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After γυναικός, Elz. Scholz have αὐτοῦ, which Lachm. Tisch. Born, have rightly deleted, as it is wanting in A B D* א, min., and has evidently slipped in from <a href="/acts/5-1.htm" title="But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,">Acts 5:1</a>. <a href="/acts/5-5.htm" title="And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.">Acts 5:5</a>. After ἀκούοντας, Lachm. Tisch. Born. have deleted the usual reading ταῦτα; it is wanting in A B D א*, min. Or. Lucif. and several VSS., and is an addition from <a href="/acts/5-11.htm" title="And great fear came on all the church, and on as many as heard these things.">Acts 5:11</a>. <a href="/acts/5-9.htm" title="Then Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried your husband are at the door, and shall carry you out.">Acts 5:9</a>. εἶπε] is very suspicious, as it is wanting in B D א, min. Vulg.; in other witnesses it varies in position, and Or. has φησίν. Deleted by Lachm. Born. and Tisch. <a href="/acts/5-10.htm" title="Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.">Acts 5:10</a>. παρὰ τ. π.] Lachm. and Tisch. read πρὸς τ. π. according to A B D א, Or.; other witnesses have ἐπὶ τ. π.; others, ὑπὸ τ. π.; others, ἐνώπιον. Born. also has πρὸς τ. π. But as Luke elsewhere writes παρὰ τ. π. (<a href="/luke/8-41.htm" title="And, behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue: and he fell down at Jesus' feet, and sought him that he would come into his house:">Luke 8:41</a>; <a href="/luke/17-16.htm" title="And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.">Luke 17:16</a>), and not πρὸς τ. π. (<a href="/mark/5-22.htm" title="And, behold, there comes one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,">Mark 5:22</a>; <a href="/mark/7-25.htm" title="For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:">Mark 7:25</a>; <a href="/revelation/1-17.htm" title="And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand on me, saying to me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:">Revelation 1:17</a>), the Recepta is to be retained. <a href="/acts/5-15.htm" title="So that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.">Acts 5:15</a>. παρὰ τὰς πλ.] Lachm. reads καὶ εἰς τὰς πλ after A B D** א, min. D* has only κατὰ πλ.; and how easily might this become, by an error of a transcriber, καί τὰς πλ., which was completed partly by the original κατά and partly by εἰς! Another correction was, καὶ ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις (E). No version has καί. Accordingly the simple κατὰ πλατ., following D*, is to be preferred. Instead of κλινῶν, Lachm. Tisch. Born, have rightly κλινορίων (so A B D א); κλινῶν was inserted as the wonted form. <a href="/acts/5-16.htm" title="There came also a multitude out of the cities round about to Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.">Acts 5:16</a>. εἰς Ἱερουσ.] εἰς is wanting in A B א, 103, and some VSS. Deleted by Lachm. But the retention of εἰς has predominant attestation; and it was natural to write in the margin by the side of τῶν πέριξ πόλεων the locally defining addition Ἱερουσαλήμ, which became the occasion of omitting the εἰς Ἱερουσ. that follows. <a href="/acts/5-18.htm" title="And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.">Acts 5:18</a>. τ. χειρ. αὐτῶν] αὐτῶν is wanting in A B D א, min. Syr. Erp. Arm. Vulg. Cant. Theophyl. Lucif., and omitted by Lachm, Tisch. Born. But see <a href="/acts/4-3.htm" title="And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold to the next day: for it was now eventide.">Acts 4:3</a>. <a href="/acts/5-23.htm" title="Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.">Acts 5:23</a>. ἑστώτας] Elz. has ἔξω ἑστ. But ἔξω has decisive evidence against it, and is a more precisely defining addition occasioned by the following ἔσω. πρό] Lachm. Tisch. Born. read ἐπί, according to A B D א, 109; πρό is an interpretation. <a href="/acts/5-24.htm" title="Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.">Acts 5:24</a>. ὅ τε ἱερεὺς καὶ ὁ στρατ. τ. ἱεροῦ κ. οἱ ἀρχιερ.] A B D א, min. Copt. Sahid. Arm. Vulg. Cant. Lucif. have merely ὅ τε στρατ. τ. ἱεροῦ κ. οἱ ἀρχιερ. So Lachm. Rinck, and Born. But ἱερεύς being not understood, and being regarded as unnecessary seeing that οἱ ἄρχιερ. followed, might very easily be omitted; whereas there is no reason for its having been inserted. For the genuineness of ἱερεύς also the several other variations testify, which are to be considered as attempts to remove the offence without exactly erasing the word, namely, οἱ ἱερεῖς κ. ὁ στρ. τ. ἱερ. κ. οἱ ἀρχ. and ὅ τε ἀρχιερεὺς κ. ὁ στρ. τ. ἱερ. κ. οἱ ἀρχ. <a href="/acts/5-25.htm" title="Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.">Acts 5:25</a>. After αὐτοῖς Elz. has λέγων, against decisive evidence. An addition, in accordance with <a href="/acts/5-22.htm" title="But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned and told,">Acts 5:22</a> f. <a href="/acts/5-26.htm" title="Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.">Acts 5:26</a>. ἵνα μή] Lachm. Born. have μή, according to B D E א, min. But the omission easily appeared as necessary on account of ἐφοβ. Comp. <a href="/galatians/4-11.htm" title="I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed on you labor in vain.">Galatians 4:11</a>. <a href="/acts/5-28.htm" title="Saying, Did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in this name? and, behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood on us.">Acts 5:28</a>. οὐ is wanting in A B א*, Copt. Vulg. Cant. Ath. Cyr. Lucif. Rightly deleted by Lachm. and Tisch., as the transforming of the sentence into a question was evidently occasioned by ἐπηρώτησεν. <a href="/acts/5-32.htm" title="And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God has given to them that obey him.">Acts 5:32</a>. After ἐσμεν, Elz. Scholz, Tisch. have αὐτοῦ, which A D* א, min., and several VSS. omit. It is to be defended. As μάρτυρες is still denned by another genitive, αὐτοῦ became cumbrous, appeared inappropriate, and was omitted. B has καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐν αὐτῷ μάρτυρες (without ἐσμεν), etc. But in this case EN is to be regarded as a remnant of the ἐσμεν, the half of which was easily omitted after ἡμεῖς; and thereupon αὐτοῦ was transformed into αὐτῷ. The less is any importance to be assigned to the reading of Lachm.: καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐν αὐτῷ μάρτυρές ἐσμεν κ.τ.λ. <a href="/acts/5-33.htm" title="When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.">Acts 5:33</a>. ἐβουλεύοντο] Lachm. reads ἐβούλοντο, according to A B E, min. An interpretation, or a mechanical interchange, frequent also in MSS. of the classics; see Born, ad xv. 37. <a href="/acts/5-34.htm" title="Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;">Acts 5:34</a>. βραχύ τι] τι, according to decisive evidence, is to be deleted, with Lachm. Tisch. Born. ἀποστόλους] A B א, 80, Vulg. Copt. Arm. Chrys. have ἀνθρώπους. So Lachm. Tisch.; and rightly, as the words belong to the narrative of Luke, and therefore the designation of the apostles by ἀνθρώπους appeared to the scribes unworthy. It is otherwise in <a href="/acts/5-35.htm" title="And said to them, You men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do as touching these men.">Acts 5:35</a>; <a href="/acts/5-38.htm" title="And now I say to you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nothing:">Acts 5:38</a>. <a href="/acts/5-36.htm" title="For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nothing.">Acts 5:36</a>. προσεκλίθη] Elz. Griesb. Scholz read προσεκολλήθη, in opposition to A B C** א, min., which have προσεκλίθη; and in opposition to C* D* E H, min. Cyr., which have προσεκλήθη (so Born.). Other witnesses have προσετέθη, also προσεκληρώθη. Differing interpretations of the προσεκλίθη, which does not elsewhere occur in the N. T., but which Griesb. rightly recommended, and Matth. Lachm. Tisch. have adopted. <a href="/acts/5-37.htm" title="After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.">Acts 5:37</a>. ἰκανόν to be deleted with Lachm. and Tisch., as it is wanting in A* B א, 81, Vulg. Cant. Cyr., in some others stands before λαόν, and in C D, Eus. is interchanged with πολύν (so Born.). <a href="/acts/5-38.htm" title="And now I say to you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nothing:">Acts 5:38</a>. Instead of ἐάσατε, Lachm. has ἄφετε, following A B C א. A gloss. <a href="/acts/5-39.htm" title="But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it; lest haply you be found even to fight against God.">Acts 5:39</a>. δύνασθε] Lachm. Tisch. Born. have δυνήσεσθε, according to B C D E א, min., and some VSS. and Fathers. Mistaking the purposely chosen definite expression, men altered it to agree with the foregoing future. Instead of αὐτούς, which Lachm. Tisch. Born, have, Elz. and Scholz read αὐτό, against decisive testimony. An alteration to suit τὸ ἔργον. <a href="/acts/5-41.htm" title="And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.">Acts 5:41</a>. After ὀνόματος Elz. has αὐτοῦ, which is wanting in decisive witnesses, and is an addition for the sake of completeness. Other interpolations are: Ἰησοῦ, τοῦ Χριστοῦ, Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ κυρίου, τοῦ Θεοῦ. <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-1.htm">Acts 5:1</a></div><div class="verse">But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,</div><a href="/context/acts/5-1.htm" title="But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,...">Acts 5:1-10</a>. Ananias (חֲנַנְיָה, God pities; <a href="/jeremiah/28-1.htm" title="And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the LORD, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,">Jeremiah 28:1</a>; <a href="/daniel/1-6.htm" title="Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:">Daniel 1:6</a>; LXX. <a href="//apocrypha.org/tobit/5-12.htm" title="Then he said, I am Azarias, the son of Ananias the great, and of thy brethren.">Tob 5:12</a>[163]) and Sapphira, however, acted quite otherwise. They attempted in deceitful hypocrisy to abuse the community of goods, which, nevertheless, was simply permissive (<a href="/acts/5-4.htm" title="Whiles it remained, was it not your own? and after it was sold, was it not in your own power? why have you conceived this thing in your heart? you have not lied to men, but to God.">Acts 5:4</a>). For by the sale of the piece of land and the bringing of the money, they in fact declared the whole sum to be a gift of brotherly love to the common stock; but they aimed only at securing for themselves the semblance of holy loving zeal by a portion of the price, and had selfishly embezzled the remainder for themselves. They wished to serve two masters, but to appear to serve only one. With justice, Augustine designates the act as sacrilegium (“quod Deum in pollicitatione fefellerit”) and fraus. The sudden death of both is to be regarded as a result directly effected through the will of the apostle, by means of the miraculous power imparted to him; and not as a natural stroke of paralysis, independent of Peter, though taking place by divine arrangement (so Ammon, Stolz, Heinrichs, and others). For, apart from the supposition, in this case necessary, of a similar susceptibility in husband and wife for such an impression of sudden terror, the whole narrative is opposed to it; especially <a href="/acts/5-9.htm" title="Then Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried your husband are at the door, and shall carry you out.">Acts 5:9</a>, the words of which Peter could only have uttered with the utmost presumption, if he had not the consciousness that his own will was here active. If we should take <a href="/acts/5-9.htm" title="Then Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried your husband are at the door, and shall carry you out.">Acts 5:9</a> to be a mere threat, to which Peter found himself induced by an inference from the fate of Ananias, this would be merely an unwarranted alteration of the simple meaning of the words, and would not diminish the presumptuousness of a threat so expressed. Nearly allied to this natural explanation is the view mingling the divine and the natural, and taking half from each, given by Neander (the holy earnestness of the apostolic words worked so powerfully on the terrified conscience), and by Olshausen (the word of Peter pierced like a sword the alarmed Ananias, and thus his death was the marvel arranged by a higher disposing power). But this view is directly opposed to the contents and the design of the whole representation. According to Baur, nothing remains historical in the whole narrative except that Ananias and his wife had, by their covetousness, made their names so hated, “that people believed that they could see only a divine judgment in their death, in whatever way it occurred;” all the rest is to be explained from the design of representing the πνεῦμα ἅγιον as the divine principle working in the apostles. Comp. Zeller, who, however, despairs of any more exact ascertainment of the state of the case. Baumgarten, as also Lange (comp. Ewald), agrees in the main with Neander; whilst de Wette is content with sceptical questions, although recognising the miraculous element so far as the narrative is concerned. Catholics have used this history in favour of the two swords of the Pope. The severity of the punishment, with which Porphyry reproached Peter (Jerome, Epp. 8), is justified by the consideration, that here was presented the first open venture of deliberate wickedness, as audacious as it was hypocritical, against the principle of holiness ruling in the church, and particularly in the apostles; and the dignity of that principle, hitherto unoffended, at once required its full satisfaction by the infliction of death upon the violators, by which “awe-inspiring act of divine church-discipline” (Thiersch, Kirche im apost. Zeitalt. p. 46), at the same time, the authority of the apostles, placed in jeopardy, was publicly guaranteed in its inviolableness (“ut poena duorum hominum sit doctrina multorum,” Jerome). ἐνοσφίσ.] he put aside for himself, purloined. <a href="/titus/2-10.htm" title="Not purloining, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.">Titus 2:10</a>; <a href="//apocrypha.org/2_maccabees/4-32.htm" title="Now Menelaus, supposing that he had gotten a convenient time, stole certain vessels of gold out of the temple, and gave some of them to Andronicus, and some he sold into Tyrus and the cities round about.">2Ma 4:32</a>; <a href="/joshua/7-1.htm" title="But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.">Joshua 7:1</a>; Xen. Cyr. iv. 2. 42; Pind. Nem. vi. 106; Valck. p. 395 f. ἈΠῸ Τ. ΤΙΜῆς] sc. τι. See Fritzsche, Conject. p. 36; Buttm. neut. Gr. p. 139 [E. T. 159]. Comp. Athen. vi. p. 234 A: νοσφ. ἐκ τοῦ χρήματος. [163] It may, however, be the Hebrew name עֲנַנְיָה (<a href="/nehemiah/3-23.htm" title="After him repaired Benjamin and Hashub over against their house. After him repaired Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of Ananiah by his house.">Nehemiah 3:23</a>, LXX.), i.e. God covers.—The name Σαπφείρη is apparently the Aramaic שפירא, formosa. Derived from the Greek σάπφειρος, sapphire, it would have probably been Σαπφειρίνη. <A name="2"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-2.htm">Acts 5:2</a></div><div class="verse">And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.</div><A name="3"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-3.htm">Acts 5:3</a></div><div class="verse">But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?</div><a href="/acts/5-3.htm" title="But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?">Acts 5:3</a>. Peter recognises the scheme of Ananias as the work of the devil, who, as the liar from the beginning (<a href="/john/8-44.htm" title="You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stayed not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.">John 8:44</a>), and original enemy of the πνεῦμα ἃγιον and of the Messianic kingdom, had entered into the heart of Ananias (comp. on <a href="/john/13-27.htm" title="And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus to him, That you do, do quickly.">John 13:27</a>; <a href="/luke/22-3.htm" title="Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.">Luke 22:3</a>), and filled it with his presence. Ananias, according to his Christian destination and ability (<a href="/james/4-7.htm" title="Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.">Jam 4:7</a>; <a href="/1_peter/5-9.htm" title="Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brothers that are in the world.">1 Peter 5:9</a>), ought not to have permitted this, but should have allowed his heart to be filled with the Holy Spirit; hence the question, διατί ἐπλήρωσεν κ.τ.λ. ψεύσασθαί σε τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἃγ.] that thou shouldest by lying deceive the Holy Spirit: this is the design of ἐπλήρωσεν. The explanation is incorrect which understands the infinitive ἐκβατικῶς, and takes it only of the attempt: unde accidit, ut πνεῦμα ἅγ. decipere tentares (Heinrichs, Kuinoel). The deceiving of the Holy Spirit was, according to the design of Satan, really to take place; and although it was not in the issue successful, it had actually taken place on the part of Ananias. τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἃγιον] Peter and the other apostles, as overseers of the church, were pre-eminently the bearers and organs of the Holy Spirit (comp. <a href="/acts/13-2.htm" title="As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.">Acts 13:2</a>; <a href="/acts/13-4.htm" title="So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed to Seleucia; and from there they sailed to Cyprus.">Acts 13:4</a>); hence through the deception of the former the latter was deceived. For examples of ψεύδεσθαι, of de facto lying, deception by an act, see Kypke, II. p. 32 f. The word with the accusative of the person (<a href="/isaiah/57-11.htm" title="And of whom have you been afraid or feared, that you have lied, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and you fear me not?">Isaiah 57:11</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/33-29.htm" title="Happy are you, O Israel: who is like to you, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of your help, and who is the sword of your excellency! and your enemies shall be found liars to you; and you shall tread on their high places.">Deuteronomy 33:29</a>; <a href="/hosea/9-2.htm" title="The floor and the wine press shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her.">Hosea 9:2</a>) occurs only here in the N. T.; often in the classical writers, see Blomfield, Gloss. ad Aesch. Pers. 478. This instantaneous knowledge of the deceit is an immediate perception, wrought in the apostle by the Spirit dwelling in him. <A name="4"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-4.htm">Acts 5:4</a></div><div class="verse">Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.</div><a href="/acts/5-4.htm" title="Whiles it remained, was it not your own? and after it was sold, was it not in your own power? why have you conceived this thing in your heart? you have not lied to men, but to God.">Acts 5:4</a>. When it remained (namely, unsold; the opposite: πραθέν), did it not remain to thee (thy property)? and when sold, was it not in thy power? That the community of goods was not a legal compulsion, see on <a href="/acts/2-43.htm" title="And fear came on every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.">Acts 2:43</a>. ἐν τῇ σῇ ἐξουσίᾳ ὑπῆρχε] sc. ἡ τιμή, which is to be taken out of πραθέν. It was in the disposal of Ananias either to retain the purchase-money entirely to himself, or to give merely a portion of it to the common use; but not to do the latter, as he did it, under the deceitful semblance as if what he handed over to the apostles was the whole sum. The sin of husband and wife is cleverly characterized in Constitt. ap. vii. 2. 4 : κλέψαντες τὰ ἴδια. τι ὅτι] quid est quod, i.e. cur? Comp. on <a href="/mark/2-17.htm" title="When Jesus heard it, he said to them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.">Mark 2:17</a>. Wherefore did. st thou fix this deed in thy heart? i.e. wherefore didst thou resolve on this deed (namely, on the instigation of the devil, <a href="/acts/5-3.htm" title="But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?">Acts 5:3</a>)? Comp. <a href="/acts/19-21.htm" title="After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.">Acts 19:21</a>; the Heb. שׂוּם עַל לֵב (<a href="/daniel/1-8.htm" title="But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.">Daniel 1:8</a>; <a href="/malachi/2-2.htm" title="If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, said the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings: yes, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.">Malachi 2:2</a>), and the classical expression θέσθαι ἐν φρεσί, and the like. οὐκ ἐψεύσω ἀνθρώποις, ἀλλὰ τῷ Θεῷ). The state of things in itself relative: not so much … but rather, is in the vehemence of the address conceived and set forth absolutely: not to men, but to God. “As a lie against our human personality, thy deed comes not at all into consideration; but only as a lie against God, the supreme Ruler of the theocracy, whose organs we are.” Comp. <a href="/1_thessalonians/4-8.htm" title="He therefore that despises, despises not man, but God, who has also given to us his holy Spirit.">1 Thessalonians 4:8</a>; Winer, p. 461 f. [E. T. 621]. The taking it as non tam, quam (see also Fritzsche, ad Marc. p. 781) is therefore a weakening of the words, which is unsuited to the fiery and decided spirit of the speaker in that moment of deep excitement. The datives denote the persons, to whom the action refers in hostile contradistinction.[164] Bernhardy, p. 99. Examples of the absolute ψεύδεσθαι with the dative are not found in Greek writers, but in the LXX. <a href="/joshua/24-27.htm" title="And Joshua said to all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us; for it has heard all the words of the LORD which he spoke to us: it shall be therefore a witness to you, lest you deny your God.">Joshua 24:27</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/22-45.htm" title="Strangers shall submit themselves to me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient to me.">2 Samuel 22:45</a>; Ps. 17:44, Ps. 77:36. By τῷ Θεῷ Peter makes the deceiver sensible of his fatal guilt, for his sin now appeared as blasphemy. This τῷ Θεῷ is quite warranted, for a lying to the Spirit (<a href="/acts/5-3.htm" title="But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?">Acts 5:3</a>, τὸ πνεῦμα) is a lie against God (τῷ Θεῷ), whose Spirit was lied to. Accordingly the divine nature of the Spirit and His personality are here expressed, but the Spirit is not called God. [164] Valckenaer well remarks: “ψεύσασθαί τινα notat mendacio aliquem decipere, ψεύσ. τινι mendacio contumeliam alicui facere. <A name="5"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-5.htm">Acts 5:5</a></div><div class="verse">And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.</div><a href="/context/acts/5-5.htm" title="And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things....">Acts 5:5-6</a>. Ἐξέψυξε] as in <a href="/acts/12-23.htm" title="And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.">Acts 12:23</a>; elsewhere not in the N. T., but in the LXX. and later Greek writers. Comp. <a href="/acts/20-10.htm" title="And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.">Acts 20:10</a>. ἀποψύχειν occurs in the old Greek from Homer onward. ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς ἀκούοντας] upon all hearers, namely, of this discussion of Peter with Ananias. For <a href="/acts/5-6.htm" title="And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.">Acts 5:6</a> shows that the whole proceeding took place in the assembled church. The sense in which it falls to be taken at <a href="/acts/5-11.htm" title="And great fear came on all the church, and on as many as heard these things.">Acts 5:11</a>, in conformity with the context at the close of the narrative, is different. Commonly it is taken here as in <a href="/acts/5-11.htm" title="And great fear came on all the church, and on as many as heard these things.">Acts 5:11</a>, in which case we should have to say, with de Wette, that the remark was proleptical. But even as such it appears unsuitable and disturbing. οἱ νεώτεροι] the younger men in the church, who rose up from their seats (ἀναστάντες), are by the article denoted as a definite class of persons. But seeing that they, unsummoned, perform the business as one devolving of itself upon them, they must be considered as the regular servants of the church, who, in virtue of the church-organization as hitherto developed, were bound to render the manual services required in the ecclesiastical commonwealth, as indeed such ministering hands must, both of themselves and also after the pattern of the synagogue, have been from the outset necessary. See Mosheim, de reb. Christ. ante Const. p. 114. But Neander, de Wette, Rothe, Lechler, and others (see also Walch, Diss. p. 79 f.) doubt this, and think that the summons of the νεώτεροι to this business was simply based on the relation of age, by reason of which they were accustomed to serve and were at once ready of their own accord. But precisely in the case of such a miraculous and dreadful death, it is far more natural to assume a more urgent summons to the performance of the immediate burial, founded on the relation of a conscious necessity of service, than to think of people, like automata, acting spontaneously. συνέστειλαν αὐτόν] means nothing else than contraxerunt eum.[165] Comp. <a href="/1_corinthians/7-29.htm" title="But this I say, brothers, the time is short: it remains, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;">1 Corinthians 7:29</a>. We must conceive the stretched out limbs of him who had fallen down, as drawn together, pressed together by the young men, in order that the dead body might be carried out. The usual view: they prepared him for burial (by washing, swathing, etc.), confounds συστέλλειν with περιστέλλειν (Hom. Od. xxiv. 292; Plat. Hipp. Maj. p. 291 D; Diod. Sic. xix. 12; Joseph. Antt. xix. 4. 1; <a href="//apocrypha.org/tobit/12-14.htm" title="And now God hath sent me to heal thee and Sara thy daughter in law.">Tob 12:14</a>; <a href="//apocrypha.org/ecclesiasticus/38-17.htm" title="Weep bitterly, and make great moan, and use lamentation, as he is worthy, and that a day or two, lest thou be evil spoken of: and then comfort thyself for thy heaviness.">Sir 38:17</a>), and, moreover, introduces into the narrative a mode of proceeding improbable in the case of such a death. Others incorrectly render: they covered him (de Dieu, de Wette); comp. Cant.: involverunt. For both meanings Eur. Troad. 382 has been appealed to, where, however, οὐ δάμαρτος ἐν χεροῖν πέπλοις συνεστάλησαν means: they were not wrapped up, shrouded, by the hands of a wife with garments (in which they wrapped them) in order to be buried. As little is συνεστάλθαι in Lucian. Imag. 7 : to be covered; but: to be pressed together, in contrast to the following διηνεμῶσθαι (to flutter in the wind). The explanation amoverunt (Vulgate, Erasmus, Luther, Beza, and others) is also without precedent of usage. [165] Comp. Laud.: collexerunt (sic); Castal.: constrinxerunt. <A name="6"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-6.htm">Acts 5:6</a></div><div class="verse">And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.</div><A name="7"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-7.htm">Acts 5:7</a></div><div class="verse">And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.</div><a href="/acts/5-7.htm" title="And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.">Acts 5:7</a>. But it came to pass—about an interval of three hours—and his wife came in. The husband had remained away too long for her. A period of three hours might easily elapse with the business of the burial, especially if the place of sepulture was distant from the city (see Lightfoot). After ἐγένετο δέ a comma is to be put, and ὡς ὡρ. τρ. διάστ. is a statement of time inserted independently of the construction of the sentence. See on <a href="/matthew/15-32.htm" title="Then Jesus called his disciples to him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.">Matthew 15:32</a>; <a href="/luke/9-28.htm" title="And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.">Luke 9:28</a>; Schaefer, ad Dem. V. p. 368. The common view: but there was an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, is at variance with the use, especially frequent in Luke, of the absolute ἐγένετο (Gersdorf, Beitr. p. 235; Bornemann, Schol. p. 2 f.). As to the καί after ἐγένετο, see on <a href="/luke/5-12.htm" title="And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and sought him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.">Luke 5:12</a>. On διάστημα used of time, comp. Polyb. ix. 1. 1. <A name="8"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-8.htm">Acts 5:8</a></div><div class="verse">And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.</div><a href="/acts/5-8.htm" title="And Peter answered to her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much? And she said, Yes, for so much.">Acts 5:8</a>. Ἀπεκρίθη] comp. on <a href="/acts/3-12.htm" title="And when Peter saw it, he answered to the people, You men of Israel, why marvel you at this? or why look you so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?">Acts 3:12</a>. Bengel aptly remarks: “respondit mulieri, cujus introitus in coetum sanctorum erat instar sermonis.” τοσούτου] for so much, points to the money still lying there. Arbitrarily, and with an overlooking of the vividness of what occurred, Bengel and Kuinoel suppose that Peter had named the sum. The sense of tantilli, on which Bornemann insists (Schol. in Luc. p. 168), results not as the import of the word, but, as elsewhere frequently (see Stallb. ad Plat. Rep. p. 416 E, 608B; Lobeck, ad Soph. Aj. 747), from the connection. <A name="9"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-9.htm">Acts 5:9</a></div><div class="verse">Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.</div><a href="/context/acts/5-9.htm" title="Then Peter said to her, How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried your husband are at the door, and shall carry you out....">Acts 5:9-10</a>. Wherefore was it agreed by you (dative with the passive, see on <a href="/matthew/5-21.htm" title="You have heard that it was said of them of old time, You shall not kill; and whoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:">Matthew 5:21</a>) to try the Spirit of the Lord (God, see <a href="/context/acts/5-4.htm" title="Whiles it remained, was it not your own? and after it was sold, was it not in your own power? why have you conceived this thing in your heart? you have not lied to men, but to God....">Acts 5:4-5</a>)? i.e. to venture the experiment, whether the πνεῦμα ἅγιον, ruling in us apostles, was infallible (comp. <a href="/malachi/3-15.htm" title="And now we call the proud happy; yes, they that work wickedness are set up; yes, they that tempt God are even delivered.">Malachi 3:15</a>; <a href="/matthew/4-7.htm" title="Jesus said to him, It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.">Matthew 4:7</a>). The πειράζων challenges by his action the divine experimental proof. οἱ πόδες] a trait of vivid delineation (comp. <a href="/luke/1-79.htm" title="To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.">Luke 1:79</a>; <a href="/romans/3-15.htm" title="Their feet are swift to shed blood:">Romans 3:15</a>; <a href="/romans/10-15.htm" title="And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!">Romans 10:15</a>); the steps of those returning were just heard at the door (see on <a href="/john/5-2.htm" title="Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.">John 5:2</a>; <a href="/acts/3-10.htm" title="And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened to him.">Acts 3:10</a>) outside (<a href="/acts/5-10.htm" title="Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.">Acts 5:10</a>). πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα αὐτῆς] beside her (just buried) husband. <A name="10"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-10.htm">Acts 5:10</a></div><div class="verse">Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.</div><A name="11"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-11.htm">Acts 5:11</a></div><div class="verse">And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.</div><a href="/acts/5-11.htm" title="And great fear came on all the church, and on as many as heard these things.">Acts 5:11</a>. Φόβος] quite as in <a href="/acts/5-5.htm" title="And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.">Acts 5:5</a>, fear and dread at this miraculous, destroying punitive power of the apostles. ἐφ ̓ ὅλην τ. ἐκκλ. καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας κ.τ.λ.] upon the whole church (in Jerusalem), and (generally) on all (and so also on those who had not yet come over to the church, <a href="/acts/5-13.htm" title="And of the rest dared no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.">Acts 5:13</a>) to whose ears this occurrence came. <A name="12"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-12.htm">Acts 5:12</a></div><div class="verse">And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.</div><a href="/context/acts/5-12.htm" title="And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders worked among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch....">Acts 5:12-16</a>. After this event, which formed an epoch as regards the preservation of the holiness of the youthful church, there is now once more (comp. <a href="/acts/2-43.htm" title="And fear came on every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.">Acts 2:43</a> f., <a href="/acts/4-32.htm" title="And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.">Acts 4:32</a> ff.) introduced as a resting point for reflection, a summary representation of the prosperous development of the church, and that in its external relations. δέ is the simple μεταβατικόν, carrying on the representation. By the hands of the apostles, moreover, occurred signs and wonders among the people in great number. And they were all (all Christians, comp. <a href="/acts/2-1.htm" title="And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.">Acts 2:1</a>, in contrast to τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν[166]) with one accord in Solomon’s porch (and therefore publicly): of the rest, on the other hand, no one ventured to join himself to them; but the people magnified them (the high honour in which the people held the Christians, induced men to keep at a respectful distance from them): and the more were believers added to the Lord, great numbers of men and women; so that they brought out to the streets, etc. The simple course of the description is accordingly: (1) The miracle-working of the apostles continued abundantly, <a href="/acts/5-12.htm" title="And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders worked among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.">Acts 5:12</a> : διὰ … πολλά. (2) The whole body of believers was undisturbed in their public meetings, protected by the respect[167] of the people (καὶ ἦσαν, <a href="/acts/5-12.htm" title="And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders worked among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.">Acts 5:12</a> … ὁ λαός, <a href="/acts/5-13.htm" title="And of the rest dared no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.">Acts 5:13</a>), and the church increased in yet greater measure; so that under the impression of that respect and of this ever increasing acceptance which Christianity gained, people brought out to the streets, etc., <a href="/context/acts/5-14.htm" title="And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)...">Acts 5:14-15</a>. Ziegler (in Gabler’s Journ. f. theol. Lit. I. p. 155), entirely mistaking the unartificial progress of the narrative, considered καὶ ἦσαν … γυναικῶν as a later insertion; and in this Eichhorn, Heinrichs, and Kuinoel agree with him; while Laurent (neutest. Stud. p. 138 f.) recognises the genuineness of the words, but looks on them as a marginal remark of Luke. Beck (Obss. exeg. Crit. V. p. 17) declared even <a href="/acts/5-15.htm" title="So that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.">Acts 5:15</a> also as spurious. It is unnecessary even to make a parenthesis of <a href="/acts/5-14.htm" title="And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)">Acts 5:14</a> (with Lachmann), as ὥστε in <a href="/acts/5-14.htm" title="And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)">Acts 5:14</a> is not necessarily confined in its correct logical reference to ἀλλ ̓ ἐμεγ. αὐτ. ὁ λαός alone, but may quite as fitly refer to <a href="/context/acts/5-13.htm" title="And of the rest dared no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them....">Acts 5:13-14</a> together. Compare Winer, p. 525 [E. T. 706]. τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν] are the same who are designated in the contrast immediately following as ὁ λαός, and therefore those who had not yet gone over to them, the non-Christian population. It is strangely perverse to understand by it the newly converted (Heinrichs), or the more notable and wealthy Christians like Ananias (Beza, Morus, Rosenmüller). By the τῶν λοιπῶν, as it forms the contrast to the ἅπαντες, Christians cannot at all be meant, not even as included (Kuinoel, Baur). κολλᾶσθαι αὐτοῖς] to join themselves to them, i.e. to intrude into their society, which would have destroyed their harmonious intercourse. Comp. <a href="/acts/9-26.htm" title="And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.">Acts 9:26</a>, <a href="/acts/10-28.htm" title="And he said to them, You know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come to one of another nation; but God has showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.">Acts 10:28</a>, <a href="/acts/17-34.htm" title="However, certain men joined to him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.">Acts 17:34</a>; <a href="/luke/15-15.htm" title="And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.">Luke 15:15</a>. This αὐτοῖς and αὐτούς in <a href="/acts/5-13.htm" title="And of the rest dared no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.">Acts 5:13</a> must refer to the ἅπαντες, and so to the Christians in general, but not to the apostles alone, as regards which Luke is assumed by de Wette to have become “a little confused.” μᾶλλον δέ] in the sense of all the more, etc. See Nägelsbach on the Iliad, p. 227, ed. 3. The bearing of the people, <a href="/acts/5-13.htm" title="And of the rest dared no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.">Acts 5:13</a>, promoted this increase. τῷ κυρίῳ] would admit grammatically of being construed with πιστεύοντες (<a href="/acts/16-34.htm" title="And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.">Acts 16:34</a>); but <a href="/acts/11-24.htm" title="For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added to the Lord.">Acts 11:24</a> points decisively to its being connected with προσετίθεντο. They were added to the Lord, namely, as now connected with Him, belonging to Christ. πλήθη] “pluralis grandis: jam non initur numerus uti <a href="/acts/4-4.htm" title="However, many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.">Acts 4:4</a>,” Bengel.[168] κατὰ πλατείας (see the critical remarks)] emphatically placed first: so that they (the people) through streets, along the streets, brought out their sick from the houses, etc. ἐπὶ κλιν. κ. κραββάτ.] denotes generally: small beds (κλιναρίων, see the critical remarks, and comp. Epict. iii. 5.13) and couches. The distinction made by Bengel and Kuinoel with the reading κλινῶν, that the former denotes soft and costly, and the latter poor and humble, beds, is quite arbitrary. ἐρχομ. ΠΈΤΡΟΥ] genitive absolute, and then Ἡ ΣΚΙΆ: the shadow cast by him. ΚἌΝ] at least (καὶ ἐάν, see Herm. ad Viger. p. 838) is to be explained as an abbreviated expression: in order that, should Peter come, he might touch any one, if even merely his shadow overshadowed him. Comp. Fritzsche, Diss. in 2 Cor. II. p. 120, and see on <a href="/2_corinthians/11-16.htm" title="I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.">2 Corinthians 11:16</a>. That cures actually took place by the shadow of the apostle, Luke does not state; but only the opinion of the people, that the overshadowing would cure their sick. It may be inferred, however, from <a href="/acts/5-6.htm" title="And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.">Acts 5:6</a> that Luke would have it regarded as a matter of course that the sick were not brought out in vain, but were cured by the miraculous power of the apostle. As the latter was analogous to the miraculous power of Jesus, it is certainly conceivable that Peter also cured without the medium of corporeal contact; but if this result was in individual instances ascribed to his shadow, and if men expected from the shadow of the apostle what his personal miraculous endowment supplied, he was not to be blamed for this superstition. Zeller certainly cannot admit as valid the analogy of the miraculous power of Jesus, as he does not himself recognise the historical character of the corresponding evangelical narrative. He relegates the account to the domain of legend, in which it was conceived that the miraculous power had been, independently of the consciousness and will of Peter, conveyed by his shadow like an electric fluid. An absurdity, which in fact only the presupposition of a mere legend enables us to conceive as possible. τὸ πλῆθος] the multitude (vulgus) of the neighbouring towns. οἵτινες] as well those labouring under natural disease as those demoniacally afflicted; comp. <a href="/luke/4-40.htm" title="Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.">Luke 4:40</a> f. Then follows <a href="/acts/5-17.htm" title="Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,">Acts 5:17</a>, the contrast of the persecution, which, however, was victoriously overcome. [166] The limitation of ἅπαντες to the apostles (Kuinoel, Olshausen, and others) is by Baur urged in depreciation of the authenticity of the narrative. The apostles are assumed by Baur to be presented as a group standing isolated, as superhuman, as it were magical beings, to whom people dare not draw nigh; from which there would result a conception of the apostles the very opposite of that which is found everywhere in the N. T. and in the Book of Acts itself! Even Zeller has, with reason, declared himself opposed to this interpretation on the part of Baur. [167] “Est enim in sancta disciplina et in sincero pietatis cultu arcana quaedam σευνότης, quae malos etiam invitos constringat,” Calvin. It would have been more accurate to say: “quae profanum vulgus et malos etiam,” etc. [168] Comp. on the comparatively rare plural πλήθη, not again occurring in the N. T., Bremi, ad Aeshin. adv. Ctesiph. p. 361. <A name="13"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-13.htm">Acts 5:13</a></div><div class="verse">And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.</div><A name="14"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-14.htm">Acts 5:14</a></div><div class="verse">And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)</div><A name="15"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-15.htm">Acts 5:15</a></div><div class="verse">Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.</div><A name="16"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-16.htm">Acts 5:16</a></div><div class="verse">There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.</div><A name="17"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-17.htm">Acts 5:17</a></div><div class="verse">Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,</div><a href="/context/acts/5-17.htm" title="Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,...">Acts 5:17-18</a>. Ἀναστάς] The high priest stood up; he raised himself: a graphic trait serving to illustrate his present interference. Comp. <a href="/acts/6-9.htm" title="Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.">Acts 6:9</a>, <a href="/acts/23-9.htm" title="And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees' part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.">Acts 23:9</a>; <a href="/luke/15-18.htm" title="I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you,">Luke 15:18</a>, al. “Non sibi quiescendum ratus est,” Bengel. The ἀρχιερεύς, is according to <a href="/acts/4-6.htm" title="And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.">Acts 4:6</a>, Annas, not Caiaphas, although the latter was so really. καὶ πάντες οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ, ἡ οὖσα αἵρεσις τῶν Σαδδουκ.] and all his associates (his whole adherents, <a href="/acts/5-21.htm" title="And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.">Acts 5:21</a>; Xen. Anab. iii. 2.11, al.), which were the sect of the Sadducees. This sect had allied itself with Annas, because the preaching of Christ as the Risen One was a grievous offence to them. See <a href="/context/acts/4-1.htm" title="And as they spoke to the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came on them,...">Acts 4:1-2</a>. The participle ἡ οὖσα (not οἱ ὄντες is put) adjusts itself to the substantive belonging to the predicate, as is often the case in the classical writers. See Kühner, § 429; Stallb. ad Plat. Rep. p. 333 E, 392 D. Luke does not affirm that the high priest himself was a Sadducee, as Olshausen, Ewald, and others assert. This remark also applies in opposition to Zeller, who adduces it as an objection to the historical character of the narrator, that Luke makes Annas a Sadducee. In the Gospels also there is no trace of the Sadducaeism of Annas. According to Josephus, Antt. xx. 9. 1, he had a son who belonged to that sect. ἐν τηρήσει δημοσ.] τήρησ. as in <a href="/acts/4-3.htm" title="And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold to the next day: for it was now eventide.">Acts 4:3</a>. The public prison is called in Thuc. 5:18. 6 also merely τὸ δημόσιον; and in Xen. Hist. vii. 36, οἰκία δημόσια. <A name="18"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-18.htm">Acts 5:18</a></div><div class="verse">And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.</div><A name="19"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-19.htm">Acts 5:19</a></div><div class="verse">But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,</div><a href="/context/acts/5-19.htm" title="But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,...">Acts 5:19-20</a>. The historical state of the case as to the miraculous mode of this liberation,—the process of which, perhaps, remained mysterious to the apostles themselves,—cannot be ascertained. Luke narrates the fact in a legendary[169] interpretation of the mystery (comp. Neander, p. 726); but every attempt to refer the miraculous circumstances to a merely natural process (a stroke of lightning, or an earthquake, or, as Thiess, Eck, Eichhorn, Eckermann, and Heinrichs suggest, that a friend, perhaps the jailor himself, or a zealous Christian, may have opened the prison) utterly offends against the design and the nature of the text. It remains matter for surprise, that in the proceedings afterwards (<a href="/acts/5-27.htm" title="And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,">Acts 5:27</a> ff.) nothing is brought forward as to this liberation and its circumstances. This shows the incompleteness of the narrative, but not the unhistorical character of the fact itself (Baur, Zeller), which, if it were an intentional invention, would certainly also have been referred to in the trial. Nor is the apparent uselessness of the deliverance (for the apostles are again arrested) evidence against its reality, as it had a sufficient ethical purpose in the very fact of its confirming and increasing the courage in faith of the apostles themselves. On the other hand, the hypothesis that Christ, by His angel, had wished to demonstrate to the Sanhedrim their weakness (Baumgarten), would only have sufficient foundation, provided the sequel of the narrative purported that the judges had really recognised the interposition of heavenly power in the mode of the deliverance. Lange, apost. Zeitalt. II. p. 68, refers the phenomenon to a visionary condition: the apostles were liberated “in the condition of genius-life, of second consciousness.” This is extravagant fancy introducing its own ideas. ἄγγελος] not the angel, but an angel; Winer, p. 118 [E. T. 155]. διὰ τῆς νυκτός] per noctem, i.e. during the night; so that the opening, the bringing out of the prisoners, and the address of the angel, occurred during the course of the night, and toward morning-dawn the apostles repaired to the temple. Comp. <a href="/acts/16-9.htm" title="And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.">Acts 16:9</a>, and see on <a href="/galatians/2-1.htm" title="Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.">Galatians 2:1</a>. The expression is thus more significant than διὰ τὴν νύκτα (Nägelsbach on the Iliad, p. 222, ed. 3) would be, and stands in relation with ὑπὸ τὸν ὄρθρον, <a href="/acts/5-21.htm" title="And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.">Acts 5:21</a>. Hence there is no deviation from Greek usage (Winer, Fritzsche). ἘΞΑΓΑΓ.] But on the next day the doors were again found closed (<a href="/acts/5-23.htm" title="Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.">Acts 5:23</a>), according to which even the keepers had not become aware of the occurrence. <a href="/acts/5-20.htm" title="Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.">Acts 5:20</a>. σταθέντες] take your stand and speak; in which is implied a summons to boldness. Comp. <a href="/acts/2-14.htm" title="But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said to them, You men of Judaea, and all you that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known to you, and listen to my words:">Acts 2:14</a>. τὰ ῥήματα τῆς ζωῆς ταύτης] the words of this life. What life it was, was self-evident to the apostles, namely, the life, which was the aim of all their effort and working. Hence: the words, which lead to the eternal Messianic life, bring about its attainment. Comp. <a href="/john/6-68.htm" title="Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? you have the words of eternal life.">John 6:68</a>. See on ταύτης, Winer, p. 223 [E. T. 297 f.]. We are not to think here of a hypallage, according to which ταύτης refers in sense to Τ. ῬΉΜΑΤΑ (Bengel, Kuinoel, and many others). Comp. <a href="/acts/13-26.htm" title="Men and brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and whoever among you fears God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.">Acts 13:26</a>; <a href="/romans/7-24.htm" title="O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?">Romans 7:24</a>. [169] Ewald also discovers here a legendary form (perhaps a duplication of the history in ch. 12). <A name="20"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-20.htm">Acts 5:20</a></div><div class="verse">Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.</div><A name="21"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-21.htm">Acts 5:21</a></div><div class="verse">And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.</div><a href="/context/acts/5-21.htm" title="And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought....">Acts 5:21-23</a>. Ὑπὸ τὸν ὄρθρον] about the dawn of day. On ὄρθρος, see Lobeck, ad Phryn. 275 f.; and on ὑπό, used of nearness in time, see Bernhardy, p. 267. Often so in Thuc.; see Krüger on i. 100. 3. Comp. 3Ma 5:2; <a href="//apocrypha.org/tobit/7-11.htm" title="I have given my daughter in marriage to seven men, who died that night they came in unto her: nevertheless for the present be merry. But Tobias said, I will eat nothing here, till we agree and swear one to another.">Tob 7:11</a>. The ἀκούσαντες is simply a continuation of the narrative: after they heard that, etc., as in <a href="/acts/2-37.htm" title="Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brothers, what shall we do?">Acts 2:37</a>, <a href="/acts/11-18.htm" title="When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then has God also to the Gentiles granted repentance to life.">Acts 11:18</a>, and frequently. παραγενόμενος] namely, into the chamber where the Sanhedrim sat, as is evident from what follows. They resorted thither, unacquainted with the liberation of the apostles which had occurred in the past night, and caused the Sanhedrim and the whole eldership to be convoked, in order to try the prisoners. καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γερουσίαν] The importance which they assigned to the matter (comp. on <a href="/acts/4-6.htm" title="And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.">Acts 4:6</a>) induced them to summon not only those elders of the people who were likewise members of the Sanhedrim, but the whole body of elders generally, the whole council of representatives of the people. The well-known term γερουσία is fittingly[170] transferred from the college of the Greek gerontes (Dem. 489. 19; Polyb. xxxviii. 5. 1; Herm. Staatsalterth. § 24. 186) to that of the Jewish presbyters. Heinrichs (following Vitringa, Archisynag. p. 356) considers πᾶσ. τ. γερουσ. as equivalent to ΤῸ ΣΥΝΈΔΡΙΟΝ, to which it is added as honorificentissima compellatio. Warranted by usage (<a href="//apocrypha.org/1_maccabees/12-6.htm" title="Jonathan the high priest, and the elders of the nation, and the priests, and the other of the Jews, unto the Lacedemonians their brethren send greeting:">1Ma 12:6</a>; <a href="//apocrypha.org/2_maccabees/1-10.htm" title="In the hundred fourscore and eighth year, the people that were at Jerusalem and in Judea, and the council, and Judas, sent greeting and health unto Aristobulus, king Ptolemeus' master, who was of the stock of the anointed priests, and to the Jews that were in Egypt:">2Ma 1:10</a>; <a href="//apocrypha.org/2_maccabees/4-44.htm" title="Now when the king came to Tyrus, three men that were sent from the senate pleaded the cause before him:">2Ma 4:44</a>; <a href="//apocrypha.org/judith/4-8.htm" title="And the children of Israel did as Joacim the high priest had commanded them, with the ancients of all the people of Israel, which dwelt at Jerusalem.">Jdt 4:8</a>; <a href="//apocrypha.org/judith/11-14.htm" title="For they have sent some to Jerusalem, because they also that dwell there have done the like, to bring them a licence from the senate.">Jdt 11:14</a>; <a href="//apocrypha.org/judith/15-8.htm" title="Then Joacim the high priest, and the ancients of the children of Israel that dwelt in Jerusalem, came to behold the good things that God had shewed to Israel, and to see Judith, and to salute her.">Jdt 15:8</a>; Loesner, p. 178); but after the quite definite and well-known τὸ συνέδριον, the addition would have no force. <a href="/acts/5-23.htm" title="Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.">Acts 5:23</a> contains quite the artless expression of the official report. [170] Although nowhere else in the N. T.; hence here, perhaps, to be derived from the source used by Luke. <A name="22"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-22.htm">Acts 5:22</a></div><div class="verse">But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned, and told,</div><A name="23"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-23.htm">Acts 5:23</a></div><div class="verse">Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.</div><A name="24"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-24.htm">Acts 5:24</a></div><div class="verse">Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.</div><a href="/context/acts/5-24.htm" title="Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow....">Acts 5:24-25</a>. Ὅ τε ἱερεύς] the (above designated) priest, points to the one expressly named in <a href="/acts/5-21.htm" title="And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.">Acts 5:21</a> as ὁ ἁρχιερεύς. The word in itself has not the signification high priest; but the context (so also in <a href="//apocrypha.org/1_maccabees/15-1.htm" title="Moreover Antiochus son of Demetrius the king sent letters from the isles of the sea unto Simon the priest and prince of the Jews, and to all the people;">1Ma 15:1</a>; <a href="//apocrypha.org/baruch/1-7.htm" title="And they sent it to Jerusalem unto Joachim the high priest, the son of Chelcias, son of Salom, and to the priests, and to all the people which were found with him at Jerusalem,">Bar 1:7</a>; <a href="/hebrews/5-6.htm" title="As he said also in another place, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.">Hebrews 5:6</a>; and see Krebs, p. 178) gives to the general expression this special reference. ὁ στρατηγὸς τ. ἱεροῦ] see on <a href="/acts/4-1.htm" title="And as they spoke to the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came on them,">Acts 4:1</a>. He also, as the executive functionary of sacred justice, was summoned to the Sanhedrim. οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς] are the titular high priests; partly those who at an earlier date had really held the office, and partly the presidents of the twenty-four classes of priests. Comp. on <a href="/matthew/2-4.htm" title="And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.">Matthew 2:4</a>The order in which Luke names the persons is quite natural. For first and chiefly the directing ἱερεύς, the head of the whole assembly, must feel himself concerned in the unexpected news; and then, even more than the ἀρχιερεῖς, the στρατηγός, because he, without doubt, had himself carried into effect the arrest mentioned at <a href="/acts/5-18.htm" title="And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.">Acts 5:18</a>, and held the supervision of the prison. διηπόρουν … τοῦτο] they were full of perplexity (see on <a href="/luke/24-4.htm" title="And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:">Luke 24:4</a>) concerning them (the apostles), as to what this might come to—what they had to think of as the possible termination of the occurrence just reported to them. Comp. on <a href="/acts/2-12.htm" title="And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What means this?">Acts 2:12</a>, also <a href="/acts/10-17.htm" title="Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon's house, and stood before the gate,">Acts 10:17</a>. ἑστῶτες κ.τ.λ.] Comp. <a href="/context/acts/5-20.htm" title="Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life....">Acts 5:20-21</a>. <A name="25"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-25.htm">Acts 5:25</a></div><div class="verse">Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.</div><A name="26"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-26.htm">Acts 5:26</a></div><div class="verse">Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.</div><a href="/context/acts/5-26.htm" title="Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned....">Acts 5:26-28</a>. Οὐ μετὰ βίας] without application of violence. Comp. <a href="/acts/24-7.htm" title="But the chief captain Lysias came on us, and with great violence took him away out of our hands,">Acts 24:7</a> and the passages from Polybius in Raphel. More frequent in classical writers is βίᾳ, ἐκ βίας, πρὸς βίαν. ἵνα μὴ λιθασθ.] contains the design of ἐφοβοῦντο γὰρ τ. λαόν. They feared the people, in order not to be stoned. How easily might the enthusiasm of the multitude for the apostles have resulted in a tumultuous stoning of the στρατηγός and his attendants (ὑπηρέτ.), if, by any compulsory measures, such as putting them in chains, there had been fearless disregard of the popular feeling! It is erroneous that after verbs of fearing, merely the simple μή, μήπως κ.τ.λ., should stand, and that therefore ἵνα μὴ λιθ. is to be attached to ἤγαγεν … βίας, and ἐφοβ. γ. τ. λ. to be taken parenthetically (so Winer, p. 471 [E. T. 634], de Wette). Even among classical writers those verbs are found connected with ὅπως μή (with ἵνα μή: Diod. Sic. ii. p. 329). See Hartung, Partikell. II. p. 116; Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. ii. 9. 2; Krüger on Thuc. vi. 13. 1. Assuming the spuriousness of οὐ, <a href="/acts/5-28.htm" title="Saying, Did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in this name? and, behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood on us.">Acts 5:28</a> (see the critical remarks), the question proper is only to be found in καὶ βούλεσθε κ.τ.λ., for which the preceding (παραγγελίᾳ … διδαχῆς ὑμῶν) paves the way. παραγγ. παρηγγ.] see <a href="/context/acts/4-17.htm" title="But that it spread no further among the people, let us straightly threaten them, that they speak from now on to no man in this name....">Acts 4:17-18</a>. ἐπὶ τ. ὀνομ. τ.] as in <a href="/acts/4-17.htm" title="But that it spread no further among the people, let us straightly threaten them, that they speak from now on to no man in this name.">Acts 4:17</a>. βούλεσθε] your efforts go to this; “verbum invidiosum,” Bengel. ἐπαγαγεῖν κ.τ.λ.] to bring about upon us, i.e. to cause that the shed blood of this man be avenged on us (by an insurrection of the people). “Pro confesso sumit Christum jure occisum fuisse,” Calvin. Comp. <a href="/matthew/23-35.htm" title="That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you slew between the temple and the altar.">Matthew 23:35</a>; <a href="/matthew/27-25.htm" title="Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.">Matthew 27:25</a>; <a href="/acts/18-6.htm" title="And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said to them, Your blood be on your own heads; I am clean; from now on I will go to the Gentiles.">Acts 18:6</a>; <a href="/joshua/23-15.htm" title="Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come on you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring on you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you.">Joshua 23:15</a>; <a href="/judges/9-24.htm" title="That the cruelty done to the three score and ten sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, which slew them; and on the men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his brothers.">Jdg 9:24</a>; <a href="/leviticus/22-16.htm" title="Or suffer them to bear the iniquity of trespass, when they eat their holy things: for I the LORD do sanctify them.">Leviticus 22:16</a>. On the (contemptuous) τούτῳ … τούτου Bengel rightly remarks: “fugit appellare Jesum; Petrus appellat et celebrat, <a href="/context/acts/5-30.htm" title="The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree....">Acts 5:30-31</a>.” Observe how the high priest prudently leaves out of account the mode of their escape. Disobedience towards the, sacred tribunal was the fulcrum. <A name="27"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-27.htm">Acts 5:27</a></div><div class="verse">And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,</div><A name="28"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-28.htm">Acts 5:28</a></div><div class="verse">Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.</div><A name="29"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-29.htm">Acts 5:29</a></div><div class="verse">Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.</div><a href="/acts/5-29.htm" title="Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.">Acts 5:29</a>. Καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι] and (generally) the apostles. For Peter spoke in the name of all; hence also the singular ἀποκριθ., see Buttm. neut. Gr. p. 111 [E. T. 127]. πειθαρχεῖν κ.τ.λ.] “Ubi enim jussa Domini et servi concurrunt, oportet illa prius exsequi.” Maimon. Hilchoth Melach. iii. 9. Comp. on <a href="/acts/4-19.htm" title="But Peter and John answered and said to them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, judge you.">Acts 4:19</a>. The principle is here still more decidedly expressed than in <a href="/acts/4-19.htm" title="But Peter and John answered and said to them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, judge you.">Acts 4:19</a>, and in all its generality. <A name="30"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-30.htm">Acts 5:30</a></div><div class="verse">The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.</div><a href="/context/acts/5-30.htm" title="The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree....">Acts 5:30-32</a> now presents, in exact reference to the previous Θεῷ μᾶλλον, the teaching activity of the apostles as willed by God. ὁ Θεὸς τ. πατ. ἡμ.] Comp. <a href="/acts/3-13.htm" title="The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Son Jesus; whom you delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.">Acts 3:13</a>. ἤγειρεν] is, with Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Erasmus, and others, to be referred to the raising from the dead, as the following relative sentence contains the contrast to it, and the exaltation to glory follows immediately afterwards, <a href="/acts/5-31.htm" title="Him has God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.">Acts 5:31</a>. Others, such as Calvin, Bengel, de Wette, hold that it refers generally to the appearance of Christ, whom God has made to emerge (<a href="/acts/3-22.htm" title="For Moses truly said to the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you of your brothers, like to me; him shall you hear in all things whatever he shall say to you.">Acts 3:22</a>; <a href="/acts/3-26.htm" title="To you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.">Acts 3:26</a>, <a href="/acts/13-23.htm" title="Of this man's seed has God according to his promise raised to Israel a Savior, Jesus:">Acts 13:23</a>; <a href="/luke/1-69.htm" title="And has raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;">Luke 1:69</a>; <a href="/luke/7-16.htm" title="And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God has visited his people.">Luke 7:16</a>). διαχειρίζεσθαι] to murder with one’s own hands. See <a href="/acts/26-21.htm" title="For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.">Acts 26:21</a>; Polyb. viii. 23. 8. Comp. διαχειροῦσθαι, <a href="/job/30-24.htm" title="However, he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.">Job 30:24</a>. This purposely chosen significant word brings the execution of Christ, which was already in <a href="/acts/4-10.htm" title="Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you whole.">Acts 4:10</a> designated as the strict personal act of the instigators, into prominent view with the greatest possible force as such. So also in the examples in Kypke, II. p. 34. The following aorist κρεμάσ. is synchronous with διεχειρ. as its modal definition. ἐπὶ ξύλου] on a tree: an expression, well known to the hearers, for the stake (עֵץ, <a href="/genesis/40-19.htm" title="Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up your head from off you, and shall hang you on a tree; and the birds shall eat your flesh from off you.">Genesis 40:19</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/21-22.htm" title="And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and you hang him on a tree:">Deuteronomy 21:22</a>; <a href="/isaiah/10-26.htm" title="And the LORD of hosts shall stir up a whip for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and as his rod was on the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt.">Isaiah 10:26</a>; comp. <a href="/acts/10-39.htm" title="And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:">Acts 10:39</a>; <a href="/1_peter/2-24.htm" title="Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live to righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed.">1 Peter 2:24</a>; <a href="/galatians/3-13.htm" title="Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree:">Galatians 3:13</a>) on which criminals were suspended. The cross is here designedly so called, not because the σταυρός was a Roman instrument of death (see, on the other hand, <a href="/acts/2-36.htm" title="Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made the same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.">Acts 2:36</a>, <a href="/acts/4-10.htm" title="Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you whole.">Acts 4:10</a>), but in order to strengthen the representation, because ἐπὶ ξύλου reminded them of the accursed (see on <a href="/galatians/3-13.htm" title="Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree:">Galatians 3:13</a>). <a href="/acts/5-31.htm" title="Him has God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.">Acts 5:31</a>. Him has God exalted by His right hand to be the Leader (not as in <a href="/acts/3-15.htm" title="And killed the Prince of life, whom God has raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.">Acts 3:15</a>, where a genitive stands alongside), i.e. the Ruler and Head of the theocracy (a designation of the kingly dignity of Jesus, comp. Thuc. i. 132. 2; Aesch. Agam. 250; and τιμαὶ ἀρχηγοί, Eur. Tr. 196), and a Saviour (the author and bestower of the Messianic salvation). On the idea, comp. <a href="/acts/2-36.htm" title="Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made the same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.">Acts 2:36</a>. As to τῇ δεξ. αὑτοῦ, see on <a href="/acts/2-23.htm" title="Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:">Acts 2:23</a>. δοῦναι μετάνοιαν κ.τ.λ.] contains the design of τοῦτον … τῇ δεξιᾷ αὑτοῦ: in order to give repentance to the Israelites and the forgiveness of sins. With the exaltation of Christ, namely, was to commence His heavenly work on earth, through which He as Lord and Saviour, by means of the Holy Spirit, would continually promote the work of redemption to be appropriated by men (would draw them to Him, <a href="/context/john/12-32.htm" title="And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to me....">John 12:32-33</a>) in bringing them by the preaching of the gospel (<a href="/1_peter/1-23.htm" title="Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and stays for ever.">1 Peter 1:23</a>) to a change of mind (comp. <a href="/acts/11-18.htm" title="When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then has God also to the Gentiles granted repentance to life.">Acts 11:18</a>; <a href="/2_timothy/2-25.htm" title="In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;">2 Timothy 2:25</a>), and so, through the faith in Him which set in with the μετάνοια, making them partakers of the forgiveness of sins in baptism (comp. <a href="/1_peter/3-21.htm" title="The like figure whereunto even baptism does also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:">1 Peter 3:21</a>). The appropriation of the work of salvation would have been denied to them without the exaltation of Christ, in the absence of which the Spirit would not have operated (<a href="/john/7-39.htm" title="(But this spoke he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)">John 7:39</a>; <a href="/john/16-7.htm" title="Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you.">John 16:7</a>); but by the exaltation it was given[171] to them, and that, indeed, primarily to the Israelites, whom Peter still names alone, because it was only at a later period that he was to rise from this his national standpoint to universalism (chap. 10). With the reading αὐρτοῦ μάρτ. (see the critical remarks), μάρτ. governs two genitives different in their reference, the one of a person and the other of a thing (see Winer, p. 180 [E. T. 239]; Dissen, ad Pind. Ol. i. 94; Pyth. ii. 56), and αὐτοῦ could not but accordingly precede; but the emphasis lies on the bold ἡμεῖς, to which then τὸ πνεῦμα κ.τ.λ. is added still more defiantly. τῶν ῥημάτ. τούτων] of these words, i.e. of what has just been uttered. See on <a href="/matthew/4-4.htm" title="But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.">Matthew 4:4</a>. Peter means the raising and exaltation of Jesus. Of the latter the apostles were witnesses, in so far as they had already experienced the activity of the exalted Jesus, agreeably to His own promise (<a href="/acts/1-5.htm" title="For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.">Acts 1:5</a>), through the effusion of the Spirit (<a href="/acts/2-33.htm" title="Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this, which you now see and hear.">Acts 2:33</a> f.). But Luke, who has narrated the tradition of the externally visible event of the ascension as an historical fact, must here have thought of the eye-witness of the apostles at the ascension. καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα δὲ τὸ ἅγιον] as well we … as also the Spirit (on the other hand, see Hartung, Partikell. I. p. 181), in which case δέ, according to the Attic usage, is placed after the emphasized idea (Baeumlein, Partik. p. 169). The Holy Spirit, the greater witness, different from the human self-consciousness, but ruling and working in believers, witnesses with them (συμμαρτυρεῖ, <a href="/romans/8-16.htm" title="The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:">Romans 8:16</a>). Comp. <a href="/acts/15-28.htm" title="For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay on you no greater burden than these necessary things;">Acts 15:28</a>. τοῖς πειθαρχ. αὐτῷ] to those who obey Him. In an entirely arbitrary manner this is usually restricted by a mentally supplied ἡμῖν merely to the apostles; whereas all who were obedient to God (in a believing recognition of the Messiah preached to them, comp. <a href="/acts/2-38.htm" title="Then Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.">Acts 2:38</a>, <a href="/acts/11-17.htm" title="For as much then as God gave them the like gift as he did to us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?">Acts 11:17</a>, and so through the ὑπακοὴ τῆς πίστεως, <a href="/romans/1-5.htm" title="By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:">Romans 1:5</a>) had received the gifts of the Spirit. They form the category to which the apostles belong. [171] Not merely the actual impulse and occasion given, as, after Heinrichs, Kuinoel and de Wette, also Weiss, Petr. Lehrbegr. p. 307 (comp. his bibl. Theol. p. 138), would have us take it. Against this view may be urged the appended καὶ ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν, which is not compatible with that more free rendering of δοῦναι. <A name="31"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-31.htm">Acts 5:31</a></div><div class="verse">Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.</div><A name="32"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-32.htm">Acts 5:32</a></div><div class="verse">And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.</div><A name="33"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-33.htm">Acts 5:33</a></div><div class="verse">When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.</div><a href="/acts/5-33.htm" title="When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.">Acts 5:33</a>. Διεπρίοντο] not: they gnashed with the teeth, which would be διέπριον τοὺς ὀδόντας (Lucian. Calumn. 24), but dissecabantur (Vulgate), comp. <a href="/acts/7-54.htm" title="When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth.">Acts 7:54</a> : they were sawn through, cut through as by a saw (Plat. Conv. p. 193 A; Aristoph. Eq. 768; <a href="/1_chronicles/20-3.htm" title="And he brought out the people that were in it, and cut them with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes. Even so dealt David with all the cities of the children of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.">1 Chronicles 20:3</a>; see Suicer, Thes. I. p. 880; Valckenaer, p. 402 f.),—a figurative expression (comp. <a href="/acts/2-37.htm" title="Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brothers, what shall we do?">Acts 2:37</a>) of deeply penetrating painful indignation. Alberti, Gloss. p. 67: πικρῶς ἐχαλέπαινον. It is stronger than the non-figurative διαπονεῖσθαι, <a href="/acts/4-2.htm" title="Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.">Acts 4:2</a>, <a href="/acts/16-18.htm" title="And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.">Acts 16:18</a>. ἐβουλεύοντο] they consulted, <a href="/luke/14-31.htm" title="Or what king, going to make war against another king, sits not down first, and consults whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that comes against him with twenty thousand?">Luke 14:31</a>; <a href="/acts/15-37.htm" title="And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.">Acts 15:37</a>. The actual coming to a resolution was averted by Gamaliel. <A name="34"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-34.htm">Acts 5:34</a></div><div class="verse">Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;</div><a href="/acts/5-34.htm" title="Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;">Acts 5:34</a>. Gamaliel, גַּמְלִי אֵל, retributio Dei (<a href="/numbers/1-10.htm" title="Of the children of Joseph: of Ephraim; Elishama the son of Ammihud: of Manasseh; Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.">Numbers 1:10</a>; <a href="/numbers/2-20.htm" title="And by him shall be the tribe of Manasseh: and the captain of the children of Manasseh shall be Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.">Numbers 2:20</a>), is usually assumed to be identical with Rabban Gamaliel, הַזָּקֵיִ (senex), celebrated in the Talmud, the grandson of Hillel and the son of R. Simeon,—a view which cannot be proved, but also cannot be refuted, as there is nothing against it in a chronological point of view (Lightf. Hor. ad Matth. p. 33). He was the teacher of the Apostle Paul (<a href="/acts/22-3.htm" title="I am truly a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as you all are this day.">Acts 22:3</a>), but is certainly not in our passage to be considered as the president of the Sanhedrim, as many have assumed, because in that case Luke would have designated him more characteristically than by τις ἐν τ. συνεδρίῳ Φαρισ. That he had been in secret a Christian (see already Recogn. Clem. i. 65; Beda, Cornelius a Lapide), and been baptized, along with his son and Nicodemus, by Peter and John (Phot. cod. 171, p. 199), is a legend deduced by arbitrary inference from this passage. See Thilo, ad Cod. apocr. p. 501. An opposite but equally arbitrary extreme is the opinion of Pearson (Lectt. p. 49), that Gamaliel only declared himself in favour of the apostles from an inveterate partisan opposition to the Sadducees. Still more grossly, Schrader, II. p. 63, makes him a hypocrite, who sought to act merely for his own elevation and for the kingdom of darkness, and to win the unsuspicious Christians by his dissimulation. He was not a mere prudent waiter on events (Thiersch), but a wise, impartial, humane, and religiously scrupulous man, so strong in character that he could not and would not suppress the warnings and counsels that experience prompted him to oppose to the passionate zeal, backed in great part by Sadducean prejudice, of his colleagues (<a href="/acts/5-17.htm" title="Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,">Acts 5:17</a>); and therefore to be placed higher than an ordinary jurist and politician dispassionately contemplating the case (Ewald). Recently it has been maintained that the emergence of Gamaliel here recorded is an unhistorical rôle (Baur) assigned to him (see also Zeller); and the chief[172] ground alleged for this view is the mention of Theudas, <a href="/acts/5-36.htm" title="For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nothing.">Acts 5:36</a> (but see on <a href="/acts/5-36.htm" title="For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nothing.">Acts 5:36</a>), while there is further assumed the set purpose of making Christianity a section of orthodox, or in other words Pharisaic Judaism, combated by Sadducaeism. As if, after the exaltation of Christ, His resurrection must not really have stood in the foreground of the apostles’ preaching! and by that very fact the position of parties could not but necessarily be so far changed, that now the main interests of Sadducaeism were most deeply affected. νομοδιδάσκαλος] a νομικός, one skilled in the law (canonist) as a teacher. See on <a href="/matthew/22-35.htm" title="Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,">Matthew 22:35</a>. βραχύ] a short while, Thuc. vi. 12; Polyb. iii. 96. 2; <a href="/2_samuel/19-36.htm" title="Your servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king: and why should the king recompense it me with such a reward?">2 Samuel 19:36</a>. On ἔξω ποιεῖν] to put without. Comp. Xen. Cyr. iv. 1. 3; Symm. <a href="/psalms/142-7.htm" title="Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise your name: the righteous shall compass me about; for you shall deal bountifully with me.">Psalm 142:7</a>τ. ἀνθρώπους (see the critical remarks): thus did Gamaliel impartially designate them, and Luke reproduces his expression. The order of the words puts the emphasis on ἔξω; for the discussion was to be one conducted within the Sanhedrim. Comp. <a href="/acts/4-15.htm" title="But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves,">Acts 4:15</a>. [172] Moreover, Baur puts the alternative: Either the previous miracles, etc., actually took place, and then Gamaliel could not have given an advice so problematic in tenor, whether he might have regarded them as divine miracles or not. Or, if Gamaliel gave this counsel, then what is said to have taken place could not have occurred as it is related. But this dilemma proves nothing, as there is a third alternative possible, namely, that Gamaliel was by the miracles <A name="35"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-35.htm">Acts 5:35</a></div><div class="verse">And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.</div><a href="/acts/5-35.htm" title="And said to them, You men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do as touching these men.">Acts 5:35</a>. Ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀυθρώπ. τούτοις] in respect of these men (Bernhardy, p. 251) might be joined to προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς (Lachm.), as Luther, Castalio, Beza, and many others have done (whence also comes the reading ἀπὸ τῶν κ.τ.λ. in E); yet the currency of the expression πράσσειν τι ἐπί τινι (Wolf and Kuinoel in loc., Matthiae, p. 927) is in favour of its being construed with τί μέλλετε πράσσειν. The emphasis also which thus falls on ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀνθρ. is appropriate. πράσσειν (not ποιεῖν): agere, what procedure ye will take. Comp. <a href="/acts/3-17.htm" title="And now, brothers, I know that through ignorance you did it, as did also your rulers.">Acts 3:17</a>, <a href="/acts/19-36.htm" title="Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, you ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.">Acts 19:36</a>; and see on <a href="/romans/1-32.htm" title="Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.">Romans 1:32</a>. Gamaliel will have nothing προπετές (<a href="/acts/19-36.htm" title="Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, you ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.">Acts 19:36</a>) done; therefore they must be on their guard (προσέχ. ἑαυτ.). <A name="36"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-36.htm">Acts 5:36</a></div><div class="verse">For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.</div><a href="/acts/5-36.htm" title="For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nothing.">Acts 5:36</a>. Γάρ] gives the reason[173] for the warning contained in <a href="/acts/5-35.htm" title="And said to them, You men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do as touching these men.">Acts 5:35</a>. In proof that they should not proceed rashly, Gamaliel reminds them of two instances from contemporary history (<a href="/context/acts/5-36.htm" title="For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nothing....">Acts 5:36-37</a>), when fanatical deceivers of the people (without any interference of the Sanhedrim) were overthrown by their own work. Therefore there should be no interference with the apostles (<a href="/acts/5-38.htm" title="And now I say to you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nothing:">Acts 5:38</a>); for their work, if it should be of men, would not escape destruction; but if it should be of God, it would not be possible to overthrow it. πρὸ τούτων τῶν ἡμερ.] i.e. not long ago. Οὐ λέγει παλαιὰ διηγήματα καίτοιγε ἔχων, ἀλλὰ νεώτερα, ἃ μάλιστα πρὸς πίστιν ἦσαν ἰσχυρά, Chrysostom. Comp. <a href="/acts/21-38.htm" title="Are not you that Egyptian, which before these days made an uproar, and led out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?">Acts 21:38</a>. Yet the expression, which here stands simply in contrast to ancient incidents (which do not lie within the experience of the generation), is not to be pressed; for Gamaliel goes back withal to the time before the census of Quirinus. Θευδᾶς] Joseph. Antt. xx. 5.1, informs us that under the procurator Cuspius Fadus (not before A.D. 44; see Anger, de temp. rat. p. 44) an insurgent chief Theudas gave himself out to be a prophet, and obtained many adherents. But Fadus fell on the insurgents with his cavalry; they were either slain or taken prisoners, and Theudas himself was beheaded by the horsemen. This narrative suits our passage exactly as regards substance, but does not correspond as regards date. For the Theudas of Josephus lived under Claudius, and Tiberius Alexander succeeded Cuspius Fadus about A.D. 46; whereas Gamaliel’s speech occurred about ten years earlier, in the reign of Tiberius. Very many (Origen, c. Cels. i. 6, Scaliger, Casaubon, Beza, Grotius, Calovius, Hammond, Wolf, Bengel, Heumann, Krebs, Lardner, Morus, Rosenmüller, Heinrichs, Kuinoel, Guericke, Anger, Olshausen, Ebrard) therefore suppose that it is not the Theudas of Josephus who is here meant, but some other insurgent chief or robber-captain acting a religious part,[174] who has remained unknown to history, but who emerged in the turbulent times either of the later years of Herod the Great or soon after his death. This certainly removes all difficulties, but in what a violent manner! especially as the name was by no means so common as to make the supposition of two men of that name, with the same enterprise and the same fate, appear probable, or indeed, in the absence of more precise historical warrant, otherwise than rash, seeing that elsewhere historical mistakes occur in Luke (comp. <a href="/acts/4-6.htm" title="And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.">Acts 4:6</a>; <a href="/context/luke/2-1.htm" title="And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed....">Luke 2:1-2</a>). Besides, it is antecedently improbable that tradition should not have adduced an admonitory example thoroughly striking, from a historical point of view, such as was that of Judas the Galilean. But the attempts to discover in our Theudas one mentioned by Josephus under a different name (Wieseler, Synops. p. 103 ff., and Baumgarten, also Köhler in Herzog’s Encykl. XVI. p. 40 f, holding it to refer to the scribe Matthias in Joseph. Bell. i. 33. 2, Antt. xvii. 6; Sonntag in the Stud. u. Krit. 1837, p. 638 ff., and Ewald, to the insurgent Simon in Joseph. Bell. ii. 4. 2, Antt. xvii. 10. 6; Zuschlag in the monograph Theudas, Anführer eines 750. in Paläst. erregten Aufstandes, Cassel 1849, taking it to be the Theudion of Joseph. Antt. xvii. 4, who took an active part in the Idumean rising after the death of Herod the Great), amount only to assumptions incapable of proof, and are nevertheless under the necessity of leaving the difference of names unaccounted for. But inasmuch as, if the Theudas in our passage is conceived as the same with the Theudas mentioned by Josephus, the error cannot be sought on the side of Josephus (Baronius, Reland, Michaelis, Jahn, Archäol. II. 2, § 127); as, on the contrary, the exactness of the narrative of Josephus secures at any rate the decision in its favour for chronological accuracy over against Luke; there thus remains nothing but to assume that Luke—or, in the first instance, his source—has, in the reproduction of the speech before us, put into the mouth of Gamaliel a proleptic mistake. This might occur the more easily, as the speech may have been given simply from tradition. And the tradition which had correctly preserved one event adduced by Gamaliel (the destruction of Judas the Galilean), was easily amplified by an anachronistic addition of another. If Luke himself composed the speech in accordance with tradition, the error is in his case the more easily explained, since he wrote the Acts so long after the insurrection of Theudas,—in fact, after the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth,—that the chronological error, easy in itself, may here occasion the less surprise, for he was not a Jew, and he had been for many years occupied with efforts of quite another kind than the keeping freshly in mind the chronological position of one of the many passing enthusiastic attempts at insurrection. It has been explained as a proleptic error by Valesius, ad Euseb. H. E. ii. 11, Lud. Cappellus, Wetstein, Ottius, Spicileg. p. 258, Eichhorn, Credner, de Wette, Neander, Bleek, Holtzmann, Keim,[175] as also by Baur and Zeller, who, however, urge this error as an argument against the historical truth of the entire speech. Olshausen considers himself prevented from assenting to the idea of a historical mistake, because Luke must have committed a double mistake,—for, first, he would have made Gamaliel name a man who did not live till after him; and, secondly, he would have put Judas, who appeared under Augustus, as subsequent to Theudas, who lived under Claudius. But the whole mistake amounts to the simple error, that Luke conceived that Theudas had played his part already before the census of Quirinius, and accordingly he could not but place him before Judas.[176] εἶναί τινα] giving out himself (ἑαυτόν, in which consists the arrogance, the self-exaltation; “character falsae doctrinae,” Bengel) for one of peculiar importance: προφήτης ἔλεγεν εἶναι, Joseph. Antt. xx. 5. 1. On τίς, eximius quidam (the opposite οὐδείς Valckenaer, ad Herod. iii. 140), see Wetstein in loc.; Winer, p. 160 [E. T. 213]; Dissen, ad Pind. Pyth. viii. 95, p. 299. ᾧ προσεκλίθη] to whom leaned, i.e. adhered, took his side: πολλοὺς ἠπάτησεν, Josephus, l.c. Comp. Polyb. iv. 51. 5; also πρόσκλισις, Polyb. vi. l0. 10, v. 51. 8. ἐγένοντο εἰς οὐδέν] ad nihilum redacti sunt. See Schleusner, Thes. IV. p. 140. They were, according to Josephus, l.c., broken up (διελύθησαν) by the cavalry of Fadus, and partly killed, partly taken prisoners. The two relative sentences ᾧ προσεκλ. and ὃς ἀνῃρέθη are designed to bring out emphatically the contrast. Comp. <a href="/acts/4-10.htm" title="Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you whole.">Acts 4:10</a>. [173] Erasmus well paraphrases it “Ex praeteritis sumite consilium, quid in futurum oporteat decernere.” [174] So also Gerlach, d. Rõmischen Statthalt. p. 70, not without a certain irritation towards me, which I regret, as it contributes nothing to the settlement of the question. [175] According to Lange, Apost. Zeitalt. I. p. 94, the difficulty between Luke and Josephus remains “somewhat in suspense.” Yet he inclines to the assumption of an earlier Theudas, according to the hypothesis of Wieseler. According to this hypothesis, the Greek name (see Wetstein) Theudas (= θεοδᾶν = θεόδωρος), preserved still on coins in Mionnet, must be regarded as the Greek form of the name מַתִּיָה. But why should Gamaliel or Luke not have retained the name Matthias? Or what could induce Josephus to put Matthias instead of Theudas? especially as the name תודוס was not strange in Hebrew (Schoettg. p. 423), and Josephus himself mentions the later insurgent by no other name. [176] Entirely mistaken is the—even in a linguistic point of view erroneous—interpretation of μετὰ τοῦτον (ver. 37) by Calvin, Wetstein, and others, that it denotes not temporis ordinem, but, generally, insuper or praeterea. <A name="37"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-37.htm">Acts 5:37</a></div><div class="verse">After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.</div><a href="/acts/5-37.htm" title="After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.">Acts 5:37</a>. Ἰούδας ὁ Γαλιλαῖος] Joseph. Antt. xviii. 1. 1, calls him a Gaulanite; for he was from Gamala in Lower Gaulanitis. But in Antt. xviii. 1. 6, xx. 5. 2, Bell. ii. 8. 1, xvii. 8, he mentions him likewise as Γαλιλαῖος. Apparently the designation “the Galilean” was the inaccurate one used in ordinary life, from the locality in which the man was at work. Gaulanitis lay on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. He excited an insurrection against the census which Augustus in the year 7 aer. Dion. (thirty-seven years after the battle of Actium, Joseph. Antt. xviii. 2. 1) caused to be made by Quirinius the governor of Syria (see on <a href="/luke/2-2.htm" title="(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)">Luke 2:2</a>), representing it as a work of subjugation, and calling the people to liberty with all the fanatical boldness kindled by the old theocratic spirit. Joseph. Antt. xviii. 1. 1. See Gerlach, d. Röm. Statthalter, p. 45 f.; Paret in Herzog’s Encykl. VII. p. 126 f. ἀπέστησε … ὀπίσω αὑτοῦ] he withdrew them (from the government), and made them his own adherents. Attraction: Hermann, ad Vig. p. 893. ἀπώλετο] a notice which supplements Josephus. According to Joseph. Antt. xx. 5. 2, two sons of Judas perished at a later period, whom Tiberius Alexander, the governor of Judaea, caused to be crucified. Comp. Bell. ii. 8. 1. Still later a third son was executed (Bell. ii. 17. 8 f.; Vit. v. 11). διεσκορπίσθησαν] they were scattered,—which does not exclude the continuance of the faction, whose members were afterwards very active as zealots, and again even in the Jewish war (Joseph. Bell. ii. 17. 7); therefore it is not an incorrect statement (in opposition to de Wette). <A name="38"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-38.htm">Acts 5:38</a></div><div class="verse">And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:</div><a href="/context/acts/5-38.htm" title="And now I say to you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nothing:...">Acts 5:38-40</a>. Καί] is the simple copula of the train of thought; τὰ νῦν as in <a href="/acts/4-29.htm" title="And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant to your servants, that with all boldness they may speak your word,">Acts 4:29</a>. ἐξ ἀνθρώπων] of human origin (comp. <a href="/matthew/21-25.htm" title="The baptism of John, from where was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say to us, Why did you not then believe him?">Matthew 21:25</a>), not proceeding from the will and arrangement of God (not ἐκ Θεοῦ). ἡ βουλὴ αὕτη ἢ τὸ ἔργ. τοῦτο] “Disjunctio non ad diversas res, sed ad diversa, quibus res appellatur, vocabula pertinet.” Fritzsche, ad Marc. p. 277. This project or (in order to denote the matter in question still more definitely) this work (as already in the act of being executed). καταλυθήσεται] namely, without your interference. This conception results from the antithesis in the second clause: οὐ δύνασθε καταλῦσαι αὐτούς. For similar expressions from the Rabbins (Pirke Aboth, iv. 11, al.), see Schoettgen. Comp. Herod. ix. 16 : ὅ, τι δεῖ γενέσθαι ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀμήχανον ἀποτρέψαι ἀνθρώπῳ. Eur. Hippol: 476. The reference of καταλύειν to persons (αὐτούς, see the critical remarks) who are overthrown, ruined, is also current in classical authors. Xen. Cyr. viii. 5. 24; Plat. Legg. iv. p. 714 C; Lucian. Gall. 23. Comp. κατάλυσις τοῦ τυράννου, Polyb. x. 25. 3, etc. Notice, further, the difference in meaning of the two conditional clauses: ἐὰν ᾗ and εἰ … ἐστιν (comp. <a href="/context/galatians/1-8.htm" title="But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed....">Galatians 1:8-9</a>; and see Winer, p. 277 f. [E. T. 369]; Stallb. ad Plat. Phaed. p. 93 B), according to which the second case put appeared to Gamaliel as the more probable. μήποτε καὶ θεομάχοι εὑρεθῆτε] although grammatically to be explained by a σκεπτέου, προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς (<a href="/luke/21-34.htm" title="And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come on you unawares.">Luke 21:34</a>), or some similar phrase floating before the mind, is an independent warning: that ye only be not found even fighters against God. See Hom. Il. i. 26, ii. 195; <a href="/matthew/25-9.htm" title="But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go you rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.">Matthew 25:9</a> (Elz.); <a href="/romans/11-21.htm" title="For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not you.">Romans 11:21</a>; Baeumlein, Partik. p. 283; Nägelsb. on the Iliad, p. 18, ed. 3. Valckenaer and Lachmann (after Pricaeus and Hammond) construe otherwise, referring μήποτε to ἐάσατε αὐτούς, and treating ὅτι … αὐτούς as a parenthesis. A superfluous interruption, to which also the manifest reference of θεομάχοι to the directly preceding εἰ δὲ ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐστιν κ.τ.λ. is opposed. καί] is to be explained elliptically: not only with men, but also further, in addition. See Hartung, Partikell. I. p. 134. θεομάχοι] Symm. <a href="/proverbs/9-18.htm" title="But he knows not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.">Proverbs 9:18</a>; <a href="/proverbs/21-16.htm" title="The man that wanders out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.">Proverbs 21:16</a>; <a href="/job/26-5.htm" title="Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.">Job 26:5</a>; Heraclid. Alleg. 1; Lucian. Jov. Tr. 45. On the thing itself, comp. Hom. Il. vi. 129: οὐκ ἂν ἔγωγε θεοῖσιν ἐπουρανίοισι μαχοίμην. ἐπείσθησαν] even if only in tantum; and yet how greatly to their self-conviction on account of their recent condemnation of Jesus! δείραντες] The Sanhedrim would at least not expose themselves, as if they had instituted an examination wholly without result, and therefore they order the punishment of stripes, usual for very various kinds of crime (here: proved disobedience), but very ignominious (comp. <a href="/acts/16-37.htm" title="But Paul said to them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privately? no truly; but let them come themselves and fetch us out.">Acts 16:37</a>; <a href="/acts/16-22.htm" title="And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.">Acts 16:22</a>.). Concerning the counsel of Gamaliel generally, the principle therein expressed is only right conditionally, for interference against a spiritual development must, in respect of its admissibility or necessity, be morally judged of according to the nature of the cases; nor is that counsel to be considered as an absolute maxim of Gamaliel, but as one which is here presented to him by the critical state of affairs, and is to be explained from his predominant opinion that a work of God may be at stake, as he himself indeed makes this opinion apparent by εἰ … ἐστιν, <a href="/acts/5-39.htm" title="But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it; lest haply you be found even to fight against God.">Acts 5:39</a> (see above). <A name="39"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-39.htm">Acts 5:39</a></div><div class="verse">But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.</div><A name="40"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-40.htm">Acts 5:40</a></div><div class="verse">And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.</div><A name="41"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-41.htm">Acts 5:41</a></div><div class="verse">And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.</div>f <a href="/acts/5-41.htm" title="And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.">Acts 5:41</a> f. Χαίροντες] comp. <a href="/context/matthew/5-11.htm" title="Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake....">Matthew 5:11-12</a>ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος] placed first with emphasis: for the name, for its glorification. For the scourging suffered tended to that effect, because it was inflicted on the apostles on account of their stedfast confession of the name. Comp. <a href="/acts/9-16.htm" title="For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.">Acts 9:16</a>. “Quum reputarent causam, praevalebat gaudium,” Calvin. The absolute τὸ ὄνομα denotes the name κατʼ ἐξοχήν,—namely, “Jesus Messiah” (<a href="/acts/3-6.htm" title="Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.">Acts 3:6</a>, <a href="/acts/4-10.htm" title="Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand here before you whole.">Acts 4:10</a>), the confession and announcement of which was always the highest and holiest concern of the apostles. Analogous is the use of the absolute שֵׁם (<a href="/leviticus/24-11.htm" title="And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed. And they brought him to Moses: (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:)">Leviticus 24:11</a>; <a href="/leviticus/24-16.htm" title="And he that blasphemes the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemes the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.">Leviticus 24:16</a>), in which the Hebrew understood the name of his Jehovah as implied of itself. Comp. <a href="/3_john/1-7.htm" title="Because that for his name's sake they went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles.">3 John 1:7</a>. κατηξιώθ. ἀτιμασθ.] An oxymoron. Comp. <a href="/philippians/1-29.htm" title="For to you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;">Php 1:29</a>; <a href="/context/2_corinthians/11-26.htm" title="In journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brothers;...">2 Corinthians 11:26-30</a>; <a href="/galatians/6-14.htm" title="But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.">Galatians 6:14</a>; <a href="/galatians/6-17.htm" title="From now on let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.">Galatians 6:17</a>, al.; <a href="/1_peter/2-19.htm" title="For this is thank worthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.">1 Peter 2:19</a>. πᾶσαν ἡμέραν] every day the οὐκ ἐπαύοντο in preaching took place. See Winer, p. 162 [E. T. 214]. They did it day after day without cessation. κατʼ οἶκον] domi, in the house, a contrast to ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ. See on <a href="/acts/2-46.htm" title="And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,">Acts 2:46</a>. ἀνεπαύοντο διδάσκοντες] See Herm. ad Viger. p. 771; Bernhardy, p. 477. καὶ εὐαγγελ. Ἰησ. τ. Χ.] and announcing Jesus as the Messiah, a more specific definition of διδάσκοντες as regards its chief contents. <A name="42"></a> <div class="versenum"><a href="/acts/5-42.htm">Acts 5:42</a></div><div class="verse">And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.</div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer's NT Commentary Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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