59-60. calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, &c.--An unhappy supplement of our translators is the word "God" here; as if, while addressing the Son, he was really calling upon the Father. The sense is perfectly clear without any supplement at all--"calling upon [invoking] and saying, Lord Jesus"; Christ being the Person directly invoked and addressed by name (compare [Ac 9:14]). Even Grotius, De Wette, Meyer, &c., admit this, adding several other examples of direct prayer to Christ; and Pliny, in his well-known letter to the Emperor Trajan (A.D. 110 or 111), says it was part of the regular Christian service to sing, in alternate strains, a hymn to Christ as God.
Lord Jesus, receive my spirit--In presenting to Jesus the identical prayer which He Himself had on the cross offered to His Father, Stephen renders to his glorified Lord absolute divine worship, in the most sublime form, and at the most solemn moment of his life. In this commitment of his spirit to Jesus, Paul afterwards followed his footsteps with a calm, exultant confidence that with Him it was safe for eternity ([2Ti 1:12]).
Chapter 8
Ac 8:1-4. Persecution Continued, in Which Saul Takes a Prominent Part--How Overruled for Good
1. Saul was consenting unto his death--The word expresses hearty approval.
they were all scattered abroad--all the leading Christians, particularly the preachers, agreeably to their Lord's injunctions ([Mt 10:23]), though many doubtless remained, and others (as appears by [Ac 9:26-30]) soon returned.
except the apostles--who remained, not certainly as being less exposed to danger, but, at whatever risk, to watch over the infant cause where it was most needful to cherish it.
2. and devout men--pious Jews, probably, impressed with admiration for Stephen and secretly inclined to Christianity, but not yet openly declared.
3. Saul ... entering into every house--like as inquisitor [Bengel].
haling men and women, &c.--See his own affecting confessions afterwards ([Ac 22:4]; , ; [1Co 15:9]; [Ga 1:13]; [Php 3:6]; [1Ti 1:13]).
4. they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching--Though solemnly enjoined to do this ([Lu 24:47]; [Ac 1:8]), they would probably have lingered at Jerusalem, but for this besom of persecution which swept them out. How often has the rage of Christ's enemies thus "turned out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel" (see [Php 1:12], ).
Ac 8:5-25. Success of Philip's Preaching in Samaria--Case of Simon Magus
5. Then Philip--not the apostle of that name, as was by some of the Fathers supposed; for besides that the apostles remained at Jerusalem, they would in that case have had no occasion to send a deputation of their own number to lay their hands on the baptized disciples [Grotius]. It was the deacon of that name, who comes next after Stephen in the catalogue of the seven, probably as being the next most prominent. The persecution may have been directed especially against Stephen's colleagues [Meyer].
the city of Samaria--or "a city of Samaria"; but the former seems more likely. "It furnished the bridge between Jerusalem and the world" [Baumgarten].
6-8. the people with one accord gave heed to ... Philip--the way being prepared perhaps by the fruits of our Lord's sojourn, as He Himself seems to intimate (see on [Joh 4:31-38]). But "we may mark the providence of God in sending a Grecian, or a Hellenistic Jew, to a people who from national antipathy would have been unlikely to attend to a native of Judea" [Webster and Wilkinson].
9-13. used sorcery--magical arts.
some great one ... the great power of God--a sort of incarnation of divinity.
14-17. the apostles ... sent Peter and John--showing that they regarded Peter as no more than their own equal.
18-24. offered them money--Hence the term simony, to denote trafficking in sacred things, but chiefly the purchase of ecclesiastical offices.
25. and they--Peter and John.
when they had ... preached--in the city where Philip's labors had been so richly blessed.
returned ... and preached ... in many villages of the Samaritans--embracing the opportunity of their journey back to Jerusalem to fulfil their Lord's commission to the whole region of Samaria ([Ac 1:8]).
Ac 8:26-40. The Ethiopian Eunuch
"With this narrative of the progress of the Gospel among the Samaritans is connected another which points to the diffusion of the doctrine of the Cross among the remotest nations. The simplicity of the chamberlain of Meroe forms a remarkable contrast with the craft of the magician just described" [Olshausen].
26-28. the angel of the Lord--rather, "an angel."
go ... south, the way that goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza--There was such a road, across Mount Hebron, which Philip might take without going to Jerusalem (as Von Raumer's'S Palæstina shows).
which is desert--that is, the way; not Gaza itself, which was the southernmost city of Palestine, in the territory of the ancient Philistines. To go from a city, where his hands had been full of work, so far away on a desert road, could not but be staggering to the faith of Philip, especially as he was kept in ignorance of the object of the journey. But like Paul, he "was not disobedient to the heavenly vision"; and like Abram, "he went out not knowing whither he went" ([Ac 26:19]; [He 11:8]).
29-31. the Spirit said--by an unmistakable voice within, as in [Ac 10:19]; , .
go near and join this chariot--This would reveal to Philip the hitherto unknown object of his journey, and encourage him to expect something.
32-33. The place ... was this, He was led as a sheep, &c.--One cannot but wonder that this, of all predictions of Messiah's sufferings in the Old Testament the most striking, should have been that which the eunuch was reading before Philip joined him. He could hardly miss to have heard at Jerusalem of the sufferings and death of Jesus, and of the existence of a continually increasing party who acknowledged Him to be the Messiah. But his question to Philip, whether the prophet in this passage meant himself or some other man, clearly shows that he had not the least idea of any connection between this prediction and those facts.
34-38. And the eunuch answered, I pray thee, &c.--The respect with which he here addresses Philip was prompted by his reverence for one whom he perceived to be his superior in divine things; his own worldly position sinking before this.
39-40. the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip--To deny [as Meyer, Olshausen, Bloomfield] the miraculous nature of Philip's disappearance, is vain. It stands out on the face of the words, as just a repetition of what we read of the ancient prophets, in [1Ki 18:12]; [2Ki 2:16]. And the same word (as Bengel remarks) is employed to express a similar idea in [2Co 12:2], ; [1Th 4:17].
the eunuch saw him no more--nor, perhaps, for very joy, cared to see him [Bengel].
and he went on his way rejoicing--He had found Christ, and the key to the Scriptures; his soul was set free, and his discipleship sealed; he had lost his teacher, but gained what was infinitely better: He felt himself a new man, and "his joy was full." Tradition says he was the first preacher of the Gospel in Ethiopia; and how, indeed, could he choose but "tell what the Lord had done for his soul?" Yet there is no certainty as to any historical connection between his labors and the introduction of Christianity into that country.
Chapter 9
Ac 9:1-25. Conversion of Saul, and Beginnings of His Ministry
1. Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, &c.--The emphatic "yet" is intended to note the remarkable fact, that up to this moment his blind persecuting rage against the disciples of the Lord burned as fiercely as ever. (In the teeth of this, Neander and Olshausen picture him deeply impressed with Stephen's joyful faith, remembering passages of the Old Testament confirmatory of the Messiahship of Jesus, and experiencing such a violent struggle as would inwardly prepare the way for the designs of God towards him. Is not dislike, if not unconscious disbelief, of sudden conversion at the bottom of this?) The word "slaughter" here points to cruelties not yet recorded, but the particulars of which are supplied by himself nearly thirty years afterwards: "And I persecuted this way unto the death" ([Ac 22:4]); "and when they were put to death, I gave my voice [vote] against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to [did my utmost to make them] blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange [foreign] cities" ([Ac 26:10], ). All this was before his present journey.
2. desired ... letters--of authorization.
to Damascus--the capital of Syria and the great highway between eastern and western Asia, about one hundred thirty miles northeast of Jerusalem; the most ancient city perhaps in the world, and lying in the center of a verdant and inexhaustible paradise. It abounded (as appears from Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 2.20,2) with Jews, and with Gentile proselytes to the Jewish faith. Thither the Gospel had penetrated; and Saul, flushed with past successes, undertakes to crush it out.
that if he found any of this way, whether men or women--Thrice are women specified as objects of his cruelty, as an aggravated feature of it ([Ac 8:3]; ; and here).
3. he came near Damascus--so [Ac 22:6]. Tradition points to a bridge near the city as the spot referred to. Events which are the turning points in one's history so imprint themselves upon the memory that circumstances the most trifling in themselves acquire by connection with them something of their importance, and are recalled with inexpressible interest.
suddenly--At what time of day, it is not said; for artless simplicity reigns here. But he himself emphatically states, in one of his narratives, that it was "about noon" ([Ac 22:6]), and in the other, "at midday" ([Ac 26:13]), when there could be no deception.
there shined round about him a light from heaven--"a great light (he himself says) above the brightness of the sun," then shining in its full strength.
4-6. he fell to the earth--and his companions with him ([Ac 26:14]), who "saw the light" ([Ac 22:9]).
and heard a voice saying unto him--"in the Hebrew tongue" ([Ac 26:14]).