Acts 18:2-3

Acts 18:2-3

[2] And  found  a certain  Jew  named  Aquila,  born  in Pontus,  lately  come  from  Italy,  with  his  wife  Priscilla;  (because that  Claudius  had commanded  all  Jews  to depart  Rome:)  and came  unto them.  [3] And  because  of the same craft,  he abode  with  them,  and  wrought:  for  by their occupation  tentmakers. 

What does Acts 18:2-3 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Pontus was the Roman province in Asia Minor that lay east of Bithynia on the Black Sea coast (in modern northern Turkey).
Priscilla had another name, Prisca ( Romans 16:3; 1 Corinthians 16:19; 2 Timothy 4:19), the latter being more formal. Luke normally used the colloquial, diminutive form of names (e.g, Silas, Sopatros, Priscilla, Apollos), but Paul preferred their formal names in his writings (e.g, Silvanus, Sosipatros, Prisca, Epaphroditus). Nevertheless he sometimes used the more popular form of a name (e.g, Apollos, Epaphras). Priscilla"s name frequently appears before her husband Aquila"s in the New Testament (e.g, Acts 18:18-19; Acts 18:26; Romans 16:3; 2 Timothy 4:19). This may indicate that she came from a higher social class than Aquila or that others regarded her as superior to him in some respect. Here, however, Luke mentioned Aquila first.
The Roman writer Suetonius referred to an edict by Emperor Claudius ordering non-Roman citizen Jews to leave Rome, and he dated this expulsion at A.D49-50. [1] There were other expulsions of Jews from Rome in139 B.C. and19 A.D. [2]
"Because the Jews at Rome caused continuous disturbances at the instigation of Crestus, he [3] expelled them from the city." [4]
"It was commonly supposed that Suetonius was referring to riots in the Jewish community over the preaching of Christ, but that he has misspelled the name and has perhaps erroneously thought that Christ was actually a rebel leader in Rome (Suetonius was born in A.D69 , and wrote considerably after the event)." [5]
Often tradespeople set up shop on the ground floor of a building and lived on the floor above. We do not know if Aquila and Priscilla were Christians when Paul first met them, but it seems likely that they were since Luke did not mention their conversion.
Paul evidently had a financial need, so he went to work practicing his trade of tentmaking (cf. Acts 20:34; 1 Corinthians 4:12; 1 Corinthians 9:1-18; 2 Corinthians 11:9; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-10).
"Apart from occasional gifts ( Philippians 4:15 ff), Paul"s practice was to be self-supporting by working at his trade and not to be dependent on the charity of church members ..." [4]
Tent-makers made and repaired all kinds of leather goods, not just tents. [7] It would be more accurate to describe Paul as a leather-worker (Gr. skenopoioi) rather than as a tent-maker. This was a common trade in his home province of Cilicia, which produced a fabric made from goats" skins called cilicium. It was common practice for Jewish rabbis to practice a trade as well as study and teach the Hebrew Scriptures. [4]
"Paul was a Rabbi, but according to Jewish practice, every Rabbi must have a trade. He must take no money for preaching and teaching and must make his living by his own work and his own efforts. The Jew glorified work. "Love work," they said. "He who does not teach his son a trade teaches him robbery." "Excellent," they said, "is the study of the law along with a worldly trade; for the practice of them both makes a man forget iniquity; but all law without work must in the end fail and causes iniquity." So we find Rabbis following every respectable trade." [9]