OF this apostle, so few circumstances are known, that are not
inseparably connected with the life of Paul, in which they have been
already recorded, that only a very brief space can be occupied with the
events of his distinct life. The first passage in which he is mentioned,
is that in the fourth chapter of Acts, where he is specified as having
distinguished himself among those who sold their lands, for the sake
of appropriating the avails to the support of the Christian community.
Introduced to the notice of the reader under these most honorable
circumstances, he is there described as of the tribe of Levi, and yet a
resident in the island of Cyprus, where he seems to have held the land
which he sacrificed to the purposes of religious charity. This island
was for a long time, before and after that period, inhabited by great
numbers of wealthy Jews, and there was hardly any part of the world,
where they were so powerful and so favored, as in Cyprus; so that even
the sacred order of the Levites might well find inducements to leave
that consecrated soil to which they were more especially attached
by the peculiar ordinances of the Mosaic institutions, and seek on
this beautiful and fertile island, a new home, and a new seat for the
faith of their fathers. The occasion on which Joseph (for that was his
original name) left Cyprus to visit Jerusalem, is not known; nor can
it even be determined whether he was ever himself a personal hearer of
Jesus. He may very possibly have been one of the foreign Jews present
at the Pentecost, and may there have been first converted to the
Christian faith. On his distinguishing himself among his new brethren,
both by good words and generous deeds, he was honored by the apostles
with the name of Barnabas, which is interpreted in Greek by words that
may mean either “son of _consolation_,” or “son of _exhortation_.”
The former sense, of course, would aptly refer to his generosity in
comforting the poor apostolic community, by his pecuniary contributions,
as just before mentioned; and this has induced many to prefer that
meaning; but the majority of critical translators and commentators
have been led, on a careful investigation both of the original Hebrew
word and of the Greek translation of it, to prefer the meaning of
“son of _exhortation_” or “_instruction_,” a meaning which certainly
well accords with the subsequent distinction attained by him in his
apostolic labors. Both senses may, however, have been referred to, with
an intentional equivoque.
“Acts, chapter iv. verse 37. ὑπάρχοντος αὐτῳ ἀγροῦ He could not
have sold that which was his paternal inheritance as a Levite;
but this might perhaps be some legacy, or purchase of land in
Judea, to which he might have a title till the next jubilee, or
perhaps some land in Cyprus. (Doddridge.) That it was lawful for
the Levites to _buy_ land, we learn from the example of Jeremiah
himself, who was of the tribe of Levi. See Jeremiah xxxii. 17.
It is observed by Bp. Pearce, that those commentators who
contend that this land must have belonged to his wife, because,
according to the law mentioned in Numbers xviii. 20, 23 and 24,
_a Levite could have no inheritance in Israel_, seem to have
mistaken the sense of that law, ‘which,’ says he, ‘means only
that the Levites, as a tribe, were not to have a share in the
division of Canaan among the other tribes. This did not hinder
any Levite from possessing lands in Judea, either by purchase or
by gift, as well as in right of his wife. Josephus was a Levite,
and a priest too; and yet in his Life, chapter 76, he speaks of
_lands which he had lying about Jerusalem_, and in exchange of
which, Vespasian gave him others, for his greater benefit and
advantage. After all, I see no reason why we may not suppose
that this land, which Barnabas had and sold, was not land in
Judea; and if so, the words of the law, “no inheritance in
Israel,” did not, however understood, affect their case. His
land might have been in his own country, Cyprus, an island
of no great distance from Judea; and he might have sold it at
Jerusalem to some purchaser there; perhaps to one of his own
countrymen.’” (Bloomfield’s Annotations, Vol. IV. pp. 147, 148.)
In all the other passages of the New Testament in which he is
mentioned, he is associated with Paul, and every recorded act of his
life has been already given in the life of his great associate. His
first acquaintance with him on his return to Jerusalem after his
conversion,――his mission to Antioch and labors there in conjunction
with Paul, when he had brought him from Tarsus,――their visit to
Jerusalem,――their return to Antioch,――their first great mission through
Asia Minor――their visit to Jerusalem at the council, and their joint
report,――their second return to Antioch,――their proposed association
in a new mission,――their quarrel and separation,――have all been fully
detailed; nor is there any authentic source from which any facts can
be derived, as to the subsequent incidents of his life. All that is
related of him in the Acts, is, that after his separation from Paul, he
sailed to Cyprus; nor is any mention made, in any of the epistles, of
his subsequent life. The time and place of his death are also unknown.