The triumphant progress of the new sect, however, was not unnoticed
by those who had already taken so decided a stand against it. The
Sadducees, who had so lately come out against them, were not yet
disposed to leave the apostles to enjoy their boldness with impunity.
The high priest Annas, who had always been the determined enemy of
Christ, belonging to the Sadducean sect, was easily led to employ all
his authority with his brethren, against the apostles. He at last,
provoked beyond endurance at their steady and unflinching contempt of
the repeated solemn injunction of the Sanhedrim, whose president and
agent he was, rose up in all his anger and power, and, backed by his
friends, seized the apostles and put them into the common jail, as
inveterate disturbers of the peace of the city, and of the religious
order of the temple. This commitment was intended to be merely
temporary, and was to last only until a convenient time could be found
for bringing them to trial, when the crowd of strangers should have
retired from the city to their homes, and the excitement attendant on
the preaching and miracles of the apostles should have subsided, so
that the ordinary course of law might go on safely, even against these
popular favorites, and they might be brought at last to the same fate
as their Master. After the achievment of this project, “a consummation
most devoutly to be wished” by every friend of the established order
of things, the sect which was now making such rapid advances would fall
powerless and lifeless, when its great heads were thus quietly lopped
off. This seems to have been their well-arranged plan,――but it was
destined to be spoiled in a way unlooked for; and this first step in it
was to be made the means of a new triumph to the persecuted subjects of
it. That very night, the prison doors were opened by a messenger of God,
by whom the apostles were brought out of their confinement, and told,
“Go, stand and speak in the temple, to the people, all the words of
this life.” According to this divine command, they went into the temple
and taught, early in the morning, probably before their luxurious
tyrants had left their lazy pillows. While the apostles were thus
coolly following their daily labors of mercy in the temple, the
high priest and his train called the council together, and the whole
senate of all the children of Israel, and having deliberately arrayed
themselves in the forms of law, they ordered the imprisoned heretics to
be brought forthwith into the awful presence of this grand council and
senate of the Jewish nation and faith. The officers, of course, as in
duty bound, went to execute the order, but soon returned to report the
important deficiency of the persons most needed to complete the solemn
preparation for the trial. Their report was simply, “The prison truly
we found shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without, before
the doors; but when we had opened, we found no man within.” Here was
a non-plus, indeed; all proceedings were brought to a stand at once;
and “when the high priest and the chief officer of the temple, and
the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them, whereunto
they would grow.” But these eminent dignitaries were not left long to
perplex their sage heads about the unworthy objects of their tender
solicitude; for some faithful sycophant, rejoicing in such a glorious
opportunity to serve the powers that were, came running to tell them,
“Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple,
and teaching the people.” This very simple but valuable piece
of information relieved the grave judges very happily from their
unfortunate quandary; and without further delay, a detachment of
officers was sent to bring these unaccountable runaways to account.
But as it appeared that the criminals were now in the midst of a vast
assemblage of their friends, who were too perfectly devoted to them to
suffer them to receive any violence, it was agreed to manage the thing
as quietly and easily as might be, and to coax them away if possible
to the tribunal. To insure the still and effectual performance of this
order, the captain of the temple himself went with the officers, and
quietly drew the apostles away, with their own consent, and without any
violence; for the minions of the law knew perfectly well that the least
show of injury towards these righteous men, would insure to those who
attempted it, broken heads and bones, from the justly provoked people,
whose deserved indignation would soon make the very stones to rise
in mutiny for the defence of their beloved teachers and benefactors.
The apostles themselves, however, showed no unwillingness whatever to
appear before their bitter persecutors again, and presented themselves
accordingly, with bold unflinching fronts, before the bar of the
Sanhedrim. When they were fairly set before the council, the high
priest, turning his lately perplexed face into “a look of austere
dignity,” asked them, “Did we not particularly charge you, that you
should not teach in his name? And now, indeed, in open contempt of
our authority, you have filled all Jerusalem with your doctrine, and
mean to bring this man’s blood upon us?” They, the high priest and his
supporters, had, at no small pains and trouble, effected the death of
Jesus, and had naturally hoped that there would be an end of him; but
here now were his disciples constantly using his name to the excitable
populace in their daily teachings, thus keeping alive the memory of
these painful incidents which it was so desirable to forget, and slowly
plotting the means of avenging upon the Sanhedrim the death of their
Master. To this sort of address, Peter and all the other apostles,
who now shared the fate of their two distinguished friends, replied,
even as had been said on the previous summons, “We ought to obey God
rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew
and hanged on a tree: him now has God uplifted to sit beside his own
right hand, to be a Prince and a Savior, to give to Israel a change
of heart and views, and remission of sins. And we are his witnesses of
these things, and what is far more, so also is the Holy Spirit, which
God has given to those who obey him, as the reward and the sign of
their obedience.” This bold and solemn speech, breathing nothing but
resistance against all hindrances, and steady persistance in their
course,――and denouncing, too, as murderers, the judges, while it
exalted their victim to honors the highest in the universe, was not at
all calculated to conciliate the friendly regard of the hearers of it,
but roused them to the most violent and deadly hate. Deeply wounded
and insulted as they were, they determined to try remonstrance no
longer; but in spite of the danger of popular ferment, to silence these
audacious bravers of their authority, in death. While they were on the
point of pronouncing this cruel decision, the proceedings were stayed
by Gamaliel, a man of vast learning and influence, an eminent Pharisee
of great popularity, and beyond all the men of that age, in knowledge
of the law of Moses and of Hebrew literature. This great man, rising
up in the midst of their wrathful resolutions, moved to suspend the
decision for a few minutes, and to withdraw the prisoners from the bar,
until the court could form their opinions by deliberating with more
freedom than they could in the presence of the subjects of the trial.
As soon as the apostles were put out of the court, Gamaliel addressed
them, prompted by a noble humanity, as well as by a deep knowledge
of human nature, and acting in accordance, also, with the general
principles of the Pharisees, who were very averse to cruelty and
bloodshed, and were generally disposed to punish even criminals in
the mildest ways. Possibly, too, he might have been affected by some
jealousy of the forwardness of the rival sect. His words were these:
“Men of Israel! take care what you do to these men. For you know that,
not long ago, rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody, and
gathered a gang about him, to the number of four hundred. But as soon
as the attention of our Roman masters was drawn to his outrageous
doings, they put him entirely down at once, killing him and breaking up
his band, by slaughter and banishment; so that without any trouble or
exertion on our part, all this sedition was brought to nought. And when,
after him, Judas the Galilean raised a great party about him, in the
days of the taxing, this rebellion against the government met with the
same inevitable fate, from the resistless soldiery of Rome; and all
this was done without any need of interference from us. And now, with
these remarkable instances in view, I warn you to let these men alone,
and leave them to determine their fate by their own future conduct.
For if, in all their active efforts of seeming benevolence, they have
been prompted by any base ambition to head a faction, which may raise
them to the supreme power in religious and political affairs, and by a
revengeful wish to punish those concerned in the death of their Master;
――if, in short, their plan or their work is a mere contrivance of men,
it will come to nought of itself, without your interference, as did the
two miserable riots which I have just mentioned. But if, inspired by a
holier principle of action, they are laboring with pure love of their
converts; if all these wonderful cures which you consider mere tricks
and impostures, shall prove to be true miracles, wrought by the hand
of God, and if their plan be of God,――you cannot overthrow it; and do
you look to it, sirs, that you do not find yourselves at last fighting
against God.” This noble and sensible speech, aided by the high rank
and great weight of character which belonged to the speaker, instantly
hushed all the lately outrageous proposals which had been made against
the prisoners. If there were any in the council who did not feel
satisfied with his reasoning, they were wise enough to acquiesce, with
at least the appearance of content. They knew too well, that Gamaliel,
supported by his unbounded popularity with the whole nation, and his
eminently exalted character for justice and virtue, was abundantly
able to put down every appearance of opposition, and set the apostles
free, in spite of high priest and Sadducees. Adopting his resolution,
therefore, they called in the apostles, and having vented their paltry
malice by beating them, and having exposed themselves to new contempt
by repeating their oft-despised command, that the apostles should not
speak in the name of Jesus, they let them go, being fully assured that
the first use the apostles would make of their freedom would be to
break this idle injunction. For they went out of the judgment-hall,
rejoicing that they were honored by suffering this shameful treatment
in their Master’s name. They now recalled to mind his early words of
encouragement, which he had given them in a wise determination to
prepare them for evils of which they had then so little notion. The
passage from the sermon on the mount was particularly appropriate to
their present circumstances. “Blessed are they who are persecuted for
righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are
ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of
evil against you falsely, for my name’s sake. Rejoice and be exceeding
glad; for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the
prophets who were before you.” Comforted by such words as these, they
returned to their labors as before, and daily, in the temple, and
moreover in private houses, ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus
Christ, in the very face of the express prohibition of their thwarted
persecutors.
_Messenger._――This is a fair and literal interpretation of
αγγελος, (_angelos_,) and one justifiable in every place where
it occurs in the Bible. Wherever it is applied to a supernatural
being sent from God, the connection will abundantly explain
the term, without rendering it by a different word. Thus I have
chosen to do, and to leave each reader to judge for himself,
from the other attendant circumstances, of the character of the
_messenger_. See Kuinoel in loc.
_All the words of this life._――I here follow the common
translation, though Kuinoel and most interpreters consider this
as a _hypallage_, and transpose it into “all these words of
life.” But it does not seem necessary to take such a liberty with
the expression, since the common version conveys a clear idea.
“The words of _this_ life” evidently can mean only the words of
_that_ life which they had before preached, in accordance with
their commission; that is, of life from the dead, as manifested
in the resurrection of Jesus, which was in itself the pledge and
promise of life and bliss eternal, to all who should hear and
believe these “words.” This view is supported by Storr, and a
similar one is advanced by Rosenmueller, in preference to any
_hypallage_.
_Change of heart._――I have in general given this translation
of Μετανοειτε, (_Metanoeite_,) as more minutely faithful to
the etymology of the word, and also accordant with popular
religious forms of expression; though the common translation is
unobjectionable.
_Deeply wounded._――In the Greek, διεπριοντο, (dieprionto,) from
διαπριω, “to saw through;” in the passive, of course, “to be
sawn through,” or figuratively, “deeply wounded in the moral
feelings.” This is the commonly translated, “cut to the heart,”
which I have adopted, with such a variation of the words as will
assimilate it most nearly to common modern forms of expression.
But Kuinoel prefers the peculiar force of the middle voice,
(where this word can be made, owing to the identity of the
imperfect tenses of the two voices,) given by Hesychius, “to
gnash the teeth,” doubtless taken from the similarity of sound
between “sawing,” and “grating the teeth.” This sense being also
highly appropriate here, to men in a rage, makes the passage
perfectly ambiguous, and accordingly great authorities divide
on the point. In such cases, it seems to me perfectly fair to
consider the phrase as originally intended for an equivoque.
Luke was Grecian enough, doubtless, to know the two meanings of
this form, and must have been very careless if he did not think
of it as he wrote it down; but either meaning is powerfully
expressive of the idea here, and why should he reject or explain
it? It is rather an advantage and a charm than otherwise, in
a language, to possess this ambiguity, making occasionally a
richly expressive play of meanings. It seems, however, more
in accordance with Luke’s ordinary expressions, to prefer the
passive sense, as in Acts vii. 54, ταις καρδιαις (“to their
hearts”) is added, there, of course, requiring the passive.
For similar forms of expression, see Luke ii. 35: Acts ii.
37.――Consult Bretschneider in loc. In favor of the passive sense,
see Bloomfield, Rosenmueller, Wolf, Hammond and Gataker. On the
middle sense, Kuinoel, Beza and Wetstein.
_Gamaliel._――I shall give a full account of this venerable sage,
in the beginning of the life of Paul.
_In the temple and in private houses._――Acts vi. 42. In the
Greek, κατ’ οἶκον, (_kat’ oikon_,) the same expression as in
ii. 46, alluded to in my note on pages 139, 140. Here too occurs
precisely the same connection with ἐν τῳ ἱερῳ, (_en to hiero_,)
with the same sense of opposition in place, there alluded to.
The indefinite sense, then, rather than the _distributive_,
is proper here as there, showing that they preached and
taught not only in their great place of assembly, under the
eastern colonnade of the temple, (v. 12,) but also in private
houses, that is, at their home, or those of their friends.
The expression “from house to house,” however, is much less
objectionable _here_, because in this passage it can give only
an _indefinite_ idea of place, without any particular idea of
_rotation_; but in the other passage, in connection with “the
taking of food,” it makes an erroneous impression of their mode
of life, which the text is meant to describe.