"Whom Jason hath received; and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus."
How easy it is sometimes to prevert the truth into a lie!
Paul and Companions Escape.
Jason and his friends had to give "security;" (by which is probably meant that they had to deposit money as assurance that they would do nothing against the government), after which they were permitted to go free.
But the mob was still bitter against Paul and Silas who were advised by the brethren to leave immediately. This they did by night, traveling fifty-one miles to Berea.
AT BEREA
Many Accept Gospel.
Persecution and suffering could no more stop these inspired workers from preaching the Gospel than it could stop them from breathing; so as soon as they arrived at Berea, "they went into the synagogue of the Jews." The Jews here were more noble than those in Thessalonica, and would reason from the scripture, which was the Old Testament, kept in sacred rolls in the synagogue. So we conclude that the Bereans, not only listened attentively to what the missionaries told them but searched the scriptures to see if what they said was in harmony with the Law. When they found that it was, many believed, "also of honorable women who were Greeks, and of men not a few."
THE STORMS FOLLOWS THEM
As the Jews had gone once before from Iconium to Lystra, so they came now from Thessalonica to Berea, "like hunters upon their prey," and "stirred up the people."