Ananias

VIEW:51 DATA:01-04-2020

the cloud of the Lord
(same as Ananiah)
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary


ANANIAS.—This name occurs several times in the Apocrypha: in 1Es_9:21; 1Es_9:29; 1Es_9:43; 1Es_9:48 (representing ‘Hanani’ and ‘Hananiah’ of Ezr_10:20; Ezr_10:28, ‘Anaiah’ and ‘Hanan’ of Neh_8:4; Neh_8:7) and in Tob_5:12 f., Jdt_8:1. It is the name of three persons in NT. 1. The husband of Sapphira, who in the voluntary communism of the early Church sold ‘a possession’ and kept part of the price for himself, pretending that he had given the whole (Act_5:1 ff.). The sudden death of husband and wife, predicted by St. Peter, was the signal proof of God’s anger on this Judas-like hypocrisy. 2. A ‘devout man according to the law’ at Damascus, a disciple who instructed and baptized Saul of Tarsus after his conversion, restoring to him his sight by imposition of hands; he had been warned by the Lord in a vision (Act_9:10 ff; Act_22:12 ff.). 3. The high priest at the time when St. Paul was arrested at Jerusalem (Act_23:2 ff.), a Sadducee, son of Nedebæus, and a rapacious oppressor. He had been in trouble at Rome, but was acquitted, and was now at the height of his power. He pressed the prosecution against St. Paul at Cæsarea (Act_24:1 ff.). In the Jewish war he was murdered by his countrymen in Jerusalem, out of revenge for his pro-Roman tendencies.
A. J. Maclean.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

1. High priest (Act_23:2, etc.; Act_24:1). Son of Zebedaeus, succeeded Joseph, son of Camydus, and was followed by Ismael, son of Phabi Herod, king of Chalcis A.D. 48, appointed him. The prefect Ummidius Quadratus in A.D. 52 sent him to be tried before the emperor Claudius on the charge of oppressing the Samaritans. Cumanus the procurator, his adversary, was not successful but was banished; so that Ananias seems not to have lost office then, but lost it before Felix left the province; and was at last assassinated by the Sicarii (zealot assassins and robbers) early in the last Jewish war. Violent tempered to such a degree that he caused Paul to be smitten on the mouth for saying, "I have lived in all good conscience before God"; himself on the contrary "a whited wall." Compare Mat_23:27.
2. A disciple at Jerusalem, Sapphira's husband (Acts 5). Having sold his property for the good of the church professedly, he kept back part of the price, and handed the rest to the apostles. Peter stigmatized the act as "lying to the Holy Spirit," who was in the apostles, and whom notwithstanding he thought he could elude. Ananias instantly fell down and expired. That this was no mere natural effect of excitement appears from the sentence expressly pronounced by Peter on Sapphira, and immediately executed by God, whose instrument of justice Peter was. The judgment had the salutary effect designed, of guarding the church in its infancy from the adhesion of hypocrites; for "great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as heard it; and of the rest durst no man join himself to them, but the people magnified them."
Ananias was sincere up to a certain point, for he had cast in his lot with the despised "Nazarenes," but he wished to gain a high name in the church by seeming to have given his all, while he really gave but a part. He was not obliged to throw his property into a common Christian fund (as Peter's words show, "after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?") It was a compromise between love of Christian applause and worldliness; "Satan filled his heart" as "Satan entered into Judas" (Luk_22:3).
At the beginning of the course of the New Testament church an awful example was given to guard her in guileless sincerity from the world's corruption's; just as at the beginning of the course of the Old Testament church, Israel, a similar example was given in Achan's case, to warn her that she was to be a holy people, separate from and witnessing against the world's pollution's by lust (Joshua 7). The common fund which the first disciples voluntarily brought was a kind of firstfruits to the Lord in entering on possession of the spiritual Canaan, as Jericho's spoil was a firstfruit to Jehovah of the earthly Canaan. The need there was for such a prescient warning appears from the last protest of the same apostle Peter in his 2nd Epistle, against the growing covetousness and lust within the church.
3. A Jew Christian at Damascus, "a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there" (Act_9:10, etc., Act_22:12, etc.). By the Lord's direction in a vision, he sought out Saul in his blindness and foodlessness for three days after Jesus' appearing to him; putting hands on Saul, Ananias was the Lord's instrument of restoring his sight, and conveying to him the Holy Spirit, that he might be "a chosen vessel to bear Jesus' name before the Gentiles, and kings and Israel, as a witness unto all men of what he had seen and heard, suffering as well as doing great things for His name's sake. Ananias told him, "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." How striking that Ananias, whom Saul would have seized for prison and death, should be the instrument of giving him light and life. Tradition makes Ananias subsequently bishop of Damascus and a martyr.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Anani'as. (whom Jehovah has graciously given).
1. A high priest in Act_23:2-5; Act_24:1. He was the son of Nebedaeus. He was nominated to the office by Herod, king of Chalcis, in A.D. 48; was deposed shortly before Felix left the province and assassinated by the Sicarii at the beginning of the last Jewish war.
2. A disciple at Jerusalem, husband of Sapphira, Act_5:1-11, having sold his goods for the benefit of the church, he kept back a part of the price, bringing to the apostles, the remainder as if it was the whole, his wife being privy to the scheme. St. Peter denounced the fraud, and Ananias fell down and expired.
3. A Jewish disciple at Damascus, Act_9:10-17, of high repute, Act_22:12, who sought out Saul during the period of blindness which followed his conversion, and announced to him, his future commission as a preacher of the gospel. Tradition makes him to have been afterwarded bishop of Damascus, and to have died by martyrdom.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

was the son of Nebedaeus, high priest of the Jews. According to Josephus, he succeeded Joseph, the son of Camith, in the forty-seventh year of the Christian aera; and was himself succeeded by Ishmael, the son of Tabaeus, in the year 63. Quadratus, governor of Syria, coming into Judaea, on the rumours which prevailed among the Samaritans and Jews, sent the high priest Ananias to Rome, to vindicate his conduct to the emperor. The high priest justified himself, was acquitted, and returned. St. Paul being apprehended at Jerusalem by the tribune of the Roman troops that guarded the temple, declared to him that he was a citizen of Rome. This obliged the officer to treat him with some regard. As he was ignorant of what the Jews accused him, the next day he convened the priests, and placed St. Paul in the midst of them, that he might justify himself. St. Paul began as follows: “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” He had scarcely spoken this, when the high priest, Ananias, commanded those who were near him to smite him on the face. The Apostle immediately replied, “God shall judge thee, thou whited wall; for, sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?” They that stood by said, “Revilest thou God's high priest?” And Paul answered, “I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.” Act_22:23-24; Act_23:1-5; by which words many suppose that the Apostle spake in bitter irony; or at least that he considered Ananias as a usurper of the office of the priesthood.
After this, the assembly being divided in opinion, St. Paul was sent by the tribune to Caesarea, that Felix, governor of the province, might take cognizance of the affair. When it was known that the Apostle had arrived at Caesarea, Ananias the high priest, and other Jews, went thither to accuse him; but the affair was adjourned, and St. Paul continued two years in prison in that city, Acts 24.
The Apostle's prediction that God would smite Ananias, was thus accomplished: Albinus, governor of Judaea, being come into that country, Ananias found means to gain him by presents; and Ananias, by reason of this patronage, was considered as the first man of his nation. However, there were in his party some violent persons, who plundered the country, and seized the tithes of the priests; and this they did with impunity, on account of the great credit of Ananias. At the same time, several companies of assassins infested Judaea, and committed great ravages. When any of their companions fell into the hands of the governors of the province, and were about to be executed, they failed not to seize some domestic or relation of the high priest Ananias, that he might procure the liberty of their associates, in exchange for those whom they detained. Having taken Eleazer, one of Ananias's sons, they did not release him till ten of their companions were liberated. By this means their number considerably increased, and the country was exposed to their ravages. At length, Eleazer, the son of Ananias, heading a party of mutineers, seized the temple, and forbade any sacrifices for the emperor. Being joined by the assassins, he pulled down the house of his father Ananias, with his brother, hid him self in the aqueducts belonging to the royal palace, but was soon discovered, and both of them were killed. Thus God smote this whited wall, in the very beginning of the Jewish wars.
2. ANANIAS, one of the first Christians of Jerusalem, who being converted, with his wife Sapphira, sold his estate; (as did the other Christians at Jerusalem, under a temporary regulation that they were to have all things in common;) but privately reserved a part of the purchase money to himself. Having brought the remainder to St. Peter, as the whole price of the inheritance sold, the Apostle, to whom the Holy Ghost had revealed this falsehood, rebuked him severely, as having lied not unto men but unto God, Acts 5. At that instant, Ananias, being struck dead, fell down at the Apostle's feet; and in the course of three hours after, his wife suffered a similar punishment. This happened, A.D. 33, or 34. It is evident, that in this and similar events, the spectators and civil magistrates must have been convinced that some extraordinary power was exerted; for if Peter had himself slain Ananias, he would have been amenable to the laws as a murderer. But, if by forewarning him that he should immediately die, and the prediction came to pass, it is evident that the power which attended this word of Peter was not from Peter, but from God. This was made the more certain by the death of two persons, in the same manner, and under the same circumstances, which could not be attributed to accident.
3. ANANIAS, a disciple of Christ, at Damascus, whom the Lord directed to visit Paul, then lately converted. Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem; and how he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call upon thy name.” But the Lord said unto him, “Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me.” Ananias, therefore, went to the house in which God had revealed unto him that Paul was, and putting his hands on him, said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared unto thee in the way, hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost,” Act_9:10-12, &c. We are not informed of any other circumstance of the life of Ananias.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

Ananias,1
Anani?as (same name as Hananiah, whom Jehovah hath graciously given), son of Nebedaeus, was made high-priest in the time of the procurator Tiberius Alexander, about A.D. 47, by Herod, king of Chalcis, who for this purpose removed Joseph, son of Camydus, from the high-priesthood. He held the office with credit, until Agrippa gave it to Ismael, the son of Tabi, who succeeded a short time before the departure of the procurator Felix, and occupied the station also under his successor Festus. Ananias, after retiring from his high-priesthood, 'increased in glory every day,' and obtained favor with the citizens, and with Albinus, the Roman procurator, by a lavish use of the great wealth he had hoarded. His prosperity met with a dark and painful termination. The assassins, who played so fearful a part in the Jewish war, set fire to his house in the commencement of it, and compelled him to seek refuge by concealment; but being discovered in an aqueduct, he was captured and slain.
It was this Ananias before whom Paul was brought, in the procuratorship of Felix (Acts 23). After this hearing Paul was sent to Caesarea, whither Ananias repaired, in order to lay a formal charge against him before Felix, who postponed the matter, detaining the apostle meanwhile, and placing him under the supervision of a Roman centurion (Acts 24).
Ananias, 2
Ananias, a Christian belonging to the infant church at Jerusalem, who, conspiring with his wife Sapphira to deceive and defraud the brethren, was overtaken by sudden death, and immediately buried. The Christian community at Jerusalem appear to have entered into a solemn agreement, that each and all should devote their property to the great work of furthering the Gospel and giving succor to the needy. Accordingly they proceeded to sell their possessions and brought the proceeds into the common stock of the church. Thus Barnabas (Act_4:36-37) 'having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.' The apostles then had the general disposal, if they had not also the immediate distribution, of the common funds. The contributions, therefore, were designed for the sacred purposes of religion (Act_5:1-11).
As all the members of the Jerusalem church had thus agreed to hold their property in common, for the furtherance of the holy work in which, they were engaged, if any one of them withheld a part, and offered the remainder as a whole, he committed two offences?he defrauded the church, and was guilty of falsehood: and as his act related not to secular but to religious affairs, and had an injurious bearing, both as an example, and as a positive transgression against the Gospel while it was yet struggling into existence, Ananias lied not unto man, but unto God, and was guilty of a sin of the deepest dye. Had Ananias chosen to keep his property for his own worldly purposes, he was at liberty, as Peter intimates, so to do; but he had in fact alienated it to pious purposes, and it was therefore no longer his own. Yet he wished to deal with it in part as if it were so, showing at the same time that he was conscious of his misdeed, by presenting the residue to the common treasury as if it had been his entire property. He wished to satisfy his selfish cravings, and at the same time to enjoy the reputation of being purely disinterested, like the rest of the church. He attempted to serve God and Mammon.
With strange inconsistency on the part of those who deny miracles altogether, unbelievers have accused Peter of cruelly smiting Ananias and his wife with instant death. The sacred narrative, however, ascribes to Peter nothing more than a spirited exposure of their aggravated offence. Their death, the reader is left to infer was by the hand of God; nor is any ground afforded in; the narrative (Act_5:1-11) for holding that Peter was in any way employed as an immediate instrument of the miracle.
Ananias, 3
Ananias, a Christian of Damascus (Act_9:10; Act_22:12), held in high repute, to whom the Lord appeared in a vision, and bade him proceed to 'the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth.' Ananias had difficulty in giving credence to the message, remembering how much evil Paul had done to the saints at Jerusalem, and knowing that he had come to Damascus with authority to lay waste the church of Christ there. Receiving, however, an assurance that the persecutor had been converted, and called to the work of preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, Ananias went to Paul, and, putting his hands on him, bade him receive his sight, when immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales; and, recovering the sight which he had lost when the Lord appeared to him on his way to Damascus, Paul, the new convert, arose, and was baptized, and preached Jesus Christ.
Tradition represents Ananias as the first that published the Gospel in Damascus, over which place he was subsequently made bishop; but having roused, by his zeal, the hatred of the Jews, he was seized by them, scourged, and finally stoned to death in his own church.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Act_5:1 (a) This name means "graciously given of the Lord." The man in this passage proved to be one who lied to GOD. He had received many blessings from GOD and much prosperity, but he was not honest in his heart. He saw that Barnabas was highly esteemed because of his unselfish gift to the disciples. He wanted this same praise without paying the same price. The world speaks of the "Ananias Club." This Ananias represents those people who are known as proverbial liars, and whose word is always questioned.

Act_9:10 (a) This man is a different Ananias. He was a good man who was ready to do GOD's will, He is a type of that servant of GOD who is ready to do that which he dreads naturally, and is willing to go on a moment's notice on any errand that GOD may request. This is a good "Ananias Club" to join.

Act_24:1 (a) This Ananias is still a third man, not the same one as the other two. He was a high priest of Israel, and is a type of one who gains great ascendancy in a religious organization, but is an enemy of grace, is opposed to JESUS as Lord, and seeks to turn men's hearts away from the Truth into a false religion.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.

Ananias
(Α᾿νανίας, the Greek form of the name Annaiah, q.v.), the name of several men, principally in the Apocrypha and Josephus. SEE HANANIAH, etc.
1. (Α᾿ννίς v. r. Α᾿ννίας.) One of the persons (or places) whose “sons,” to the number of 101, are said to have returned with Zerubbabel from the captivity (1Es_5:16); but the genuine text (Ezr_2:15-16) has no such name. 2. One of the priests, “sons” of Emmer (i.e. Immer), who renounced his Gentile wife after the riturn from Babylon (1Es_9:21); evidently the HANANI SEE HANANI (q.v.) of the genuine text (Ezr_10:20).
3. An Israelite of the “sons” of Bebai, who did the same (1Es_9:29); evidently the HANANIAH SEE HANANIAH (q.v.) of the true text (Ezr_10:28).
4. One of the priests who stood at the right hand of Ezra while reading the law (1Es_9:43); the ANAIAH SEE ANAIAH (q.v.) of the genuine text (Neh_8:4).
5. One of the Levites who aided Ezra in expounding the law (1Es_9:48); the HANAN SEE HANAN (q.v.) of the true text (Neh_8:7).
6. A person called “Ananias the Great,” the son of “that great Samaias,” the brother of Jonathas, and father of Azarias, of the family of Tobit; who the angel that addressed Tobit assumed to be (Tob_5:12-13). The names are apparently allegorical (see Fritzsche, Handb. in loc.).
7. The son of Gideon and father of Elcia, in the ancestry of Judith (Jdt_8:1).
8. The Greek form (Song of Three Children, ver. 66) of the original name, HANANIAH SEE HANANIAH (q.v.), of Shadrach, — (Dan_1:7). See also in 1Ma_2:59.
9. One of the Jewish ambassadors in Samaria, to whom the decree of Darius in favor of the Jews was addressed (Josephus, Ant. 11, 4, 9).
10. A son of Onins (who built the Jewish temple at Heliopolis), high in favor with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra (Josephus,' Ant. 13, 10, 4), who made a league with Alexander Jannaeus at his instance as general of her army in Palestine (ib. 13, 2).
11. A Christian belonging to the infant church at Jerusalem, who, conspiring with his wife Sapphira to deceive and defraud the brethren, was overtaken by sudden death, and immediately buried (Acts 5, 1 sq.), A.D. 23.
The Christian community at Jerusalem appear to have entered into a solemn agreement that each and all should devote their property to the great work of furthering the Gospel and giving succor to the needy. Accordingly they proceeded to sell their possessions, and brought the proceeds into the common stock of the church. Thus Barnabas (Act_4:36-37) “having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.” The apostles, then, had the general disposal, if they had not also the immediate distribution, of the common funds. The contributions, therefore, were designed for the sacred purposes of religion. — As all the members of the Jerusalem Church had thus agreed to hold their property in common for the furtherance of the holy work in which they were engaged, if any one of them withheld a part, and offered the remainder as the whole, he committed two offenses — he defrauded the church, and was guilty of falsehood; and as his act related, not to secular, but to religious affairs, and had an injurious bearing, both as an example and as a positive transgression against the Gospel while it was yet struggling into existence, Ananias lied, not unto man, but unto God, and was guilty of a sin of the deepest dye. Had Ananias chosen to keep his property for his own worldly purposes, he was at liberty, as Peter intimates, so to do; but he had, in fact, alienated it to pious purposes, and it was therefore no longer his own. Yet he wished to deal with it in part as if it were so, showing, at the same time, that he was conscious of his misdeed, by presenting the residue to the common treasury as if it had been his entire property. He wished to satisfy his selfish cravings, and at the same time to enjoy the reputation of being purely disinterested, like the rest of the church.
That the death of these evil-doers was miraculous seems to be implied in the record of the transaction, and has been the general opinion of the church. That this incident was no mere physical consequence of Peter's severity of tone, as some of the German writers have maintained (Ammon, Krit. Journ. d. theol. Lit. 1, 249), distinctly appears by the direct sentence of a similar death pronounced: by the same. apostle upon| his wife Sapphira a few hours after. SEE SAPPHIRA. It is, of course, possible that Ananias's death may have been an act of divine justice unlooked for by the apostle, as there is no mention of such an intended result in his speech; but in the case of the wife, such an idea is out of the question. Niemeyer (Characteristik der Bibel, 1, 574) has well stated the case as regards the blame which some have endeavored to cast on Peter in this matter (Wolfenb. Frnagm. p. 256) when he says that not man, but God, is thus animadverted on: the apostle is but the organ and announcer of the divine justice, which was pleased by this act of deserved severity to protect the morality of the infant church, and strengthen its power for good. The early Christian writers were divided as to the condition of Ananias and Sapphira in the other world. Origen, in his treatise on Matthew, maintains that, being purified by the punishment they underwent, they were saved by their faith in Jesus. Others, among whom are Augustine and Basil, argue that the severity of their punishment on earth showed how great their criminality had been, and left no hope for them hereafter.
See, generally, Bibl. — hermen. Unters. p. 375 sq.'; Hohmann, in Augusti's Theol. Blatt. 2, 129 sq.; Neander, Planting, 1, 31 sq.; Vita Ep'phan. in his Op. 2, 351; Wetstein, 2, 483; comp. Schmidt's Allgem. Biblioth. d. theol. Lit. 1, 212 sq.; also Medley, Sernons, p. 363; Bulkley, Disc. 4, 277; Mede, Works, 1, 150; Simeoni, Works, 14, 310; Durand, Sermons, p. 223. Special treatises are those of Walch, De Sepultura Anan. et Sapphir. (Jen. 1755); Meerheim, Ananix et Sapph. saerilegium (Wittenb. 1791); Ernesti, Hist. Ananice (Lips. 1679-1680); Franck, De crinine Ananice et Sapph. (Argent. 1751).
12. A Christian of Damascus (Act_9:10; Act_22:12), held in high repute, to whom the Lord appeared in a vision, and bade him proceed to “the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus; for, behold, he prayeth.” Ananias had difficulty in giving credence to the message, remembering how much evil Paul had done to the saints at Jerusalem, and knowing that he had come to Damascus with authority to lay waste the Church of Christ there. Receiving, however, an assurance that the persecutor had been converted, and called to the work of preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, Ananias went to Paul, and, putting his hands on him, bade him, receive his sight, when immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales; and, recovering the sight which he had lost when the Lord appeared to him on his way to Damascus, Paul, the new convert, arose, and was baptized, and preached Jesus Christ (see Walch, Dissert. in Act. Apost. 2, 78 sq.), A.D. 30.
Tradition (Menolog. Graecor. 1, 79 sq.) represents Ananias as the first that published the Gospel in Damascus, over which place he was subsequently made bishop; but having roused, by his zeal, the hatred of the Jews, he was seized by them, scourged, and finally stoned to death in his own church.
13. A son of Nebedaeus (Josephus, Ant. 20, 5, 2), was made high-priest in the time of the procurator Tiberius Alexander, about A.D. 48, by Herod, king of Chalcis, who for this purpose removed Joseph, son of Camydus, from the high-priesthood (Josephus, Ant. 20, 1, 3). He held the office also under the procurator Cumanus, who succeeded Tiberius Alexander, A.D. 52. Being implicated in the quarrels of the Jews and Samaritans, Ananias was, at the instance of the latter (who, being dissatisfied with the conduct of Cumanus, appealed to Ummidius Quadratus, president of Syria), sent in bonds to Rome, together with his associate Jonathan and a certain Ananus (Josephus, War, 2, 12, 6), to answer for his conduct before Claudius Caesar (Josephus, Ant. 20, 6, 2). The emperor decided in favor of the accused party. Ananias appearsto have returned with credit, and to have remained in his priesthood until Agrippa gave his office to Ismael, the son of Phabi (Josephus, Ant. 20, 8, 8), who succeeded (Wieseler, Chronol. Synopsis, p. 187 sq.) a short time before the departure of the' procurator Felix (Joe oephus, Ant. 20, 8, 5), and occupied the. station also under his successor Festus (Josephus, Ant. 20, 6, 3). Ananias, after retiring from his high-priesthood, “increased in glory every day” (Josephus, Ant. 20, 9, 2), and obtained favor with the citizens, and with Albinus, the Roman procurator, by a lavish use of the great wealth he had hoarded. His prosperity met with a dark and painful termination. The assassins (sicarii) who played so fearful a part in the Jewish war, set fire to his house in the commencement of it, and compelled him to seek refuge by concealment; but, being discovered in an aqueduct, he was captured and slain, together with his brother Hezekiah (Josephus, War, 2, 17; 9), A.D. 67.
It was this Ananias before whom Paul was brought, in the procuratorship of Felix (Acts 23), A.D. 55. The noble declaration of the apostle, “I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day,” so displeased him that he commanded the attendant to smite him on the face. Indignant at so unprovoked an insult, the apostle replied, “God shall smite thee, thou whited wall” — a threat which the previous details serve to prove wants not evidence of having taken effect. Paul, however, immediately restrained his anger, and allowed that he owed respect to the office which Ananias bore. After this hearing Paul was sent to Caesarea, whither Ananias repaired in order to lay a formal charge against him before Felix, who postponed the matter, detaining the apostle meanwhile, and placing him under the supervision of a Roman centurion (Acts 24). Paul's statement, “I wist not (οὐκ ἤδειν), brethren, that he was the highpriest” (Act_23:5), has occasioned considerable difficulty (see Cramer, De Paulo in Synedrio verbafaciente, Jen. 1735; Brunsmann, An Paulus vere ignorarit Ananiam esse summum sacerdotem, in his Hendecad. Diss. Hafn. 1691, p. 44 sq.), since he could scarcely have been ignorant of so public a fact, and one indicated by the very circumstances of the occasion; but it seems simply to signify that the apostle had at the moment overlooked the official honor due to his partisan judge (see Kuinol, Comment. in loc.). SEE PAUL.
14. An eminent priest, son of Masambalus,, slain by Simon during the final siege of Jerusalem (Josephus, War, 5,13, 1).



CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

FACEBOOK

Participe de nossa rede facebook.com/osreformadoresdasaude

Novidades, e respostas das perguntas de nossos colaboradores