Previously on Biologos:
adamjedgar: Im referring in the Topic title to the Isle of Malta poisonus serpent biting of the apostle Paul account as researched and recorded by Luke in Acts 28
reply: Simple: read the Greek!
THE KJV got it right when they took the Greek Μελίτη (meh-LEE-tay) and spelled it just as it sounds except adjusting the ending to fit English linguistics: Melita.
Given the winds and currents of the Mediterranean it is essentially impossible to be driven by a storm in the Adriatic, which is where Luke says they were, all the way to Malta, so whoever “corrected” the KJV was more than a bit ignorant: first, as to the possibility of getting blown by a storm from near Greece all the way to Malta, and second because there is an island in the Adriatic named “Melita” – in fact an island where it is quite probable that a storm in the Adriatic would drive a ship.
adamjedgar: Paul being bitten by a poisonus snake on Malta - there is no evidence that we have yet found of any poisonus snakes having ever existed on that island
reply: The Greek text calls the island “Melite” (meh-LEE-tay). It just so happens that the most poisonous snakes in the Mediterranean live on an island called Melite.
adamjedgar: On the Isle of Malta, Paul is miraculously saved from the venom of a viper.
reply: The odd thing is that Luke does not say it was Malta, he wrote that it was Melita – which is where the deadliest viper in Europe lives in large numbers. How anyone got “Malta” from “Μελίτη”, which in Latin letters is “Melitay”, has got to be weird.
adamjedgar: the record of the travels of the apostle Paul has its very credibility trashed when one reads the biblical claim that whilst shipwrecked on Malta, he was bitten by a poisonous snake and survived. The scientific record shows no evidence of any such species on that island.
reply: Somewhat “missing the [legitimate] point” you are making, the island in question is literally “Μελίτη,” transliterated “Melité” which could be this: [Link to Mijet]. I don’t know if it “works” in terms of the trajectory of Paul’s journey, but I have a hard time believing that “nobody in Acts knew about Malta,” which is prominent enough in the Mediterranean and was under Roman control by 218 BCE…and Mljet has venomous snakes…
There may be others.
Today on Biologos:
Go away.