Acts 2:29

Let me speak (ἐξὸν εἰπεῖν) Lit., it is permitted me. Rev., I may. It is allowable for him to speak, because the facts are notorious. Freely (μετὰ παῤῥησίας) Lit., with freedom. The latter word from πᾶν, all, and ῥῆσις, speech; speaking everything, and therefore without reserve. The patriarch (πατριάρχου) From ἄρχω, to begin, and πατριά, a pedigree. Applied to David as the father of the royal family from which the Messiah sprang. It is used in the New Testament of Abraham (Hebrews 7:4), and of the sons of Jacob (Acts 7:8). He is dead and buried (ἐτελεύτησε καὶ ἐτάφη) Aorists, denoting what occurred at a definite past time. Rev., rightly, he both died and was buried. His sepulchre is with us Or among us (ἐν ἡμῖν). On Mount Zion, where most of the Jewish kings were interred in the same tomb.

Acts 2:29-31 . Men and brethren — Thus he addresses himself to them, with a title of respect; let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David — Let it be no offence to you, if I tell you that David cannot be understood here as speaking of himself, but of the Messiah to come. David is here called a patriarch, a more honourable title than king, because he was the father of the royal family, and a man of great note and eminence in his generation; that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us — And as no one ever pretended that he had risen, therefore he could not say of himself, that he should not see, or suffer corruption; it being evident he did suffer it. St. Paul urges this same argument, chap. Acts 13:35-37 . Therefore, being a prophet, &c. — He therefore spoke it as a prophet, with an eye to the Messiah, to whose sufferings the prophets bore testimony beforehand, as also to the glory that should follow; knowing that God had sworn with an oath — In a special revelation from heaven; that of the fruit of his loins — Or, out of his descendants; he would raise up Christ — That is, the promised Messiah; to sit on his throne — That is, promised him a son; the throne of whose kingdom should be established for ever, 2 Samuel 7:12 . He seeing this before — With a firm reliance on the faithfulness of God, spake of the resurrection of Christ in the words just now repeated; not meaning them of himself, or intending they should be taken in any lower sense.

Men and brethren; St. Peter bespeaks this attention and favour, intimating he was one of the same nation with themselves, than which nothing could more recommend him. David was had in great veneration, and his memory very precious amongst this people, as was Abraham’s, Isaac’s, and Jacob’s; who were the chief of their fathers. He is both dead and buried; as in 1 Kings 2:10 , and elsewhere, is recorded of him, which they firmly believed. His sepulchre, or monument, is with us; either not wholly spoiled by the barbarous enemies, who had destroyed Jerusalem; or rather repaired after the captivity, to keep up the memory of so great and good a man. But by this it appeared, that David did not speak these things concerning himself, who must needs have seen corruption, (themselves being witnesses), for on that account they respected his tomb, as being the repository of his ashes.

Acts 2:29 . Ἐξὸν ) viz. ἔστω , let it be allowed to me . The neuter is frequently without a verb. The ellipsis in this place is expressive of ἦθος .[14]— μετὰ παῤῥησίας , freely ) The Jews held David in high estimation: and it was of him that he had to say something not altogether favourable, in order that thereby the glory of Christ might be the more enhanced. There is therefore in this passage a πσοθεραπεία [see Append.], or previous mitigation of what he is about to say.— ΠΑΤΡΙΆΡΧΟΥ , the patriarch ) This name is one of greater dignity than the name, ‘king.’ This, too, produces the effect of προθεραπεία .— τὸ μνῆμα αὐτοῦ , his sepulchre ) and that sepulchre containing the very body of David, which saw corruption. He speaks gently. ἐν ἡμῖν , among us ) The monuments, places, institutions, manners, families, and adages of the Israelites, marvellously accorded with the Scripture of the Old Testament. So too the New Testament books accord with the state of events which followed subsequently. [14] See Append. on “Moratus Sermo.” Here, the feeling of modesty and courtesy .—E. and T.

29-36. David … is … dead and buried, &c.—Peter, full of the Holy Ghost, sees in this sixteenth Psalm, one Holy Man, whose life of high devotedness and lofty spirituality is crowned with the assurance, that though He taste of death, He shall rise again without seeing corruption, and be admitted to the bliss of God's immediate presence. Now as this was palpably untrue of David, it could be meant only of One other, even of Him whom David was taught to expect as the final Occupant of the throne of Israel. (Those, therefore, and they are many, who take David himself to be the subject of this Psalm, and the words quoted to refer to Christ only in a more eminent sense, nullify the whole argument of the apostle). The Psalm is then affirmed to have had its only proper fulfilment in Jesus, of whose resurrection and ascension they were witnesses, while the glorious effusion of the Spirit by the hand of the ascended One, setting an infallible seal upon all, was even then witnessed by the thousands who stood listening to Him. A further illustration of Messiah's ascension and session at God's right hand is drawn from Ps 110:1, in which David cannot be thought to speak of himself, seeing he is still in his grave.

Verse 29. - Brethren for men and brethren , A.V.; I may say unto you freely for let me freely speak unto you , A.V.; both died and was buried for is both dead and buried , A.V.; tomb for sepulcher , A.V. Brethren ; literally, men who are my brethren. Observe how gentle and conciliatory the apostle's language is; how exactly in accordance with his own precept ( 1 Peter 3:8, 9 ), "Not rendering railing for railing," etc. In addressing them as brethren , he silently claims the good will and fairness due to one who was a brother in blood and in the faith of the God of Israel. The patriarch David . The term patriarch is elsewhere in Scripture applied only to Abraham and the twelve sons of Jacob ( Hebrews 7:4 ; Acts 7:8, 9 ). It is a title of dignity, signifying the head of a house. It seems to be here applied to David, because he is spoken of as head of the family from which Christ sprang. Abraham was the head of the whole Hebrew race: "Abraham our father." The twelve patriarchs were the heads of their respective tribes. The LXX. use the word πατριάρχης as the rendering of רֹאושׁ הָאָבות "chief of the fathers' houses" ( 1 Chronicles 24:31 ; 2 Chronicles 19:8 ; 2 Chronicles 26:12 ); which they elsewhere render by ἄρχων , or ἀρχὴ πατριᾶς ( Exodus 6:25 , etc.). In common parlance, the term is also applied to those chief persons who lived before the time of Moses, and have their record in his books. His tomb is with us , etc. Josephus speaks of David's tomb (calling it, as St.

Peter here does, his μνῆμα ) as consisting of several chambers, and relates how one of these chambers was opened by the high priest Hyrcanus, who took from it three thousand talents of gold to give to Antiochus Pins, who was at that time laying siege to Jerusalem. He adds that another chamber was opened later by King Herod, who abstracted a great quantity of golden ornaments from it; but that neither of them penetrated to the vaults where the bodies of David and Solomon were deposited, because the entrance to them was so carefully concealed. He further mentions that Herod, having been terrified by the bursting out of flames, which stopped his further progress, built a most costly marble monument at the entrance of the tomb ('Jud. Ant.,' 7. 15:3; 13. 8:4; 16. 7:1). For the sense, supply "and therefore he could not be speaking of himself." The explanation follows that he was a prophet, etc. Acts 2:29

29 . Here the Apostle begins his argument from the words of David, and at the outset speaks to his hearers as brethren . Men and brethren ] See on Acts 1:16 . let me freely speak ] Better (with the margin), I may freely say unto you of the patriarch David that he both died and was burled , i.e. none of you will contradict such a statement. As St Paul using the same argument ( Acts 13:36 ), “David after he had served his own generation fell on sleep and was laid unto his fathers.” and his sepulchre is with us ] thus shewing that after death he did not rise again. The sepulchre of the House of David was a famous object in the Holy City. Among the marvels of Jerusalem mentioned in the Aboth de-Rabbi Nathan (c. 35), we are told, “There are no graves made in Jerusalem except the tombs of the house of David and of Huldah the Prophetess, which have been there from the days of the first prophets.” On the burial of David in Zion, cp. 1 Kings 2:10 with 2 Samuel 5:7 .

Acts 2:29 . Μετὰ παῤῥησίας ] frankly and freely , without reserve; for the main object was to show off a passage honouring David, that it had received fulfilment in a higher and prophetical sense in another . Bengel well remarks: “Est igitur hoc loco προθεραπεία , praevia sermonis mitigatio.” David is called ὁ πατριάρχης as the celebrated ancestor of the kingly family, from which the nation expected their Messiah. ὅτι ] that (not for ). Peter wishes to say of David what is notorious , and what it is allowable for him to say on account of this very notoriety; therefore with ἐξόν there is not to be supplied, as is usually done, ἔστω , but ἐστί ( ἔξεστι ). ἐν ἡμῖν ] David was buried at Jerusalem. Nehemiah 3:16 ; Joseph. Antt. vii. 15. 3, xiii. 8. 4, Bell. Jud. i. 2. 5. In τὸ μνῆμα αὐτοῦ , his sepulcher , there is involved, according to the context, as self-evident: “cum ipso Davidis corpore corrupto; molliter loquitur,” Bengel. Acts 2:29-31 . Proof that David in this passage of his Psalm has prophetically made known the resurrection of Christ.

(29) Let me freely speak. —Better, it is lawful for me to speak with freedom. Those to whom the Apostle spoke could not for a moment dream of asserting that the words quoted had been literally and completely fulfilled in him, and it was therefore natural to look for their fulfilment elsewhere. Of the patriarch David.—The word is used in its primary sense, as meaning the founder of a family or dynasty. In the New Testament it is applied also to Abraham (Hebrews 7:4) and the twelve sons of Jacob (Acts 7:8). In the Greek version of the Old Testament it is used only of the comparatively subordinate “chief of the fathers” in 1Chronicles 9:9; 1Chronicles 24:31, et al. His sepulchre is with us unto this day.—The king was buried in the city which bore his name (1Kings 2:10). Josephus relates that vast treasures were buried with him (Ant. vii. 15, § 4), and that John Hyrcanus opened one of the chambers of the tomb, and took out three thousand talents to pay the tribute demanded by Antiochus the Pious (Ant. xiii. 8, § 4). Herod the Great also opened it and found no money, but gold and silver vessels in abundance. The tradition was that he sought to penetrate into the inner vault, in which the bodies of David and Solomon were resting, and was deterred by a flame that issued from the recess (Ant. xvi. 7, § 1).