53 - Lydia’s Heart

Luke says “And setting sail from Troas we had a good run (favorable winds which allowed the ship to sail straight to where they were headed) to Samothrace (about 70 miles north), and then, on the following day, into Neapolis (about the same distance). Neapolis was located on the northeast coast of Macedonia, and served as a harbor for Philippi which was about 10 miles inland. A very important highway ran through Neapolis called the Via Egnatia (Egnatian Way). It was a paved and carefully maintained military road that ran from Dyrrachium on the Adriatic Sea eastward all the way to what we call today Istanbul (Turkey). It served as Rome’s main land route across northern Greece, and Paul and his team traveled west on it from Neapolis to Philippi, and later on to Thessalonica.

In spite of the fact that it was located in eastern Macedonia, Philippi was the site of an important battle in Roman history. There, in 42 B.C., Antony, Octavian (Augustus) and Lepidus defeated Brutus and Cassius, the assassins of Julius Caesar. To honor that victory the city had been declared a “colony,” which meant it became a military outpost and its citizens had all the same privileges as the citizens of Rome.

Then Luke tells us how this missionary team began evangelizing Philippi. He says, “…we were staying some days in this city, and on Sabbath days we went outside the (city) gate by a river where we thought there would be prayer, and sitting down we spoke to the women who had come together. And a certain woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth (the favorite color for Roman togas) from the city of Thyatira (a city in Asia Minor that specialized in dying purple cloth), a Gentile who worshiped God (Ac 13:43, 50; 17:4, 17), kept listening, and the Lord opened her heart to understand and receive the things spoken by Paul. And as she and her household were baptized she (invited us to be guests in her home) saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay, and she urged us so strongly she prevailed.