Barnes' Notes on Acts 4:11

A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.

Notes on the Whole Bible
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.

This is the stone - This passage is found in Psalms 118:22. It is quoted, also, by our Saviour as applicable to himself. See the notes on Matthew 21:42. The ancient Jews applied this to David. In the Targum on Psalms 118:22, this passage is rendered, “The child who was among the sons of Jesse, and was worthy to be constituted king, the builders rejected.” The New Testament writers, however, apply it without any doubt to the Messiah. Compare Isaiah 28:16; Romans 9:33; Ephesians 2:20. And from this passage we may learn that God will overrule the devices and plans of wicked men to accomplish his own purposes. What people despise and set at naught, he esteems of inestimable value in his kingdom. What the great and the mighty contemn, he regards as the very foundation and cornerstone of the edifice which he designs to rear. Nothing has been more remarkable than this in the history of man; and in nothing is more contempt thrown on the proud projects of people, than that what they have rejected God has made the very basis of his schemes. return to 'Top of Page'

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