And calling in the apostles, after they had scourged them, they charged them that they should not speak at all in the name of Jesus. And they dismissed them.
επεισθησαν δε αυτω και προσκαλεσαμενοι τους αποστολους δειραντες παρηγγειλαν μη λαλειν επι τω ονοματι του ιησου και απελυσαν αυτους
7 Church Fathers comment on this verse
His speech seemed reasonable, so they agreed and decided not to kill the apostles, but only to have them scourged. See after what miracles they are subjected to scourging. Again they threaten the apostles, though they know they will have no success at all, yet they persist in their own course. They were ashamed before the opinion of their counselor and therefore abandoned the intention to put the apostles to death. After merely scourging them, they let them go.
"And they agreed with him." They agreed because he said this when the apostles were not present. How then did the Jews beat the apostles, if they agreed with him? They agreed with him in the sense that they abandoned their intention to kill them. They had wanted this and later gave up that desire. But they beat them to satisfy their anger.
Having received a new sign confirming God’s good pleasure, for the place where they prayed was shaken, they preached the gospel with still greater boldness.
This became the cause of the apostles’ second imprisonment, this time in the public prison, as disturbers of public peace. The chief actors were again the Sadducees. To mock their vain designs, an angel opened the prison doors for the apostles, though the Sadducees rejected the very existence of angels.
They were again in the temple and teaching. From there they were taken and brought before the Sanhedrin. They were questioned as men who had already violated the command of the authorities.
They were not asked how they had come out of prison. They were asked why they preached about Him Whose name was hateful to them. But the apostles, without hesitation, said that one must obey God rather than men. They preached the resurrection of Jesus and the witness of the Holy Spirit.
The Sadducees could bear this no longer. They wanted to kill the apostles. But the voice of the learned Pharisee Gamaliel, respected by all the people, served the work of God. They were only punished and released.
The judges obeyed Gamaliel, but not entirely. They probably thought that to release the apostles without punishment would be to show their own weakness.
It would mean almost the same thing if the Sanhedrin released the apostles only with a stern rebuke, a prohibition, and threats. This measure had already been used against the preachers of Christianity in chapter 4.
Increasing the severity of the measure, the Sanhedrin in the present case added blows to prohibitions and threats.
Thus, together with the spread of Christianity, Jewish resistance to it also grows. Jerusalem itself drives the salvation of Israel away from itself into its surrounding regions.
The apostles, however, departed from the Sanhedrin rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of the Lord Jesus. Despite the Sanhedrin’s increasing prohibitions, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus Christ every day in the temple and from house to house.
This counsel came from a person held in such high honor, and in itself was so reasonable, that the Sanhedrin involuntarily inclined to it. Yet in order to satisfy their fury at least somewhat, they handed the apostles over to scourging, giving each of them forty lashes less one, as the law required.
“They obeyed him.” Gamaliel’s speech, in outward form entirely impartial, made such an impression on the members of the Sanhedrin that they agreed with it, though not completely. They beat the apostles and again forbade them to preach about Christ, then released them.
Under the influence of Gamaliel’s speech they abandoned the plan to kill the preachers, mentioned in verse 33. Yet they were hostile toward them and their work. Unlike Gamaliel, they were not inclined to see God’s power in it, and so punished them for it.
“They beat them.” The Sanhedrin had the right to impose certain punishments on the guilty; see the note on Jn 18:31-32. It now used this right against the apostles, punishing them by scourging.
Probably the pretext was their disobedience to the Sanhedrin’s decree; see the note on verse 28.
“They could not resist the irrefutable justice of Gamaliel’s words. Nevertheless, they satisfied their rage. Besides, they again hoped in this way to frighten the apostles” (Chrysostom).
Gamaliel’s counsel was accepted, but not fully. The members of the Sanhedrin did not leave them in peace. They summoned them again, beat them, forbade them even to mention the name of Jesus, and only then released them.
All this shows that they very much desired to overthrow His representatives. Thus the voice urging them to see that this was God’s work, and that they were becoming fighters against God, was as if unheard by them.
Truly the prophet’s word was being fulfilled in them: “Hearing you will hear and shall not understand... for the heart of this people has grown dull” (Is 6:9-10).
Hardness of heart was the basic moral condition of the Jewish representatives of that time. It was exposed by Stephen, the first martyr from among them, and also by the Apostle Paul and others; see Acts 28:27.
“They could not resist the irrefutable justice of Gamaliel’s words. Nevertheless, they satisfied their rage. Besides, they again hoped in this way to frighten the apostles.”
The expression “they beat them” means that the apostles were subjected to scourging, probably under the pretext of disobedience to them. It is known that the Sanhedrin was not given the right to punish by death, but other forms of punishment were permitted; see Jn 18:31-32.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 15 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS