Acts 1:23

1:15-26 The great thing the apostles were to attest to the world, was, Christ's resurrection; for that was the great proof of his being the Messiah, and the foundation of our hope in him. The apostles were ordained, not to wordly dignity and dominion, but to preach Christ, and the power of his resurrection. An appeal was made to God; Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, which we do not; and better than they know their own. It is fit that God should choose his own servants; and so far as he, by the disposals of his providence, or the gifts of his Spirit, shows whom he was chosen, or what he has chosen for us, we ought to fall in with his will. Let us own his hand in the determining everything which befalls us, especially in those by which any trust may be committed to us.

Acts 1:23 . Δύο , two ) The faithful may have arrived at this number by consultation; they went (could go) no farther. Therefore at this point, and not before, the recourse to lots begins, whereby a weighty matter is committed to the Divine decision, and the immediate call [the call direct from God] of the apostle is accomplished. Justus Jonas, on this passage, thinks that in our day also there is possibly room (scope) for the use of lots in the choice of bishops; and a memorable instance of it is related by Comenius in the Hist. of the Slav. Church, § 60. The same also occurs in Rieger’s Böhm. Br. vol. iii. p. 36.— ὃς ἐπεκλήθη , who was surnamed ) It might seem, because of this surname, that he ought to have been preferred; but perhaps it was not until afterwards that he obtained this surname, in order that he might perceive, that, although Matthias had been chosen, he notwithstanding did not lose the credit due to his merits.

{9} And they {x} appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. (9) The Apostles must be chosen immediately from God: and therefore after praying, Matthias is chose by lot, which is as it were God's own voice. (x) Openly, and by the voices of the entire company.

Verse 23. - Put forward for appointed , A.V.; Barsabbas for Barsabas , A.V. and T.R. Joseph called Barsabbas (or Barsabas). Nothing more is really known of him. His work for Christ has no earthly record, except that Papias (Euseb., 'H.E.,' 3:39) says that, having drunk some deadly poison, by the grace of God he sustained no harm. Eusebius elsewhere ( Acts 1:12 ) says that he and Matthias were reported to be of the seventy, which is not improbable. The derivation of the name Barsabas, or Barsabbas, is unknown; it seems to be a patronymic (son of Sabas, or Sabbas), like Bar-Tholomew, Bar-Jonas, Bar-Jesus, etc. But it might also be descriptive of his qualities, like Barnabas, Son of Consolation ( Acts 4:36 ), in which case one would expect it to mean the same as Justus , as in the case of "Thomas called Didymus" ( John 20:4 ; where Thomas and Di-dymus both mean "a twin"); but no Aramean word of this signification is forthcoming. The surname Justus, with its derivatives Justinus and Justinianus, was not an uncommon Roman name. It was also borne by a Jewish historian contemporary with Josephus, Justus of Tiberias, the son of Pistus (see 'Life of Josephus,'§§ 35, 65) and was the surname of James the Less. Matthias not otherwise known, but said by Nicephorus to have preached and suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia. Eusebius ('H. E.,'3:24) mentions spurious Gospels "of Peter, Thomas, Matthias, and others," as quoted by heretics.

Acts 1:23 . Ἔστησαν ] The subject is, as in Acts 1:24 ; Acts 1:26 , all those assembled. They had recognised in these two the conditions required by Acts 5:21 f. “Ideo hic demum sors incipit, qua res gravis divinae decisioni committitur et immediata apostoli peragitur vocatio,” Bengel. For this solemn act they are put forward . Ἰωσήφ τ . καλ . Βαρσαβᾶν ] Concerning him nothing further is known. For he is not identical (in opposition to Heinrichs and others, also Ullmann in the Stud. u. Krit. 1828, p. 377 ff.) with Joses Barnabas, Acts 4:36 , against which opinion that very passage itself testifies; from it have arisen the name Ἰωσήν in B and Βαρνάβαν in D (so Bornemann). See also Mynster in the Stud. u. Krit. 1829, p. 326 f. Barsabas is a patronymic (son of Saba); Justus is a Roman surname ( יוסטי ), adopted according to the custom then usual, see Schoettgen. Nor is anything historically certain as to Matthias. Traditional notices in Cave, Antiq. ap. p. 735 ff. According to Eus. 1:12. 1, he was one of the Seventy. Concerning the apocryphal Gospel under his name, already mentioned by Origen, see Fabric. Cod. apocr. N. T. p. 782 ff. apocryphal Acta Andreae et Matthiae may be seen in Tischend. Act. apocr. p. 132 ff.

23 . they appointed two ] Thus exercising their own judgment to a certain degree in the appointment, as they could rightly do from their three years intimacy with those who had been disciples from the beginning. Joseph called Barsabas [Barsabbas in the best MSS.] who was surnamed Justus ] From the identity of the names Joseph and Joses (see note on Acts 1:14 ) it has been thought that this Joseph is identical with Joses surnamed Barnabas, mentioned Acts 4:36 . But Barsabbas is apparently a patronymic like Bartimæus, while Barnabas is interpreted as a significant appellation in Acts 4:36 (see note there), so that there is no sufficient ground for the identification. The name Justus , being of Latin origin, was probably used by Joseph in his intercourse with the Gentile inhabitants of the country. Thus Saul takes a Latin name, Paulus, at the commencement of his missionary labours. So Simon had a Greek name, Peter (and may not Christ have given it to him as the name by which he should be known over all the world?), and Thomas was called Didymus. To judge from the mention of Joseph’s three names, and from his standing first in order in the mention of the chosen pair, he was of more account among the Apostles than Matthias. Of his previous or future history we know nothing. and Matthias ] He is said by Eusebius ( H. E . 1. 12. 1) and Epiphanius (i. 20) to have been one of the Seventy, and there was an apocryphal Gospel which passed by his name (Euseb. iii. 23).

(23) They appointed. —It is uncertain whether this was the act of the Apostles, presenting the two men to the choice of the whole body of disciples, or of the community choosing them for ultimate decision by lot. Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus.—Some MSS. give the various-reading of “Joses,” which was, perhaps, only another form of the same name. Nothing further is known of him. The conditions of the case make it certain that he must have been a disciple almost from the beginning of our Lord’s ministry, and that he must have become more or less prominent, and probable therefore, as stated by Eusebius (Hist. i. 12), that he was one of the Seventy. The name Barsabas (= son of the oath, or of wisdom) may have been a patronymic, like Barjona, or may have been given, like Barnabas, as denoting character. It appears again in Judas Barsabas of Acts 15:22, and on the former assumption, the two disciples may have been brothers. The epithet Justus, the just one, is significant, as possibly indicating, as in the case of James the Just, a specially high standard of ascetic holiness. Another with the same surname—Jesus surnamed Justus—meets us as being with St. Paul at Rome as one of “the circumcision” (Colossians 4:11), and another, or possibly the same, at Corinth (Acts 18:7). In both cases the use of the Latin instead of the Greek word is noticeable, as indicating some point of contact with the Romans in Judæa or elsewhere.