Difference between revisions of "Agabus"

<p> (Ἄγαβος, a word of uncertain derivation) </p> <p> The bearer of this name is mentioned on two separate occasions in the Acts (&nbsp;Acts 11:27-30; &nbsp;Acts 21:10-11) and also by [[Eusebius]] ( <i> HE </i> [Note: E Historia Ecclesiastica (Eusebius, etc.).]ii. 3). He is described as a prophet who resided in Jerusalem, and we find him in a.d. 44 at Antioch, where he predicted that a great famine ( <i> q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] </i> ) would take place ‘over all the world,’ <i> i.e. </i> over all the Roman Empire. The immediate effect of this prediction was to call forth the liberality of the [[Christians]] of [[Antioch]] and lead them to send help to the poor brethren of [[Judaea]] (&nbsp;Acts 11:29). The writer of the Acts tells ns that this famine took place in the reign of Claudius. Roman historians speak of widespread and repeated famines in this reign (Sueton. <i> [[Claudius]] </i> , xviii.; Dion Cass. lx.; Tac. <i> Ann </i> . xii. 43), and [[Josephus]] testifies to the severity of the famine in [[Palestine]] and refers to measures adopted for its relief ( <i> Ant </i> . iii. xv. 3, xx. ii. 5, v. 2). Though Syria and the East may have suffered most on this occasion, the whole [[Empire]] could not fail to be more or less affected, and it is hypercritical to accuse the author of the Acts of ‘unhistorical generalization’ for speaking of a famine ‘over all the world,’ as is done by Schürer ( <i> GJV </i> [Note: JV Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes (Schürer).]4 i. [1901] 543, 567; cf. Ramsay, <i> St. Paul </i> , 1895, p. 48f., and <i> Was Christ born at [[Bethlehem]] </i> ?, 1898, p. 251f.). </p> <p> Again in a.d. 59 we hear of [[Agabus]] at Caesarea, where he met St. Paul on his return from his third missionary journey. Taking the Apostle’s girdle, he bound his own hands and feet, and in the symbolic manner of the ancient [[Hebrew]] prophets predicted that so the [[Jews]] would bind the owner of the girdle and hand him over to the [[Gentiles]] (&nbsp;Acts 21:10-11). The prophecy failed to move St. Paul from his resolve. There is no means of ascertaining whether Agabus was a prophet in the higher NT sense-a preacher or <i> forth-teller </i> of the Word; or whether he was merely a successful soothsayer. It is difficult to see what good end could be served by the second of his recorded predictions. Tradition makes him one of the ‘seventy’ and a martyr at Antioch. </p> <p> [[W. F]]  Boyd. </p>

<p> <strong> AGABUS </strong> . A Christian prophet of Jerusalem (&nbsp; Acts 11:27 ff; &nbsp; Acts 21:10 f.), whose prediction of a famine over the (civilized) world occasioned the sending of alms from Antioch to Jerusalem. The famine happened, not simultaneously in all countries, in Claudius’ reign (Suetonius, Tacitus). Agabus also foretold St. Paul’s imprisonment, by binding his feet and hands with the Apostle’s girdle (cf. &nbsp; Jeremiah 13:1 ff.). </p> <p> [[A. J]]  Maclean. </p>

<p> "A prophet" of the early church, perhaps one of "the seventy" disciples of Christ. He foretold the famine, of which Suetonious and others speak, in the days of Claudius, [[A. D]]  44. It was very severe in Judea; and aid was sent to the church at Jerusalem from Antioch, &nbsp;Acts 11:27 . Many years after, Agabus predicted the sufferings of Paul at the hands of the Jews, &nbsp;Acts 21:10 . </p>

<p> ''''' ag´a ''''' - ''''' bus ''''' ( Ἂγαβος , <i> ''''' Ágabos ''''' </i> ): [[A C]]  hristian prophet of Jerusalem, twice mentioned in Acts. (1) In &nbsp;Acts 11:27 , we find him at Antioch foretelling "a great famine over all the world," "which," adds the historian, "came to pass in the days of Claudius." This visit of Agabus to Antioch took place in the winter of 43-44 ad, and was the means of urging the [[Antiochian]] Christians to send relief to the brethren in Judea by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. Two points should be noted. (a) The gift of prophet's here takes the form of prediction. The prophet's chief function was to reveal moral and spiritual truth, to "forth-tell" rather than to "foretell"; but the interpretation of God's message sometimes took the form of predicting events. (b) The phrase "over all the world" (practically synonymous with the Roman Empire) must be regarded as a rhetorical exaggeration if strictly interpreted as pointing to a general and simultaneous famine. But there is ample evidence of severe periodical famines in various localities in the reign of Claudius (e.g. [[Suet]] <i> Claud </i> . 18; Tac. <i> Ann </i> . xii.43), and of a great dearth in Judea under the procurators Cuspius Fadus and Tiberius Alexander, 44-48 ad ( <i> Ant. </i> , XX, ii, 6; v, 2), which probably reached its climax circa 46 ad. (2) In &nbsp;Acts 21:10 we find Agabus at Caesarea warning Paul, by a vivid symbolic action (after the manner of Old Testament prophets; compare &nbsp; Jeremiah 13:1; Ezek 3; 4) of the imprisonment and suffering he would undergo if he proceeded to Jerusalem. (3) In late tradition Agabus is included in lists of the seventy disciples of Christ. </p>