A “Chatterer”

CERTAIN Athenian philosophers referred to the apostle Paul as a “chatterer.” (Acts 17:18) The Greek word that they used could refer to ‘a crow that picks up seed.’ In a figurative sense, this term was applied to a person who picks up scraps by begging or stealing. In using the expression with reference to Paul, the philosophers were labeling him as one who repeats scraps of knowledge, hence, an idle babbler.