Elymas - Acts 13:7-13

Bar-jesus, the man who probably was a main leader in the local synagogue, but who also dabbled in the Satanic, apparently took issue with Saul’s teachings of Jesus. If it’s true that Bar-jesus did have Saul whipped, why didn’t the IM say anything about it? I thought about a lot because I didn’t want to just be that person who spouts every crazy idea because it’s exciting, I want to be accurate to the extent that I can. The conclusion I came to was that, in the scriptures specifically no mention was made of this event, and the way that it was portrayed seemed pretty innocuous, so probably in keeping with the scriptures, it wasn’t mentioned.

Somehow, “the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man” found out about Saul and Barnabas teaching and called for them because he “desired to hear the word of God.” As the Roman appointed leader of Cyprus, he probably heard about any and all changes going on in his country. But with that being said, like we discussed previously, there were at least three dominant religions in Cyprus at that time, Greek gods, Roman gods, and Jews, so I would think that the standards of “religious turmoil” would be pretty high.
Cyprus was a major center of trade at the time, so Sergius Paulus would have been very anxious to avoid any social upheaval, so he probably would have been very informed about his people. It’s possible that he heard about Saul and Barnabas because it had been such a shock to the Jewish religion, or it may have come to his attention that Bar-jesus was whipping foreigners, which would be bad for business if unwarranted. It’s also possible that like so many other spiritual gentiles that Sergius had gravitated to Judaism because they worshipped the true and living God, therefore was more open to Christianity because they already had the Jewish background.
However it happened, Sergius Paulus finds out that Saul and Barnabas and John are teaching “the word of God” and calls for them to come and teach him as well. It seems like Paulus and Bar-jesus already had a previous relationship, which would make sense if Paulus was seeking God and felt inclined towards Judaism. But it also appears that Bar-jesus didn’t see his relationship with Paulus as being one of religious fellowship, because as one who has already traded his priesthood authority for “magical” abilities, he demonstrated that power and wealth were his interests, even if it was all under the guise of “righteousness.”
Bar-jesus would have seen Saul and Barnabas’s visit to Paulus to be an enormous threat to the position he’s worked so hard and given up so much for, and “he withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.” The actions of Elymas (who is Bar-jesus’ other name by interpretation) are only recorded in verse 8, and it’s not even a very long verse. But just from what we read here, we can conclude that Elymas is a corrupt man who uses religious authority to disguise his lust for power and wealth, and it’s especially egregious because he’s supposed to be a priest of the true and living God. I could imagine from this verse that Elymas would be telling Paulus, “these men are blasphemers,” and all types of crazy stuff and also using his place of authority in the synagogue to hinder the work of God. This is an excellent example of how Gamaliel was so wise in his counsel that “if it’s not God’s work, it will not prosper. But if it is God’s work then you can not stop it.” Imagine Elymas taking on that attitude, it would have made a huge difference to him spiritually, but probably not too many others though.
Saul has been pretty tolerant of this hypocrite up to this point, but now he is “filled with the Holy Ghost… and said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.” Now when I first read this, I thought, “that seems pretty harsh just because someone is trying to protect their sphere of influence.” But for some reason I had missed the part where Elymas was a Jew and because of his closeness to the deputy of the country, probably a high ranking priest who was actively trying to suppress these foreign preachers. And unlike Saul, who had been motivated by the a desire to keep people from polluting the religion that he loved, Elymas is motivated by his passion to keep his money and power.
It seems like this would be a huge kick in the face to Saul because he knows what it’s like to be on the wrong side of God, but only understands it from a non-corrupt perspective. I also think it’s important to point out that regardless of whether Saul was actually whipped by Elymas and regardless of what Elymas did to try to keep Saul away from the deputy, Saul cursed Elymas with blindness because he was commanded to by the Holy Ghost. It wasn’t because Saul had had enough and was just tired of this guy interfering, he wasn’t getting revenge. In fact Elymas could have not messed with them at all or he could have tried to personally bludgeon them to death, either way, the curse was not performed until Saul was “filled with the Holy Ghost,” and was commanded to.
The IM comments on the situation saying, “this experience demonstrates that the Lord gives His authorized servants the power to both bless and to curse. Elder Bruce R. McConkie clarified that the priesthood should never be used to curse someone unless the priesthood holder is directed by the Spirit to do so: ‘Cursings as well as blessings may be administered by the power and authority of the priesthood…, but the Lord’s earthly agents are sent forth primarily to bless and not to curse, and no curse should ever be decreed except by direct revelation from the Lord commanding such to be done.’”
This reminds me of “wiping the dirt from your feet” basically saying that the people of that town are accountable for their rejection of the gospel. It is only to be done under command of the Holy Ghost and is very serious business. Makes me glad I don’t have to deal with all that. Also I think it’s important to point out that Saul didn’t curse him for all time and eternity, but only “for a season.” This gives a timeline for the end of the suffering, it doesn’t remove the opportunity for repentance, and allows God to take control over this man’s punishment in such a way that Elymas knows that God is in charge of it at that point.
With Saul’s words, Elymas “immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.” We know that miracles don’t convert, so we have to assume that the deputy had to have been receptive to the message of Christ as well. That observation is strengthened by the fact that he wasn’t just convinced by the supernatural experience, but was also “astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.” Paulus was obviously a very spiritual man looking for the truth, and he recognized it when he heard it. On top of all that, he saw the power of God work to remove distractions from his servant’s message. We can deduce that Paulus was ready to hear the truth because his miracle strengthened his faith, because we know it couldn’t have been the foundation of it.
Saul and Barnabas and John teach the gospel to the Roman leader of the country, and it appears as though he accepts it. We aren’t told how much time they spend there, but eventually they leave and went to “Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.” We aren’t told why John leaves, to me it just seems like he has something to do back in Jerusalem, I’m not really sure, but it might play out later in our studies.