Friday, January 20, 2012

Acts 1:12-20

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said, “Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.” (Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) “For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘LET HIS HOMESTEAD BE MADE DESOLATE, AND LET NO ONE DWELL IN IT’; and, ‘LET ANOTHER MAN TAKE HIS OFFICE.’


then they returned to Jerusalem - "The apostles now returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is but a sabbath day's journey, a very short distance from the city proper.  In his gospel record Luke adds the significant detail that the apostles 'worshipped Him [Christ] and returned to Jerusalem with great joy' (Luke 24:52).  This was far from a sorrowful bereavement.  Once before it had seemed that He was taken away from them, and that by the death of the cross, yet He had proved Himself to be Lord of all.  How could they doubt now?  This, or all times, was a time when they would rejoice and worship Him.  Having spent forty days with the risen Christ, having now seen Him ascend to heaven in the shekinah glory and having been assured by the 'men...in white apparel' that He would return in the same way — all this must have called forth from the hearts of the apostles the most profound adoration and have given them a deep sense of confidence and joy.  With all this fresh in their minds, and with their Lord's parting promise of the Spirit still ringing in their ears, it is not strange that they, and the other disciples with them, gave themselves to prayer for the next ten days.  Mark well, however, that it was not their prayers that were to bring the outpouring of the Spirit.  This had already been specifically promised and a definite day was set for it." (CR Stam)

from the mount called Olivet - "The name denotes the range of hills which faces Jerusalem on the east and, lying round about from north-east to south-east, is separated from the city by the valley of Jehoshaphat or Kidron.  Its whole length, from north to south, is about two miles, and its average height above the level of the sea is about 2,600 feet, though it has several summits of a slightly  higher altitude.  It rises about 400 feet above the bed of the Kidron, and towers 200 feet above the highest part of Jerusalem.  During the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, it was denuded of the olive trees which once luxuriated there." (T Walker)
a Sabbath day's journey - "About 2,000 cubits, or a little more than half a mile (almost one km) — the distance the rabbis allowed Jews to journey on the Sabbath.  This limitation was apparently arrived at on the basis of Ex 16:29 interpreted by Num 35:5." (Ryrie)

"See Matt 24:20.  The traditional distance allowed for a sabbath day's journey was 2,000 cubits, or about six furlongs.  The Rabbis arrived at this measurement by a fanciful connexion and interpretation of Ex 16:29; 21:13; and Num 35:5, 26-27; and by giving an allegorical meaning to the word 'place'.  Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us that the mount of Olives is five or six furlongs distant from Jerusalem, so that the statement of this verse is seen to be correct." (T Walker)

Simon the Zealot - "As in Luke 6:15 Simon is called "Zelotes" (the Zealot; the equivalent Green term for Cananaean, a resident of Cana).  He likely belonged, before following the Lord, to the extremist part of Zealots who advocated the overthrow of Rome by force." (Ryrie)

Judas - "Not Iscariot the betrayer, but Thaddaeus.  There are four list of the apostles given in the NT (Matt 10:1-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:13-16 are the others).  Thaddaeus (Mark 3:18; Matt 10:3) is apparently the same as Judas the son or brother of James (Thaddaeus may represent a corruption of 'Yaddai', a form of Judas)." (Ryrie)

"Peter had made a full recovery of confidence and authority from the night of his denial and was now fulfilling Matt 16:19: 'I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.'" (Ryrie)

Scripture...fulfilled - "David's betrayal by a false friend pictures Judas's betrayal of Christ (John 13:18-19, where this Ps (Ryrie)

burst open in the middle - "Probably due to Judas's ineptness in trying to hang himself (Matt 27:5)." (Ryrie)

"According to St Matthew's account, Judas 'hanged himself,' and this has led some to conclude that we have in the two narratives separate and irreconcilable 'tradition'.  But no real discrepancy exists.  The facts recorded here are clearly supplementary, no contradictory, to those contained in the Gospel account.  It would seem that, when the traitor hanged himself, the rope or girdle with which the noose was made broke under his weight, or possibly the knot became unloosed, and so he fell with violence on to one of those jutting rocks which, as we have seen, emerge from the clayey soil of the potter's field.  By headlong, is meant 'head foremost', and, perhaps, 'face downwards'.  The word rendered 'burst asunder' occurs only here in the New Testament and really means to 'crack with a loud noise.'  All these circumstantial details serve to call attention to the tragic fate of the traitor and so to mark out for special detestation the heinousness of his sin." (T Walker)

Field of Blood - probably SE of Jerusalem

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