Howbeit they looked when he should have {c} swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: {3} but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god.

(c) The Greek word signifies to be inflamed or to swell: moreover, Dioscorides in his sixth book, chap. 38, witnesses that the biting of a viper causes a swelling of the body, and so says Nicander, in his remedies against poisons.

(3) There are none who are more changing in every way than they who are ignorant of true religion.

People's New Testament

28:4-6 The venomous beast. It is said that there are now no venomous serpents in Malta, but this is due to the enormous increase of the population and their extinction. The same fact has occurred in many places.

This man is a murderer. The people pronounced it a judgment. Though he had escaped the sea, divine justice would not let him escape. They waited to see his hand swell, and him to fall dead, but when he shook it off in the fire and experienced no harm they changed their minds and in their superstition called him a god (Ac 28:6). We are hear reminded of the sudden revulsion of feeling among the Lycaonians (Ac 14:18,19).

Wesley's Notes

28:6 They changed their minds, and said he was a god - Such is the stability of human reason! A little before he was a murderer; and presently he is a god: (just as the people of Lystra; one hour sacrificing, and the next stoning:) nay, but there is a medium. He is neither a murderer nor a god, but a man of God. But natural men never run into greater mistakes, than in judging of the children of God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. they looked-"continued looking."

when he should have swollen or fallen down dead-familiar with the effects of such bites.

and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said . he was a god-from "a murderer" to "a god," as the Lycaonian greeting of Paul and Silas from "sacrificing to them" to "stoning them" (Ac 14:13, 19). What has not the Gospel done for the uncultivated portion of the human family, while its effects on the educated and refined, though very different, are not less marvellous! Verily it is God's chosen restorative for the human spirit, in all the multitudinous forms and gradations of its lapsed state.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

28:1-10 God can make strangers to be friends; friends in distress. Those who are despised for homely manners, are often more friendly than the more polished; and the conduct of heathens, or persons called barbarians, condemns many in civilized nations, professing to be Christians. The people thought that Paul was a murderer, and that the viper was sent by Divine justice, to be the avenger of blood. They knew that there is a God who governs the world, so that things do not come to pass by chance, no, not the smallest event, but all by Divine direction; and that evil pursues sinners; that there are good works which God will reward, and wicked works which he will punish. Also, that murder is a dreadful crime, one which shall not long go unpunished. But they thought all wicked people were punished in this life. Though some are made examples in this world, to prove that there is a God and a Providence, yet many are left unpunished, to prove that there is a judgment to come. They also thought all who were remarkably afflicted in this life were wicked people. Divine revelation sets this matter in a true light. Good men often are greatly afflicted in this life, for the trial and increase of their faith and patience. Observe Paul's deliverance from the danger. And thus in the strength of the grace of Christ, believers shake off the temptations of Satan, with holy resolution. When we despise the censures and reproaches of men, and look upon them with holy contempt, having the testimony of our consciences for us, then, like Paul, we shake off the viper into the fire. It does us no harm, except we are kept by it from our duty. God hereby made Paul remarkable among these people, and so made way for the receiving of the gospel. The Lord raises up friends for his people in every place whither he leads them, and makes them blessings to those in affliction.