Acts 5:21

Early in the morning (ὑπὸ τὸν ὄρθρον) Ὑπό, beneath, is often used in the sense of just about, or near. Ὄρθρον, is from ὄρνυμι, to cause to arise: the dawn. See on Luke 24:1. Render as Rev., about daybreak. Taught (ἐδίδασκον) Imperfect: began teaching. The council (συνέδριον) The Sanhedrim. The senate (γερουσίαν) From γέρων, an old man, like the Latin senatus, from senex, old. Taking on very early an official sense, the notion of age being merged in that of dignity. Thus in Homer γέροντες are the chiefs who form the king's council. Compare the Latin patres, fathers, the title used in addressing the Roman senate. The word in this passage is the name of the Spartan assembly, Gerousia, the assembly of elders, consisting of thirty members, with the two kings. "The well-known term," as Meyer remarks, "is fittingly transferred from the college of the Greek gerontes to that of the Jewish presbyters." They summoned, not only those elders of the people who were likewise members of the Sanhedrim, but the whole council (all the senate) of the representatives of the people. Prison (δεσμωτήριον) Still another word for prison. Compare Acts 5:18, Acts 5:19. Rev., prison-house. The different words emphasize different aspects of confinement. Τήρησις is keeping, as the result of guarding. See on Acts 5:18. Φυλακή emphasizes the being put under guard, and δεσμωτήριον the being put in bonds.

When they heard that; having received a command from God, they resolved to obey him rather than man. Early in the morning; taking the first opportunity, though they could not but be sensible of the danger they ran into. The council; the sanhedrim, or great council. The senate; the judges of their inferior courts, or the chief amongst the priests or senators; either living in the city, or coming thither upon that festival occasion.

{6} And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. (6) God mocks his enemies attempts from above.

Verse 21. - This for t hat , A.V.; about day. break for early in the morning , A.V.; prison-house for prison , A.V. About daybreak. In the hot climate of Jerusalem people are about very early in the meriting (comp. Matthew 26:57, 75 ). But the high priest, etc. The narrative would run more clearly if the passage were translated more literally, Now when the high priest and they that were with him were come (to the council-chamber the next day) they called together , etc. The narrative is taken up from vers. 17, 18. Having (ver. 18) put the apostles in prison, they met the next morning to decide how to punish them. The council ( τὸ συνέδριον ); i.e. in the Hebraeo-Greek, the Sanhedrim , the great council of the nation, consisting of seventy-two members, usually presided over by the high priest. It is frequently mentioned in the New Testament ( Matthew 5:22 ; Matthew 26:59 ; Mark 14:55 , etc.; and Acts 22:30 ; Acts 23:1 , etc.; above Acts 4:15 ). On the present occasion, besides the members of the Sanhedrim, there were gathered together all the senate ( γερουσία ) of the children of Israel , an expression which occurs only here, but which seems to comprise all the elders of the Jews, even though they were not members of the Sanhedrim. But some (Schleusner, Heinrich, etc.) understand it as merely another phrase for the Sanhedrim, added for explanation and amplification. The council, of course, were ignorant of the escape of the prisoners.

21 . early in the morning ] The words indicate a time as soon as possible after day dawn. They lost no time in obeying the command. How early it was possible for them to come to the Temple we find from the directions in the Talmud concerning the morning sacrifice. It is said (Mishna Joma iii. 1), “The Memunneh (see note on Acts 4:1 ) said to them: Go ye out (on to the Temple wall or roof) and see whether the time for killing the sacrifice has arrived. If it had arrived, the out-looker said, ‘It has flashed forth’ (i.e. day has dawned). Matthia ben Shemuel said [that the form of question was] ‘Has the whole face of the east become lit up as far as to Hebron? And the man answered, Yes.’ So that the first sacrifice took place at the very peep of day.” A like explanation is found Mishna Tamid iii. 2. But the high priest came ] i.e. into the council chamber, to consult on what should be done with the prisoners, of whose release they had as yet heard nothing. called the council together ] This was evidently deemed a case of the utmost consequence, and all pains are bestowed to gather to the hearing the combined wisdom of the whole authorities, for now, as is seen from Gamaliel’s presence, not Sadducees alone were called.

The word here rendered council means probably the smaller Sanhedrin. and all the senate of the children of Israel ] Senate is here used in its original sense = the older men, and is a literal rendering of the Greek gerousia , meaning the great Sanhedrin of 71 elders. The name indicates that these were assessors added to the council by reason of their age and weight of character. We find from the Jewish literature that such assessors were often appointed. In the extract Mishna Joma i. 1, quoted on Acts 4:6 , the word for “assessors” is parhedrin , i.e. the Greek πάρεδροι , and the adoption of such a word into the Jewish vocabulary shews that the office was not Jewish in origin but had become so firmly grafted among them as to justify the adoption of a foreign expression to describe it.

Acts 5:21-23 . Ὑπὸ τὸν ὄρθρον ] about the dawn of day . On ὄρθρος , see Lobeck, ad Phryn. 275 f.; and on ὑπό , used of nearness in time, see Bernhardy, p. 267. Often so in Thuc.; see Krüger on i. 100. 3. Comp. 3Ma 5:2; Tob 7:11 . The ἀκούσαντες is simply a continuation of the narrative: after they heard that , etc., as in Acts 2:37 , Acts 11:18 , and frequently. παραγενόμενος ] namely, into the chamber where the Sanhedrim sat , as is evident from what follows. They resorted thither, unacquainted with the liberation of the apostles which had occurred in the past night, and caused the Sanhedrim and the whole eldership to be convoked, in order to try the prisoners. καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γερουσίαν ] The importance which they assigned to the matter (comp. on Acts 4:6 ) induced them to summon not only those elders of the people who were likewise members of the Sanhedrim, but the whole body of elders generally, the whole council of representatives of the people. The well-known term γερουσία is fittingly[170] transferred from the college of the Greek gerontes (Dem. 489. 19; Polyb. xxxviii. 5. 1; Herm. Staatsalterth. § 24. 186) to that of the Jewish presbyters. Heinrichs (following Vitringa, Archisynag . p. 356) considers πᾶσ . τ . γερουσ . as equivalent to ΤῸ ΣΥΝΈΔΡΙΟΝ , to which it is added as honorificentissima compellatio .

Warranted by usage ( 1Ma 12:6 ; 2Ma 1:10 ; 2Ma 4:44 ; Jdt 4:8 ; Jdt 11:14 ; Jdt 15:8 ; Loesner, p. 178); but after the quite definite and well-known τὸ συνέδριον , the addition would have no force. Acts 5:23 contains quite the artless expression of the official report. [170] Although nowhere else in the N. T.; hence here, perhaps, to be derived from the source used by Luke.

(21) Early in the morning. —Probably at day-break, when the worshippers would be going up to the Temple for their early devotions, or, though less probable, at the third hour, the time of the morning sacrifice. They that were with him.—Probably those named in Acts 4:6, who seem to have acted as a kind of cabinet or committee. All the senate. . . .—Literally the word means, like senate, the assembly of old men, or elders. They are here distinguished from the Sanhedrin, which itself included elders, in the official sense of the word, and were probably a body of assessors—how chosen we do not know—specially qualified by age and experience, called in on special occasions. They may have been identical with the “whole estate of the elders” of Acts 22:5.