140
37. ὑπάρχοντος αὐτῷ ἀγροῦ,] πωλήσας ἤνεγκε τὸ χρῆμα, καὶ ἔθηκε παρὰ ” τοὺς πόδας τῶν ἀποστόλων.
} aypov; D has χωριου, but aypos only here in Acts.
For χωριον cf. iv. 34, v. 3, 8.
2 apa BP, Chrys., so W.H. (so Lach.); προς NE 15, 18, 37, so Tisch., Weiss,
Wendt; cf. ver. 35 and v. 2.
name βαρνεβοῦν, which D. considers rightly = Son of Nebo; ¢f., e.g., Sym-
machus, Isa. xlvi. 1, who renders pals
Nebo (transcribed by the LXX, Aquila and Theodotion, NaBo), by Νεβοῦς. The view of the connection or identity of
βαρνάβας with βαρνεβοῦς is facilitated
by the fact that in other words the e sound in Nebo is replaced by a; cf. Ne- buchadnezar = LXX_N a βουχοδονοσορ, so Nebuzaradan = LXX Na βουζαρδαν. Very probably therefore βαρναβοῦς will occur instead of BapveBots—and the Jews themselves might easily have converted βαρναβοῦς into BapvaBas—as being the constant termination of Greek names. In his Neue Bibelstudien, p. 16, Deiss- mann is able to refer to an Aramaic in- scription from Palmyra, dating 114 A.D., with the word Barnebo, and cf. also Enc. Bibl., i., 484.—Aevetrns: although the Levites were not allowed to hold pos- sessions in land, since God Himself was their portion (Num. xviii. 20, Deut. x. 9), yet they could do so by purchase or in- heritance, cf. Jer. xxxii. 7-12, or it is pos- sible that the field of Barnabas may not have been in Palestine at all (see Bengel, but, on the other hand, Wendt, zm loco), and that the same Messianic regulations may not have applied to the Levites in other countries (Wetstein). It would also seem that after the Captivity the distribution of land, according to the Mosaic Law, was no longer strictly ob- served (Overbeck, Hackett (Hastings’ B.D.), ‘‘ Barnabas,” e.g., Josephus, a Levite and Priest, has lands in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and gains others in exchange for them from Vespasian, Vita, 76.--- Κύπριος τῷ γένει: soon after the time of Alexander, and pos- sibly before it, Jews had settled in Cyprus, and 1 Macc. xv. 23 indicates that they were there in good numbers. This 15 the first mention of it inthe N.T.; see also xi. 10, 20, ΧΙΙ. 4-13, XV. 30, XX. 16, and the geographical notices in xxi. 3, xxvil. 4. From the neighbouring island, Cyprus, Barnabas might well have been sent to the famous University of Tarsus, and so have made the ac- quaintance of Saul. In this way the
previous acquaintance between the two men goes far to explain succeeding events; Ix... 27: 19ου “Cyprus,” ΕΠ (Hastings), Hamburger, Real-Encyclo- padie des $udentums, i, 2, 216.--- γένει, ‘“‘a man of Cyprus by race,” R.V. not ‘‘of the country of Cyprus”: γένει re- fers to his parentage and descent, cf. XVili. 2, 24.
Ver. 37. ἀγροῦ, better ‘‘a field” R.V.; the possession was not great, but if the field lay in the rich and productive island of Cyprus, its value may have been con- siderable. — τὸ χρῆμα: rarely in this sense in the singular, only here in the N.T., and never in Attic Greek, but cf. Herod., iii., 38, and instances in Wet- stein, and see Blass, in loco. The money, i.e., the proceeds, the money got (German Eriés). Lumby suggests that the word may be used here to indicate the en- tirety, the sum without deduction, in contrast to the action of Ananias and Sapphira, v. 2. The same unselfish spirit manifested itself in Barnabas ata later date, when he was content to live from the produce of his hands, 1 Cor. ix. 6. Possibly at Tarsus, so near his own home, he may have learnt with Saul in earlier days the craft of tent-making, for which the city was famous (Plumptre). In connection with this passage, and ix. 26, see Renan’s eulogy on the character of Barnabas. In him Renan sees the patron of all good and liberal ideas, and considers that Christianity has done him an injustice in not placing him in the first rank of her founders, Apostles, p. τοι. Ε.Τ.