Mercury

[HERMES]

A fabulous god of the ancient heathen, the messenger of the celestials, and the deity that presided over learning, eloquence, and traffic. The Greeks named him Hermes, interpreter, because they considered him as the interpreter of the will of the gods. Probably it was for this reason that he people of Lystra, having heard Paul preach, and having seen him heal a lame man, would have offered sacrifice to him as to their god Mercury; and to Barnabas as Jupiter, because of his venerable aspect, Mal 14:11-12 .\par

Mer’cury. Act 14:12. The translation of Mercurius, in the Revised Version.

MERCURY stands in the AV [Note: Authorized Version.] for the Gr. Hermes in Act 14:12. Hermes, as the spokesman of the gods, was regarded by the Greeks as the god of eloquence. Hence, when Paul and Barnabas healed the cripple at Lystra, the former was hailed as Hermes, ‘because he was the chief speaker.’ The identification of Hermes with Mercury was due to another attribute. As the messenger of the gods, Hermes was the god who brought good fortune to men. Mercury was the Roman god of commerce (cf. merx, mercari), and success in commerce was attributed to him. Hence the mythology of the two was confused.

A. E. Hillard.

‘Mercury’ (Act_14:12 Revised Version ; Authorized Version ‘Mercurius,’ Revised Version margin ‘Gr. Hermes’), like ‘Jupiter’ (q.v. [Note: .v. quod vide, which see.] ), is used as the Greek equivalent of some local Lycaonian god. Hermes ‘is the name of a Greek god (corresponding to the Roman Mercury) whose origin and real character are perhaps more difficult to define than is the case with any other Greek deity’ (Ramsay, Encyclopaedia Britannica 9 xi. [1880] 749). He was the accredited messenger between gods and men. Besides this he was the god of social intercourse, and hence came to be regarded as the personification of cleverness; that he should then be regarded as the patron of thieves was but a step. He is also spoken of as conducting the souls of the departed to their last home-an idea inherited from the Vedic mythology. Because of his connexion with the wind he is generally represented as wearing winged shoes. St. Paul, however, was dubbed ‘Hermes,’ ‘because he was the chief speaker,’ which reminds us that this deity was thought of as the god of eloquence. The statue of the god by Praxiteles in the Heraion at Olympia conceived him as possessing peculiar beauty and grace, which accords ill with the traditional portrait of the Apostle. The fact is that the Lycaonians were so wrought upon by the miracle that had been performed, and so delighted at the eloquence of St. Paul, that they did not stop to consider such details.

F. W. Worsley.