The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 1 — Section 162

EXPOSITION. filment of the promise, '' W1:osesnever sini, CHAPTER V. ye retain. they are retained" (John XL Ver. 1.-Ananias ('Avc,vfcu) In Neh. iii. 23). Ver. 4.-Did it not remain for was it not, 23 the Hebrew name il'ilJI. (God covers or A.V.; thy for thine ou,n, A.V.; how i3 it protects) is thus rend~red in the LXX. that thou hast for why hast thou, A. V.; thy llut the name occurs nowhere else. 'fhe heart for thine heart, A. V. Did it net very common no.me n;~~;:i,, Ha11anial1 (God remain, etc.? The exact meaning is-Did is gracious), is also rendered in the LXX. it not remain to thee? i.e. unsold it was Ananias (' Ava.vlas), and is doubtless the thine, and when sold the price of it was name meant here and in oh. ix. 10 ; xxiii. thine. There was no compulsion as reg:i.rcli 2, etc. Sapphira does not occur elsewhere. giviug it o.way. The act was one of de- It is either derived from the Al'amean liberate hypocrisy-an attempt to deceive il'J'l?tef, beautiful, or from the Htibrew "1'€ll?, God himself. a sapphire. A possession (see eh. ii. 45). Ver. 5.-Upon all that heard it for OIi all The kind of possession is not specified by them that heard tl1eJJe things, A.V. and T.R. the word itself, which applies to houses, Gave up the ghost (•~•i/lu~,). The s:i.ms fields, jewels, and weo.lth generally ; but word a.sin ver. 10 and eh. xii. 23, but found the natme of the property is shown by the nowhere else in the New Testament. Great word xwplov, applied to it in vers. 3 and 8, fear, etc. We have here an example of which means especially" a parcel of ground" punishment wilich ~ remedial, not to the (John iv. 5), "e. field" (eh. i. 18, 19). persou punished, but to others, by display- Ver. S.-Thy for tl&ine, A.V. Peter said. mg tile just judgment of God as a warning It was given to Peter on this occasion, by against sin. the Holy Ghost, to read the secrets of Ver. 6.-.A.nd UJTapped llim round for wowul Ane.nias's heart, just as it was given to him up, A.V.; they carried for carried, A. V. Elisha to detect Gehazi's lie (2 Kings v. 25, The young men (v«I,TEpo,: called in 'l"er. 10 26); and the swift punishment inflicted in .,,..vie1Ko1). 'fhere does not seem to be suffi- both cases by the word of the mlln of God- cient ground for supposing, with Meyer, leprosy in one case, and sudden deo.th in that e. definite class of Church servants is the other-is another point of strong resem- here ruennt. The young men of the Church ulance. To lie to the Holy Ghost. It is would, as a matter of course, perform snoh only one instance among mo.ny of the pure services a.s that here spoken of, when directed spiritual atmosphere in which the Church by the -rp•ufJvTEpo,, the elders, iu age or then moved, that a lio to the apostle wo.s office. o. lie to the Holy Ghost under whose Ver. 7.-And it was abont, otc.; beltor i;Uiclance and Ly whoso power the apostle rondored, with Moyer, and ,t cam~ to pa••• ncted. Ananias's fraud was an ignoring of qftcr an intc,n,al of three hours, tlaat h Is wile, 11 .., whole spiritual character of the apostles' etc. It is o. Hebrew idiom (comp. Luko ministry, and was o.cconlingly visited with v. 12). "" immedio.to punishment. 'fhe death of Ver. 8.-And Peter anowe~ad, elo. l'uter'11 All!lfli¥ ~nd Bap11hir~ w~ & tvrriJ:,le ful· ci11estion IJIIVO her the opportnn'ty of cQn•  158 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.