Acts 4:36

Acts 4:36-37 . And Joses — Among the rest of those primitive converts who so generously contributed of their substance for the relief and subsistence of the poor believers, in these extraordinary circumstances, there was one Joses, by the apostles surnamed Barnabas, The son of consolation — Not only on account of his so largely assisting the poor with his fortune, but also of those peculiar gifts of the Spirit whereby he was so well qualified both to comfort and exhort. A Levite — And yet so far from being prejudiced against this new religion, which might seem to oppose his temporal interest, that he gladly devoted himself to its service; of the country of Cyprus — Where, it seems, he was born and brought up. Having land, sold it — As he was a Levite, he could not have sold, or alienated, his paternal inheritance; (see Leviticus 25:34 ;) but the land or estate here spoken of, might either have been some legacy, or purchased land, in Judea, to which he might have a title till the next jubilee, or, perhaps, some land in Cyprus. And we may suppose it mentioned, either as the first foreign estate sold, or as of some extraordinary value.

Joses; some read Joseph; the Hebrew names, when turned into Greek, meet with divers terminations or endings. Surnamed Barnabas; full of consolation; not only in that he gave so liberally towards the relief of the poor, parting with his possessions for them; but that he excelled in propounding inward and spiritual comfort unto poor and rich, being of a mild disposition, and fitted to handle gently such wounds as the terrors of the law had made. Though a Levite he might have land, either in right of his wife, or given to him and his ancestors; as we read was to Phinehas, Joshua 24:33 ; otherwise the Lord was the Levites’ portion in an especial manner. The Jews being dispersed all over the known world, some dwelt in Cyprus, as Joses’s parents; Saul’s parents dwelt at Tarsus; though at this time both Saul and Joses dwell in Jerusalem.

Acts 4:36 . Ὁ ἐπικληθεὶς , who was surnamed ) A new specimen of the apostles’ high dignity, to give surnames to believers.— υἱὸς παρακλήσεως , the Son of consolation ) A Gospel surname. De Dieu on this passage, and Hiller, Onom. p. 300, explain the etymology.[39]— ΛΕΥΐΤΗς , a Levite ) Instead of Levitical ordinances, those of Christianity flourish. The priests also follow, ch. Acts 6:7 , “A great company of the priests was obedient to the faith.”— Κύπριος τῷ γένει ) So ΠΟΝΤΙΚῸς Τῷ ΓΈΝΕΙ , ἈΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΕῪς Τῷ ΓΈΝΕΙ , ch. Acts 18:2 ; Acts 18:24 . [39] The παρακλήσεως has evident reference to the Παράκλητος , alluded to in ver. 31.—E. and T.

36. Joses, &c.—This is specified merely as an eminent example of that spirit of generous sacrifice which pervaded all. son of consolation—no doubt so surnamed from the character of his ministry. a Levite—who, though as a tribe having no inheritance, might and did acquire property as individuals (De 18:8). Cyprus—a well-known island in the Mediterranean.

Verse 36. - Joseph for Joses , A.V., as Acts 1:23 ; Son of exhortation for The son of consolation , A.V.; a man of Cyprus by race for and of the country of Cyprus , A.V. Joseph. In the variation of manuscripts it is difficult to say which is right. Some (Grotius, Alford, etc.) consider the two forms as mere variations in writing the name Joseph. But it seems more probable that Joses is the same name as Josiah , only without the addition of the Divine Name (Jab) at the end (see Simon, 'Onomast.'). It is found as a proper name in the T.R. of Matthew 13:55 ; Matthew 27:56 ; Mark 6:3 ; Mark 15:40, 47 ; Luke 3:29 (Jose); and is not likely to have been substituted for the common name of Joseph. The Codex Sinaiticus has Joses only in Mark 15:40 . The R.V. has Joseph in Matthew 13:55 , and Joses in Matthew 27:56 ; Mark 6:3 ; Mark 15:40, 47 . In Luke 3:29 the R.V. has Jesus. But Joses is probably right both here and in the above-cited passages. Barnabas ; literally, son of prophecy ; i.e. a prophet, as he is called in Acts 18:1 . Probably his exhortations under the influence of the Holy Spirit in the Church assemblies were particularly stirring and edifying. The Greek version of the name, υἱὸς παρακλήσεως , should be rendered, as in R.V., Son of exhortation , for "son of consolation? is a meaning which can hardly be got out of the Hebrew. The apostles seem here to have followed our Lord's example in naming the sons of Zebedee, sons of thunder. A man of Cyprus by race .

The A.V. is less accurate, but it gives the sense better. Cyprus was the country where he was born and lived, as, it is likely, his fathers had done before him. But he was hardly, in our sense of the words, a Cypriot by race. We know that a great many Jews were settled in Cyprus (Philo, 'Leg. ad Caium.,'§ 36; Josephus, 'Ant.,' 13:4; Alford, on Acts 11:19 ); and we learn from Acts 13:5 that in Salamis alone there were several synagogues. Acts 4:36

36 . And Joses ] The same name as Joseph , which form the oldest MSS. give. who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas ] He was the companion of St Paul in his first missionary journey ( Acts 13:2 ), and is often mentioned by St Luke. He was invited by St Paul to join him on his second journey, but as they disagreed about taking John Mark with them, they did not labour again, as far as we know, in the same field, and the writer leaves Barnabas ( Acts 15:39 ) with the mention that “he took Mark and sailed to Cyprus.” which is, being interpreted ] The explanation is added for the sake of Theophilus, who may have had no knowledge of the Hebrew (see Acts 1:19 ). Song of Solomon of consolation ] More probably, Song of Solomon of exhortation . The Greek may be thus rendered, and the Hebrew noun nebuah is from the same root as the common word for prophet . The title may have been given to Barnabas from his ability as a preacher ( Acts 11:23 ), though in this he seems ( Acts 14:12 ) to have been less prominent than St Paul, as most men must have been.

In describing the work of Barnabas in Acts 11:23 the verb used, “he exhorted,” is that from which the noun in this verse is derived, and is akin to the word “Paraclete,” which is so often translated “Comforter” when applied to the Holy Ghost, but rendered “advocate” in 1 John 2:1 when used of the intercession of Jesus. a Levite ] The Levites in the Holy Land had no inheritance given to them, but were scattered through all the tribes; the same regulation may not, however, have applied to the Levites in other countries; and we are not informed where the field was situated which Barnabas sold. He may also have been a married man, and have held lands from his marriage. of the country of Cyprus ] The island still so called in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. We find Jews settled there in the Maccabean times ( 1Ma 15:23 ). It was one of the places to which Paul and Barnabas went in their missionary journey, and it had been previously visited by some of the Christian teachers who were driven from Jerusalem by the persecution which succeeded the death of Stephen ( Acts 11:19 ).

Acts 4:36-37 . Δέ ] autem , introduces, in contradistinction to what has been summarily stated in Acts 4:34-35 , the concrete individual case of an honourably known man, who acted thus with his landed property. The idea in the δέ is: All acted thus, and in keeping with it was the conduct of Joses . ἀπό (see the critical remarks)]: as at Acts 2:22 . υἱὸς παρακλήσ .] בַּר נְבוּאָה , son of prophetic address, i.e. an inspired instigator, exhorter. Barnabas was a prophet ( Acts 13:1 ), and it is probable that (at a later period) he received this surname on the occasion of some specially energetic and awakening address which he delivered; hence Luke did not interpret the name generally by υἱὸς προφητείας , but, because the προφητεία had been displayed precisely in the characteristic form of παράκλησις (comp. 1 Corinthians 14:3 ), by υἱὸς παρακλ . At Acts 11:23 also, παράκλησις appears as a characteristic of Barnabas. We may add, that the more precise description of him in this passage points forward to his labours afterwards to be related. Λευΐτης ] Jeremiah 32:7 proves that Levites might possess lands in Palestine. See Ewald, Alterth. p. 406. Hence the field is not to be considered as beyond the bounds of the land (Bengel). ὑπάρχ . αὐτ . ἀγροῦ ] Genitive absolute. τὸ χρῆμα ] in the singular: the sum of money, the money proceeds, the amount received. Herod, iii. 38; Poll. 9. 87; Wesseling, ad Diod. Sic. v. p. 436.

(36) And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas. —The better MSS. give the name as Joseph. It is possible, as Rabbinic writers often give Jose for Joseph, that both were but different forms, like Simon and Simeon, of the same name. The later friendship between the Levite of Cyprus and St. Paul makes it probable that there had been some previous companionship (see Notes on Acts 9:27 ; Acts 11:25 ), and it may well have been that he was sent from Cyprus to receive his education in the famous schools of Tarsus, or practised with Saul in early life the craft of tent-making, for which Tarsus was famous, and in which they were afterwards fellow-labourers ( 1Corinthians 9:6 ). As a Levite he had probably taken his place in the ministries of the Temple, and may, therefore, have been among our Lord’s actual hearers. His relation Mary, the mother of John surnamed Marcus, was, we know, living at Jerusalem. (See Note on Acts 12:12 ; Colossians 4:10 .) A tradition, as early as Clement of Alexandria ( Strom. ii. § 116), makes him one of the Seventy, and this agrees with the prophetic character which we have seen reason to think of as attaching to that body. (See. Note on Luke 10:1 .) The new name which the Apostles gave him, literally, if we look to its Hebrew etymology, The son of prophecy, or, taking St. Luke’s translation, The son of counsel, implies the possession of a special gift of persuasive utterance, in which the Apostles recognised the work of the Spirit.

The Paraclete had endowed him with the gift of paraclesis, in the sense in which that word included counsel, comfort, admonition, application of divine truth to the spiritual necessities of men. (See Excursus G. on St. John’s Gospel. ) In Acts 11:23 , we find him exhorting the Gentile converts at Antioch, the verb being that from which paraclesis is derived. He was, i.e., conspicuous for the gift of prophecy as that gift is described in 1Corinthians 14:3 . The several stages in his life come before us later. An Epistle bearing his name, and recognised as his by Clement of Alexandria and Origen, is still extant, but its authenticity is, to say the least, questionable. It consists mainly of allegorical interpretations of Old Testament narratives. Some critics have assigned the Epistle to the Hebrews to his authorship, as the expounder of St. Paul’s thoughts. It should be noted that a little further on his kinswoman Mary’s house is the chief meeting-place of the Church of Jerusalem ( Acts 12:12 ), and that her son John, surnamed Mark, is mentioned by St. Peter (“Marcus my son,” 1Peter 5:13 ) in words which make it almost certain that he was converted by that Apostle.