onnected with the
Church of Jerusalem. These would, of course, receive no small share of
the donations, but as the assistance was designed for the "brethren
which dwelt _in Judea_," and not merely for the disciples in the holy
city, we may infer that it was distributed among the elders of all the
Churches now scattered over the southern part of Palestine. [66:1]
Neither would Barnabas and Paul require to make a tour throughout the
district to visit these various communities. All the elders of Judea
still continued to observe the Mosaic law, and as the deputies from
Antioch were in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover, [66:2] they would
find their brethren in attendance upon the festival.

It is reported by several ancient writers that the apostles were
instructed to remain at Jerusalem for twelve years after the crucifixion
of our Lord, [66:3] and if the tradition is correct, the holy city
continued to be their stated residence until shortly before the period
of the arrival of these deputies from the Syrian capital. The time of
this visit can be pretty accurately ascertained, and there is perhaps no
point connected with the history of the book of the Acts respecting
which there is such a close approximation to unanimity amongst
chronologists; for, as Josephus notices [66:4] both the sudden death of
Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great, which now occurred, [66:5]
and the famine against which this contribution was intended to provide,
it is apparent from the date which he assigns to them, that Barnabas and
Saul must have reached Jerusalem about A.D. 44. [66:6] At this juncture
at least two of the apostles, James the brother of John, and Peter, were
in the Jewish capital; and it is probable that all the rest had not yet
finally taken their departure. The Twelve, it would seem, did not set
out on distant missions until they were thoroughly convinced that they
had ceased to make progress in the conversion of their countrymen in the
land of their fathers. And it is no trivial evidence, at once of the
strength of their convictions, and of the truth of the evangelical
history, that they continued so long and so efficiently to proclaim the
gospel in the chief city of Palestine. Had they not acted under an
overwhelming sense of duty, they would not have remained in a place
where their lives were in perpetual jeopardy; and had they not been
faithful witnesses, they could not have induced so many, of all classes
of society,