Continuing on from the end of chapter 27, God's Word changes from referring to "they" and "we", to only referring to "we" indicating Paul, Luke and Aristarchus.
Acts 28:1:
28:1And having been throughly-saved, then we fully-knew that the island is called Melita.
Paul, Luke and Aristarchus were brought safely through their ordeal on board the ship and the storm. It was only at that time that they had full, clear and exact personal knowledge that the island was called Melita (today it is called “Malta”), south of Sicily.
[Reference: Acts 27:26 and 39-44.]
Verses 2-6:
.2And the barbarians presented no (ordinarily) attained love-for-man to us, for having applied-fire-to a pyre they took us all towards-themselves because-of the rain, the (rain) having stood-on2 (us), and because-of the coldness.
.3But (after) Paul having combined some multitude of dry-sticks and having put (them) on the pyre, a viper having come-out away-from the warmth applied-down-on his hand – .4and as the barbarians saw the wild-animal hanging-itself from his hand they said towards one-another, "This man altogether is a murderer whom having been throughly-saved out-from the sea, the right did not let (him) to live" – .5therefore indeed having shaken-away the wild-animal into the fire he suffered nothing bad – .6but the (barbarians) expected him to be about to become swollen or to fall-down suddenly dead, but (during) their expecting on much (time) and viewing-with-attention, nothing strange coming-to-pass into him, having changed-direction they said (for) him to be a god.
The word “barbarians” refers to the natives on this island because this is what Greek-speaking people at that time called anyone who did not speak Greek. They were presenting (holding beside, offering) not the usual amount of brotherly/friendly kind of love for mankind (more than humanely) to Paul, Luke and Aristarchus, and perhaps to the other people who were on board the ship also.
These natives kindled a pyre (they lit a heap of collected fuel which was already prepared to be set on fire), and they were hospitable to everyone on account of the heavy showers of rain that approached and stood on/over them, and on account of the coldness – all those who had been on the ship would have already been wet and cold and needed to be made warm and kept warm.
After Paul combined (turned together, closely collected) a numerous amount of dry twigs (a full bundle of brushwood) and placed (set) them on the now-burning pyre, a viper (venomous snake) went out of the fire trying to get away from the heat and applied itself to Paul's hand (it fastened down onto his hand).
Does God's Word say that Paul grabbed the viper and put it on his hand? No! Does God's Word say that Paul waited until the snake came to him and fastened around his hand to test himself or to test God's power? No! God's Word tells us exactly what happened, therefore let us read on.
As the barbarians saw what was from their point of view a wild-animal (savage beast of prey) suspending itself from Paul's hand, they said towards each-other, "This man in every way and by all means is a murderer (entirely a person who wrongfully kills people), because even though he has been brought fully to safety out from the sea, that-which is right (justice, the required penalty which is right in the judicial sense) does not allow (permit) him to be alive." They may have been referring to the false "goddess of justice".
Following the viper hanging from his hand, indeed Paul shook it off away from himself back into the fire, and he suffered (experienced, was affected by) nothing bad, not one bad thing from that viper. Paul did not leave the snake on his hand and tempt God (test Him, put Him on trial) in this situation!
Returning to the barbarians' viewpoint, they were watching Paul expecting for him to be on the point of becoming swollen (inflamed and burn with fever) or falling down dead without any warning as a result of being bitten by the viper since that is what usually happens.
But while they were expecting something bad to happen to Paul for a long length of time and contemplating him in their minds, looking for any symptoms from the encounter but not one thing strange (out-of-place, unusual) happening to him, they changed their direction (they cast a different opinion, threw their minds into another purpose about him) – they said that Paul was a god!
[Reference: Acts 14:11 and 19; II Corinthians 11:27. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (2) immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]
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