⁵⁴The episode with the earthquake raises some questions. For example, how could Paul see in the dark that the watchman was about to take his own life? On this basis, there was a view, shared by many church exegetes, that this is a folklore story designed to show God’s protection of the missionaries. The following objections can be made to this: 1) if the section was written by Luke, then it got to us first-hand; 2) The Balkans, Macedonia in particular, are among the areas subject to intense earthquakes; 3) the missionaries could not be set free by the open prison doors as their feet had been shackled in heavy stocks so they could not take a single step.