The great praise and universal gratitude which followed Barnabas, for
this noble and self-denying act of pure generosity, was soon after the
occasion of a most shameful piece of imposition, ending in an awful
expression of divine vengeance. Led by the hope of cheaply winning the
same praise and honor which Barnabas had acquired by his simple-minded
liberality, a man named Ananias, with the knowledge and aid of his wife
Sapphira, having sold a piece of land, brought only a part of the price
to the apostles, and deposited it in the general charity-fund, alleging
at the same time, that this was the whole amount obtained for the land.
But Peter, having reason to believe that this was only a part of the
price, immediately questioned Ananias sternly on this point, charging
him directly with the crime of lying to God. He remarked to him that
the land was certainly his own, and no one could question his right to
do just as he pleased with that, or the money obtained for it; since
he was under no obligation to give it away to the poor of the church.
But since he had of his own accord attempted to get a reputation for
generosity, by a base and avaricious act of falsehood, he had incurred
the wrath of an insulted God. No sooner had Ananias heard this awful
denunciation, than, struck with the vengeance he had brought on himself,
he fell lifeless before them, and was carried out to the burial by the
attendants. His wife soon after coming in, not having heard of what had
happened, boldly maintained her husband’s assertion, and repeated the
lie most distinctly to Peter. He then declared his knowledge of her
guilt, and made known to her the fate of her husband, which she was
doomed to share. The words had hardly left his lips, when they were
confirmed by her instant death, and she was at once carried out and
laid with her husband. The effect of these shocking events on the minds
of the members of the church generally, was very salutary; exhibiting
to them the awful consequences of such deliberate and hardened sin.
_Attendants._――The common English translation here gives the
expression, “young men,” which is the primary meaning of the
Greek νεανισκοι, (_neaniskoi_,) and is quite unobjectionable;
but the connection here seems to justify and require its
secondary use in application to “servants,” “attendants,” &c.
This interpretation has the authority of the learned Mosheim,
who considers the persons here mentioned, to have been regularly
appointed officers, who performed the necessary duties about the
assemblies of the disciples, and executed all the commands of
the apostles. He says, “unless you suppose these _young men_ to
have been of this sort, it is hard to understand why they alone
instantly rose up and carried out the bodies of Ananias and his
wife, and buried them. But if you suppose them to have been men
discharging an official duty in the public assembly, you see a
reason why, even without orders, they took that sad duty upon
themselves. And that there were public servants of this sort in
the first Christian church, no one certainly can doubt, who will
imagine for himself either its circumstances or the form of the
assemblies of that age. For instance, there were the places of
meeting to be cleaned,――the seats and tables to be arranged,
――the sacred books to be brought and carried away,――the dishes
to be set out and cleared off,――in short, there were many things
to be done which absolutely required particular men.” (Mosheim,
Commentary de rebus Christianorum ante Constantinum, p. 114, b.)
This passage is quoted by Kuinoel, and is so clear in its
representation of the circumstance, as to justify me in
translating it entire.