume, Repair to populous cities, where they mark The outrageous and the righteous deeds of men. COWPER.
OVID had a similar notion, where he represents Jupiter coming down to visit the earth, which seems to be copied from Genesis, Gen. xviii. 20, 21: And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is grievous, I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me: and if not, I will know.
Contigerat nostras infamia temporis aures: Quam cupiens falsam, summo delabour Olympo.
Et deus humana lustro sub imagine terras.
Longa mora est, quantum noxae sit ubique repertum, Enamerare: minor fuit ipsa infamia vero. Metam. lib. i. ver. 211.
The clamours of this vile, degenerate age, The cries of orphans, and the oppressor's rage, Had reached the stars: "I will descend," said I, In hope to prove this loud complaint a lie.
Disguised in human shape, I traveled round The world, and more than what I heard, I found. DRYDEN.
It was a settled belief among the Egyptians, that their gods, sometimes in the likeness of men, and sometimes in that of animals which they held sacred, descended to the earth, and traveled through different provinces, to punish, reward, and protect. The Hindoo Avatars, or incarnations of their gods, prove how generally this opinion had prevailed. Their Poorana are full of accounts of the descent of Brahma, Vishnoo, Shiva, Naradu, and other gods, in human shape. We need not wonder to find it in Lycaonia.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 11. And when the people saw what Paul had done , etc.] In curing the lame man in so marvellous a manner, and concluding it to be a divine work, and what a mere creature could never perform: they lift up their voices ; not in indignation and wrath, but as persons astonished: saying in the speech of Lycaonia ; by which it should seem that Lystra was a city of Lycaonia, since the Lycaonian language was spoken in it; the Arabic version reads, in their own tongue; and the Syriac version, in the dialect of the country; very likely a dialect of the Greek tongue; the gods are come down to us in the likeness of men ; they had a notion of deity, though a very wrong one; they thought there were more gods than one, and they imagined heaven to be the habitation of the gods; and that they sometimes descended on earth in human shape, as they supposed they now did.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 8-18 - All things are possible to those that believe. When we have faith, tha most precious gift of God, we shall be delivered from the spiritual helplessness in which we were born, and from the dominion of sinfu habits since formed; we shall be made able to stand upright and wal cheerfully in the ways of the Lord. When Christ, the Son of God appeared in the likeness of men, and did many miracles, men were so fa from doing sacrifice to him, that they made him a sacrifice to their pride and malice; but Paul and Barnabas, upon their working on miracle, were treated as gods. The same power of the god of this world which closes the carnal mind against truth, makes errors and mistake find easy admission. We do not learn that they rent their clothes when the people spake of stoning them; but when they spake of worshippin them; they could not bear it, being more concerned for God's honou than their own. God's truth needs not the services of man's falsehood The servants of God might easily obtain undue honours if they woul wink at men's errors and vices; but they must dread and detest suc respect more than any reproach. When the apostles preached to the Jews who hated idolatry, they had only to preach the grace of God in Christ but when they had to do with the Gentiles, they must set right their mistakes in natural religion. Compare their conduct and declaratio with the false opinions of those who think the worship of a God, unde any name, or in any manner, is equally acceptable to the Lord Almighty The most powerful arguments, the most earnest and affectionat addresses, even with miracles, are scarcely enough to keep men from absurdities and abominations; much less can they, without specia grace, turn the hearts of sinners to God and to holiness.
Greek Textus Receptus
οι 3588 T-NPM δε 1161 CONJ οχλοι 3793 N-NPM ιδοντες 1492 5631 V-2AAP-NPM ο 3739 R-ASN εποιησεν 4160 5656 V-AAI-3S ο 3588 T-NSM παυλος 3972 N-NSM επηραν 1869 5656 V-AAI-3P την 3588 T-ASF φωνην 5456 N-ASF αυτων 846 P-GPM λυκαονιστι 3072 ADV λεγοντες 3004 5723 V-PAP-NPM οι 3588 T-NPM θεοι 2316 N-NPM ομοιωθεντες 3666 5685 V-APP-NPM ανθρωποις 444 N-DPM κατεβησαν 2597 5627 V-2AAI-3P προς 4314 PREP ημας 2248 P-1AP
Vincent's NT Word Studies
11. In the speech of Lycaonia. The apostles had been conversing with them in Greek. The fact that the people now spoke in their native tongue explains why Paul and Barnabas did not interfere until they saw the preparations for sacrifice. They did not understand what was being said by the people about their divine character. It was natural that the surprise of the Lystrans should express itself in their own language rather than in a foreign tongue.In the likeness of men (omoiwqentev anqrwpoiv). Lit., having become like to men. A remnant of the earlier pagan belief that the gods visited the earth in human form. Homer, for example, is full of such incidents. Thus, when Ulysses lands upon his native shore, Pallas meets him
"in the shape Of a young shepherd delicately formed, As are the sons of kings. A mantle lay Upon her shoulder in rich folds; her feet Shone in their sandals; in her hands she bore A javelin." Odyssey, xiii., 485 sq.
Again, one rebukes a suitor for maltreating Ulysses:
"Madman! what if he Came down from heaven and were a God! The gods Put on the form of strangers from afar, And walk our towns in many different shapes, To mark the good and evil deeds of men." Odyssey, xvii., 485 sq.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
14:11 {Lifted up their voice} (eperan ten fwnen autwn). First aorist active of epairw. In their excitement they elevated their voices. {In the speech of Lycaonia} (lukaonisti). Adverb from verb lukaonizw, to use the language of Lycaonia found here alone, but formed regularly like ebraisti (#Joh 5:2), hellenisti (#Ac 21:37), rwmaisti (#Joh 19:20). Paul was speaking in Greek, of course, but the excitement of the crowd over the miracle made them cry out in their native tongue which Paul and Barnabas did not understand. Hence it was not till preparations for offering sacrifice to them had begun that Paul understood the new role in which he and Barnabas were held. {In the likeness of men} (homoiwqentes anqrwpois). First aorist passive participle of homoiw, to liken, with the associative instrumental case. In this primitive state the people hold to the old Graeco-Roman mythology. The story of Baucis and Philemon tells how Jupiter (Zeus) and Mercury (hermes) visited in human form the neighboring region of Phrygia (Ovid, _Meta_. VIII. 626). Jupiter (Zeus) had a temple in Lystra.
