TMay 15 - The first cities Paul visited on the Anatolian plateau were Antioch and Iconium. One of the objectives of this mission was to tell the Jewish community that the Messiah, the hope of Israel, had come. Paul and Barnabas therefore visited the synagogues in each city, where they got a hearing after the reading of the Law and Prophets on Shabbat. But it was immediately clear that the Jews did not accept the Good News, and so they turned to the God-fearing Gentiles. They responded enthusiastically, and on their trip home Paul and Barnabas organized the believers into little home-churches and appointed elders.
Iconium is now called Konya, a city of about one million people. It is the center of the Mevlevi Order, the sect of the whirling dervishes. Antioch, on the other hand, is a heap of ruins. The pictures below are from Antioch near modern Yalvac, Turkey.
I was surprised at the size of Antioch. In Paul's day, it must have had 50,000 or 60,000 inhabitants. The amphitheater itself held 15,000 spectators. The city is built on a gentle hill which faces the south. There is a high, snow-covered mountain to the southwest. It had two main streets which still have the original paving stones. At the top of the city, overlooking everything, was a Roman temple. The main square was just below it, and the temple was accessed by 12 steps. One of the early excavators believed the synagogue Paul preached in lay at the bottom of this square. There are remains of a Catholic Church at that location, and they found several Jewish artifacts there. The amphitheater was cut into the natural hillside just below the synagogue. Antioch had a large Jewish population and the Romans had encouraged soldiers to settle there as well.
Acts 13:14 "But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it................ And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed."
The aquaduct leading to the city
