<p>18:2 <i>And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a man of Pontus by race, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla</i>- &ldquo;A Jewish guild always keeps together, whether in street or synagogue. In Alexandria the different trades sat in the synagogue arranged into guilds; and St. Paul could have no difficulty in meeting, in the bazaar of his trade, with the like-minded Aquila and Priscilla&rdquo; (Edersheim, <em>Jewish Social Life</em>).</p><p><i>Because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome; and he went to them</i>- The 'Babylon' of Revelation in its first century reference had relevance to Rome and also to Judaism, as I have argued elsewhere. If we accept an early date for Revelation, then the command to come out from Babylon would have meant leaving Rome (Rev. 18:4); and the emperor's decree would have encouraged obedience to this. The situation was analogous to the historical command for Jews to leave Babylon; the decree of Cyrus encouraged their obedience. God can manipulate geopolitics to help His people to conform to His wishes for them.</p>