Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on Acts 4:13
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, etc.] With what courage and intrepidity they stood before them, the presence of mind they had, and the freedom of speech they used, as the word properly signifies: they observed their elocution, the justness of their diction, the propriety of their language, and the strength and nervousness of their reasoning; as well as their great resolution, constancy, and firmness of mind; not being afraid to profess the name of Christ, or to charge them with the murder of him; and that they seemed to be determined to abide by him, at all events; to assert him to be the true Messiah, though rejected by the Jewish builders; and that he was risen from the dead; and not only to ascribe unto him the miracle now wrought, but the salvation of men; and to declare, that there was none in any other but him: the Syriac version renders it, “when they heard the word of Simeon and John, which they spoke openly”: and freely, without any reserve: they answered readily to the question, that it was by the name of Jesus of Nazareth that they had done this miracle; they dealt freely with the Jewish sanhedrim, and told them in so many words, that they were the crucifiers of Christ, and the rejecters of that stone, which God had made the head of the corner, and that there was no salvation for them in any other: it appears from hence, that John spoke as well as Peter, though his words are not recorded: and perceived that they were unlearned ignorant men; not by what they now said, but by what they heard and understood of them before: they were informed that they were “unlearned” men, or who did not understand letters; not but that they had learned their mother tongue, and could read the Scriptures; but they had not had a liberal education; they had not been brought up at the feet of any of the doctors, in any of the schools and universities of the Jews; they were not trained up in, and conversant with, the nice distinctions, subtle argumentations, and decisions of the learned doctors, in the interpretation of the law of Moses, and the traditions of the elders: and understood that they were also “ignorant” men, idiwtai, “idiots”, or private men; for men might be unlearned, and yet not be such; it seems the high priests themselves were sometimes unlearned men: hence, on the day of atonement, “they used to read before him, in the order of the day, and say to him, Lord high priest, read thou with thine own mouth; perhaps thou hast forgot, or it may be, tdml al, “thou hast not learned” f170 .” The Jews have adopted the word here used into their language; and express by it, sometimes a man that is mean, abject, and contemptible: thus instead of “children of base men”, or “without a name”, the Targumist on (<183008>Job 30:8) reads, ˆyjwydh ynb, “the children of idiots”, or “private men”: and in the Targum on (<091823>1 Samuel 18:23 24:14) it is used for one lightly esteemed, and comparable to a flea: it sometimes designs persons in a private life, though men of learning and knowledge, in distinction from those that are in office; so we read f171, that “three kings, and four twjwydh, “private” persons, have no part in the world to come; the three kings are Jeroboam, Ahab, and Manasseh; the four “idiots”, or private men, are Balaam, Doeg, Ahithophel, and Gehazi.” And so a bench of idiots, or private men, is distinguished from a bench of authorized and approved judges f172; and sometimes the word is used of such, as are distingu…
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