Lydia

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Acts 16:13-15. Paul's first European convert. A Jewish proselyte ("which worshipped God".) In attending the means of grace at Philippi, Lydia received the blessing. Many women, and among them Lydia, resorted to the place by the river Gangites or Gaggitas "where prayer was wont to be made"; possibly a proseuchee was there, "the meeting place of Jewish congregations in Greek cities" (Winer), or "a place of prayer as opposed to a synagogue or house of prayer" (Conybeare and Howson, Life of Paul). For quietness and freedom from interruption it was "outside of the gate" (so the Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and Alexandrinus manuscripts read instead of "out of the city"), and "by the river side" for the sake of the ablutions connected with the worship. The seashore was esteemed by the Jews a place most pure, and therefore suited for prayer; at their great fast they used to leave their synagogues and pray on every shore in Tertullian's (de Jejun. 16) time; see also Josephus Ant. 14:10, section 23.

Luke describes here with the vividness of an eye witness, Women, as in many of our own congregations, formed the greater part of the worshippers; their employment as dyers brought them together in that vicinity. Lydia belonged to Thyatira in Asia Minor, where inscriptions relating to a "guild of dyers" there confirm Luke's accuracy. Paul arrived early in the week, for "certain days" elapsed before the sabbath. Paul, Silas, and Luke "sat down" (the usual attitude of teachers) to speak to the assembled women. Lydia was one of the listeners (eekouen ), and "the Lord opened her heart (compare Luke 24:45; Psalms 119:18; Psalms 119:130) that she attended unto the things spoken of Paul" (Luke modestly omits notice of his own preaching). The Greek (elaloumen ) implies conversational speaking rather than set preaching. Her modesty and simplicity beautifully come out in the narrative. She heartily yields to her convictions and is forthwith baptized, the waters of Europe then first being sacramentally used to seal her faith and God's forgiveness in Christ.

She leads her "household" to believe in, and be baptized as disciples of, the same Saviour. This is the first example of that family religion to which Paul often refers in his epistles (1 Corinthians 1:11; 1 Corinthians 1:16; 1 Corinthians 16:15; Romans 16:5; Philemon 1:2). First came her faith, then her leading all around her to Christ, then her and their baptismal confession, then her love evidenced in pressing hospitality (Hebrews 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9; 1 Timothy 5:10), finally her receiving into her house Paul and Silas after their discharge from prison; she was not "ashamed of the Lord's prisoners, but was partaker of the afflictions of the gospel." Through Lydia also the gospel probably came into Thyatira, where Paul had been forbidden to preach it at the earlier time, for God has His times for everything (Acts 16:6; Revelation 2:18). Thyatira being a Macedonian colony had much contact with Philippi, the parent city. Lydia may have been also one of "those women who laboured with Paul in the gospel" at Philippi (Philippians 4:3).

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

The woman who bears this name in Acts 16:14 ff. is described as ‘a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshipped God.’ The implication is that Lydia was more or less closely attached to the Jewish religion-a ‘proselyte of the gate,’ in later Rabbinic phraseology. We are told that she was found by St. Paul on his visit to Philippi at a small Jewish meeting for prayer held at the river-side on the Sabbath day. On bearing the message of the Apostle, she was converted and baptized along with the members of her household, and thereupon entreated the missionary to lodge in her house during his stay in the town. As a seller of purple garments-among the most expensive articles of ancient commerce-Lydia was no doubt a woman of considerable wealth. Probably she was a widow carrying on the business of her dead husband, and her position at the head of a wealthy establishment shows the comparative freedom enjoyed by women bosh in Asia Minor and in Macedonia. Her generous disposition, manifested in her pressing offer of hospitality to the Apostle, may perhaps be reflected in the frequency and liberality with which the Philippian Church contributed to the Apostle’s wants (Philippians 4:15-16). She holds the distinction of being the first convert to Christianity in Europe, and her household formed the nucleus of the Church of Philippi, to which St. Paul addressed the most affectionate and joyous of all his Epistles.

The fact that the Apostle Paul does not mention her by name in the Epistle has given rise to two different suggestions. Some have thought that shortly after her conversion Lydia may have either died or returned to her home in Thyatira (as Milligan in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) , article‘Lydia’). Others have put forward the idea that Lydia was not the personal name of the convert, but a description of her nationality as a native of Thyatira in the province of Lydia-‘the Lydian’; and further, that the Apostle may refer to her either as Euodia or Syntactic (Philippians 4:2). Renan takes this latter view of the name, and suggests also that Lydia became the wife of the Apostle and bore the expenses of his trial in Philippi ( St. Paul , p. 148). Ramsay ( Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) , article‘Lydia’) regards the name as a familiar name (nickname), used instead of the personal proper name and meaning ‘the Lydian’ (so Zahn, Introd. to NT , Eng. translation, 1909, i. 533). Others, however, point to the frequency with which the name is found applied to women in Horace ( Od. i. 8, iii. 9, iv. 30), and regard it as a proper name.

Literature.-E. Renan, St. Paul , 1869, p. 149; Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) , article‘Lydia’; R.J. Knowling, Expositor’s Greek Testament , ‘Acts.’ 1900, p. 345; Commentaries of Holtzmann and Zeller in loc.

W. F. Boyd.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Lyd'ia. (land of Lydus).

1. A maritime province, in the west of Asia Minor, bounded by Mysia on the north, Phrygia on the east, and Caria on the south. It is enumerated among the districts which the Romans took away from Antiochos the Great after the battle of Magnesia in B.C. 190, and transferred to Eumenus II, king of Pergamus. Lydia is included in the "Asia" of the New Testament.

2. The first European convert of St. Paul, and afterward, his hostess during his first stay at Philippi. Acts 18:14-15, also Acts 18:40. (A.D. 47). She was a Jewish proselyte at the time of the apostle's coming; and it was at the Jewish Sabbath-worship by the side of a stream, Acts 18:13, that the preaching of the gospel reached her heart.

Her native place was Thyatira, in the province of Asia. Acts 18:14; Revelation 2:18. Thyatira was famous for its dyeing works; and Lydia was connected with this trade, as a seller either of dye or of dyed goods. We infer that she was a person of considerable wealth.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

LYDIA. A seller of purple-dyed garments at Philippi, probably a widow and a ‘proselyte of the gate’ (see art. Nicolas), whom St. Paul converted on his first visit to that city, together with her household, and with whom he and his companions lodged ( Acts 16:14 f., Acts 16:40 ). She was of Thyatira in the district of Lydia, the W. central portion of the province Asia, a district famed for its purple dyes; but was doubtless staying at Philippi for the purpose of her trade. She was apparently prosperous, dealing as she did in very fine wares. It has been held that Lydia is the proper name of this woman; but it seems more likely that it merely means ‘the Lydian,’ and that it was the designation by which she was ordinarily known at Philippi. She is not mentioned (at least, by that name) in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians, and unless we identify her with Euodia or Syntyche, she had probably left the city when the Apostle wrote; for a conjecture of Renan’s, see art. Synzygus. The incident in Acts 16:1-40 is one example out of many of the comparatively Independent position of women in Asia Minor and Macedonia.

A. J. Maclean.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

A woman of Thyatira, a "seller of purple," who dwelt in Philippi (Acts 16:14,15 ). She was not a Jewess but a proselyte. The Lord opened her heart as she heard the gospel from the lips of Paul (16:13). She thus became the first in Europe who embraced Christianity. She was a person apparently of considerable wealth, for she could afford to give a home to Paul and his companions. (See Thyatira .)

Copyright StatementThese dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography InformationEaston, Matthew George. Entry for 'Lydia'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/l/lydia.html. 1897.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Lydia (lyd'i-ah). 1. A Jewish proselyte from the city of Thyatira, in Lydia, engaged in the purple trade, possessed of wealth, and temporarily residing at Philippi, where she heard Paul preach. Acts 16:14. She accepted the gospel, was baptized together with her household, and Paul stayed at her house. 2. Ezekiel 30:5, E. V. "Lud," where it probably refers to a people or place in Africa. It was also a coast region of Asia Minor, and formed in olden times the centre of a great empire under Crœsus; afterward it belonged successively to Syria, Pergamus, and the Romans. Its principal cities were Sardis, Thyatira, and Philadelphia. It is mentioned in 1 Maccabees 8:8 among the provinces which the Romans transferred from Syria to Pergamus.

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

a woman of Thyatira, a seller of purple, who dwelt in the city of Philippi, in Macedonia. She was converted to the faith by St. Paul, and both she and her family were baptized. She offered her house to the Apostle, and pressed him to abide there so earnestly, that he yielded to her entreaties. She was not a Jewess by birth, but a proselyte, Acts 16:14-15; Acts 16:40 .

2. LYDIA, an ancient celebrated kingdom of Asia Minor, which, in the time of the Apostles, was reduced to a Roman province. Sardis was the capital.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A woman of Thyatira, residing at Philippi in Macedonia, and dealing in purple cloths. She was not a Jewess by birth, but had become a proselyte to Judaism and "worshipped God." She was led by the grace of God to receive the gospel with joy; and having been baptized, with her household, constrained Paul and his fellow-laborers to make her house their home while at Philippi, Acts 16:14,40 . See Philippi .

Holman Bible Dictionary

Ezekiel 27:10Ezekiel 30:52Acts 16:14Acts 16:12-1516:50

Mike Mitchell

Morrish Bible Dictionary

A disciple of Thyatira — a place noted for its dyes — a seller of purple, residing at Philippi, whose heart the Lord opened, and who became, as far as is known, the first convert in Europe. She received Paul, Silas, and Luke into her house. Acts 16:14,40 .

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

A woman of Thyatira, for whose conversion Paul was called by a vision to preach at Philippi. (See Acts 16:14-40) Her name, it should seem, was taken from Ludim, births.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Λυδία ), the name of a country, and also of a woman in the New Testament.

1. The Hebrew LUD ("Lydia" in Ezekiel 30:5; (See Ludim) ), a province in the west of Asia Minor, supposed to have derived its name from Lud, the fourth son of Shem (Genesis 10:22). Thus Josephus states "those who are now called Lydians (Λυδοί ), but anciently Ludimn (Λούδοι ), sprung from Lud" (Λούδα, Ant. 1:6, 4; compare Bochart, Opera, 1:83, and the authorities cited there). (See Ethnology).

Lydia was bounded on the east by Greater Phrygia, on the north by AEolis or Mysia, on the west by Ionia and the AEgaean Sea, and or the south it was separated from Caria by the Meander (see Smith's Dict. of Class. Geogr. s.v.). The country is for the most part level (Schubert, Reisen, 1:369 sq.). Among the mountains, that of Tmolus was celebrated for its saffron and red wine (Xenoph. Cyrop. 6:2, 21). Lydia, however, lay on the west coast of Asia Minor, and thus was far removed from the other possessions of the Shemitic nations. Greek writers inform us that Lydia was originally peopled by a Pelasgic race called hicseonians (Homer, Iliad, 2:866; 10:431), who received their name from Maeon, an ancient king (Bochart, 1.c.). They also state that the name Lydians was derived from a king who ruled them at a later period (Herod. 1:7) About eight centuries B.C. a tribe of another race migrated from the east, and subdued the Maeonians. These were the Lydians. For some time after this conquest both nations are mentioned promiscuously, but the Lydians gradually obtained power, and gave their name to the country (Kalisch, On Genesis 10; Dionysius, 1:30; Pliny, 5:30; comp. Strabo, 12:572; 14:679). The best and most recent critics regard these Lydians as a Shemitic tribe, and consequently the descendants of Lud (Movers, Die Phonicier, 1:475). This view is strengthened by the description of the character and habits of the Lydians. They were warlike (Herod. 1:79), skilled in horsemanship (ib.), and accustomed to serve as mercenaries under foreign princes (7:71). Now, in Isaiah 66:19, a warlike people called Lud is mentioned in connection with Tarshish and Pul; and again in Ezekiel 27:10, the prophet says of Tyre, "They of Persia, and of Lud, and of Phut, were in thine army, thy men of war." There can scarcely be a doubt that this is the Shemitic nation mentioned in Genesis, and which migrated to Western Asia, and gave the province of Lydia its name.

The identity has recently been called in question by professor and Sir Henry Rawlinson, but their arguments do not seem sufficient to set aside the great mass of circumstantial evidence in its favor (Rawlinson's Herodotus, 1:160, 659, 667; comp. Kalisch, ad loc. Gen.; Prichard, Physical History of Mankind, 4:562 sq.; Niebuhr, Lectures on Ancient History, 1:87; Gesenius, Thesaurus, page 745). In the palmy days of Lydia its kings ruled from the shores of the AEgean to the river Halys; and Craesus, who was its king in the time of Solon and of Cyrus, was reputed the richest monarch in the world (Strabo, 15:735). He was able to bring into the field an army of 420,000 foot and 60,000 horse against Cyrus, by whom, however, he was defeated, and his kingdom annexed to the Persian empire (Herod. 1:6). Lydia afterwards formed part of the kingdom of the Seleucidae; and it is related in 1 Maccabees 8:8, that Antiochus the Great was compelled by the Romans to cede Lydia to king Eumenes (comp. Apian. Syr. 38). Some difficulty arises in the passage referred to from the names "India and Media" found in connection with it; but if we regard these as incorrectly given by the writer or by a copyist for "Ionia and Mysia," the agreement with Livy's account of the same transaction (37:56) will be sufficiently established, the notice of the maritime provinces alone in the book of Maccabees being explicable on the ground of their being best known to the inhabitants of Palestine. In the time of the travels of the apostles it was a province of the Roman empire (Ptolemy, 5:2, 16; Pliny, 5:30). Its chief towns were Sardis (the capital), Thyatira, and Philadelphia, all of which are mentioned in the New Testament, although the name of the province itself does not occur. Its connection with Judaea, under the Seleucidne, is referred to by Josephus (Ant. 12:3, 4). The manners of the Lydians were corrupt even to a proverb (Herod. 1:93). See Th. Menke, Lydiaea (Berlin, 1844); Cramer, Asia Minor, 1:413; Forbiger, Handb. der Alten Geogrs. 2:167; Clinton, Fasti Hellen. Appendix, page 361; Niebuhr, Lectures on Anc. Hist. 1:82; Cellarius, Notitiae, 1:108 sq.; Mannert, Geogr. VI, 3:345 sq.; Allgem. Welhistor. 4:623 sq.; Beck, Weltg. 1:308 sq.; Heeren, Ideen, I, 1:154 sq.

2. A woman of Thyatira, "a seller of purple," who dwelt in the city of Philippi, in Macedonia (Acts 16:14-15). A.D. 47. The commentators are not agreed whether "Lydia" should be regarded as an appellative, or a derivative from the country to which the woman belonged, Thyatira, her native place, being in Lydia. There are examples of this latter sense; but the preceding word ὀνόματι seems here to support the former, and the name was a common one. (See Biel and I. Hase in the Bibl. Brem. 2:411; 3:275; 5:670; 6:1041; Symb. Brem. II, 2:124; compare Ugolini Thesaur. 13:29.) Lydia was not by birth a Jewess, but a proselyte, as the phrase "who worshipped God" imports. It was at the Jewish Sabbath-worship by the side of a stream (Acts 16:13) that the preaching of the Gospel by Paul reached her heart. She was converted, being the first person in Europe who embraced Christianity there, and after she and her household had been baptized she pressed the use of her house so earnestly upon the apostle and his associates that they were constrained to accept the invitation. As her native place was in the province of Asia (Acts 16:14; Revelation 2:18), it is interesting to notice that through her, indirectly, the Gospel may have come into that very district where Paul himself had recently been forbidden directly to preach it (Acts 16:6). We infer that she was a person of considerable wealth partly from the fact that she gave a home to Paul and his companions, partly from the mention of the conversion of her "household," under which term, whether children are included or not, slaves are no doubt comprehended. Of Lydia's character we are led to form a high estimate from her candid reception of the Gospel, her urgent hospitality, and her continued friendship to Paul and Silas when they were persecuted. Whether she was one of "those women who labored with Paul in the Gospel" at Philippi, as mentioned afterwards in the epistle to that place (Philippians 4:3), it is impossible to say. The Lydians were famous for the art of dyeing purple vests (Pliny, 7:57; Max. Tyr. 40:2; Valer. Flacc. 4:368; Claud. Rapt. Proserp. 1:275; AElian, Anim. 4:46), and Lydia, as "a seller of purple," is supposed to have been a dealer in vests so dyed rather than in the dye itself (see Kuinol on Acts 14:14).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Lyd´ia, a province in the west of Asia Minor, supposed to have derived its name from Lud, the fourth son of Shem (; see Nations, Dispersion of). It was bounded on the east by Greater Phrygia, on the north by Aeolis or Mysia, on the west by Ionia and the Aegean Sea, and on the south it was separated from Caria by the Maeander. The country is for the most part level. Among the mountains, that of Tmolus was celebrated for its saffron and red wine. In the palmy days of Lydia its kings ruled from the shores of the Aegean to the river Halys; and Croesus, who was its king in the time of Solon and of Cyrus, was reputed the richest monarch in the world. He was able to bring into the field an army of 420,000 foot and 60,000 horse against Cyrus, by whom, however, he was defeated, and his kingdom annexed to the Persian Empire (Herod. i. 6). Lydia afterwards formed part of the kingdom of the Seleucidae; and it is related in , that Antiochus the Great was compelled by the Romans to cede Lydia to King Enmenes. In the time of the travels of the Apostles it was a province of the Roman Empire. Its chief towns were Sardis (the capital), Thyatira, and Philadelphia, all of which are mentioned in the New Testament, although the name of the province itself does not occur. The manners of the Lydians were corrupt even to a proverb.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

A country of Asia Minor; seat of an early civilisation, and a centre of influences which affected both the religion and culture of Greece; was noted for its music and purple dyes.