<p>18:10 <em>For I am with you</em>- A word for word quotation from the assurance given in the great commission (Mt. 28:20). The specific promise made in the commission that the preachers would take up snakes and remain unharmed was fulfilled in Paul on Malta beach. We see here that the Lord intended the great commission for Paul- and not merely, as some still claim, for the eleven apostles to whom He first addressed it. And we too are to see it as binding on us all. This is also one of a number of instances of where Old Testament Messianic Scriptures here Is. 43:5 are applied to Paul in the context of his preaching Christ.</p><p><em>And no one shall attack or harm you</em>- But we must square this with the fact that 18 months later, &quot;the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat&quot; (:12). Maybe the Lord meant that there would be no such behaviour until Paul had reached the Lord's &quot;many people&quot; in the city; perhaps that rising up against Paul was the sign for him to leave, and yet he stubbornly remained there after that &quot;for many days&quot; (:18). &quot;No one shall attack&quot; sounds like God's promise to Israel, that whilst they were busy in His service keeping the feasts, they would not be attacked (Ex. 34:24); it was for as long as Paul was doing the Lord's work with His people that the protection would last. So the attack on Paul and beating of Sosthenes (:17), who had become a Christian (1 Cor. 1:1), clearly was &quot;harm&quot;- and a sign, therefore, to leave. Yet just as Paul refused to accept Spirit direction in warning him not to go to Jerusalem, so it seems that here too he would not follow the Spirit's leading.</p><p><em>For I have many people in this city</em>- This was only potentially true. If Paul had run away because of the opposition, they would not have become the Lord's people. Exactly because of this, the Lord tells him to endure. Likewise if the harvest is not gathered, it spoils- because the labourers have not done their work.</p>