Acts 10

Acts 10:1

And they made a calf - In imitation of Apis, the Egyptian god: and rejoiced in the works of their hands - In the god they had made.

Acts 10:2

God turned - From them in anger; and gave them up - Frequently from the time of the golden calf, to the time of Amos, and afterward. The host of heaven - The stars are called an army or host, because of their number, order, and powerful influence. In the book of the prophets - Of the twelve prophets, which the Jews always wrote together in one book. Have ye offered - The passage of Amos referred to, chap. v, 25, &c, Amos 5:25 consists of two parts; of which the former confirms ver. 41, Acts 7:41,42 of the sin of the people; the latter the beginning of ver. 42, concerning their punishment. Have ye offered to me - They had offered many sacrifices; but God did not accept them as offered to him, because they sacrificed to idols also; and did not sacrifice to him with an upright heart. Amos 5:25.

Acts 10:3

Ye took up - Probably not long after the golden calf: but secretly; else Moses would have mentioned it. The shrine - A small, portable chapel, in which was the image of their god. Moloch was the planet Mars, which they worshipped under a human shape. Remphan, that is, Saturn, they represented by a star. And I will carry you beyond Babylon - That is, beyond Damascus (which is the word in Amos) and Babylon. This was fulfilled by the king of Assyria, 2 Kings 17:6.

Acts 10:4

Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony - The testimony was properly the two tables of stone, on which the ten commandments were written. Hence the ark which contained them is frequently called the ark of the testimony; and the whole tabernacle in this place. The tabernacle of the testimony - according to the model which he had seen - When he was caught up in the visions of God on the mount.

Acts 10:5

Which our fathers having received - From their ancestors; brought into the possession of the Gentiles - Into the land which the Gentiles possessed before. So that God’s favour is not a necessary consequence of inhabiting this land. All along St. Stephen intimates two things: 1. That God always loved good men in every land: 2. That he never loved bad men even in this. Joshua 3:14.

Acts 10:6

Who petitioned to find a habitation for the God of Jacob - But he did not obtain his petition: for God remained without any temple till Solomon built him a house. Observe how wisely the word is chosen with respect to what follows.

Acts 10:8

Yet the Most High inhabiteth not temples made with hands - As Solomon declared at the very dedication of the temple, 1 Kings 8:27. The Most High - Whom as such no building can contain. Isaiah 66:1.

Acts 10:9

What is the place of my rest? - Have I need to rest?

Acts 10:11

Ye stiff necked - Not bowing the neck to God’s yoke; and uncircumcised in heart - So they showed themselves, ver. 54; Acts 7:54 and ears - As they showed, ver. 57. Acts 7:57 So far were they from receiving the word of God into their hearts, that they would not hear it even with their ears. Ye - And your fathers, always - As often as ever ye are called, resist the Holy Ghost - Testifying by the prophets of Jesus, and the whole truth. This is the sum of what he had shown at large.

Acts 10:13

Who have received the law by the administration of angels - God, when he gave the law on Mount Sinai, was attended with thousands of his angels, Galatians 3:19; Psalms 68:17.

Acts 10:15

But he looking steadfastly up to heaven, saw the glory of God - Doubtless he saw such a glorious representation, God miraculously operating on his imagination, as on Ezekiel’s, when he sat in his house at Babylon, and saw Jerusalem, and seemed to himself transported thither, Ezekiel 8:1 - 4. And probably other martyrs, when called to suffer the last extremity, have had extraordinary assistance of some similar kind.

Acts 10:16

I see the Son of man standing - As if it were just ready to receive him. Otherwise he is said to sit at the right hand of God.

Acts 10:17

They rushed upon him - Before any sentence passed.

Acts 10:18

The witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul - O Saul, couldst thou have believed, if one had told thee, that thou thyself shouldst be stoned in the same cause? and shouldst triumph in committing thy soul likewise to that Jesus whom thou art now blaspheming? His dying prayer reached thee, as well as many others. And the martyr Stephen, and Saul the persecutor, (afterward his brother both in faith and martyrdom,) are now joined in everlasting friendship, and dwell together in the happy company of those who have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.

Acts 10:19

And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit - This is the literal translation of the words, the name of God not being in the original. Nevertheless such a solemn prayer to Christ, in which a departing soul is thus committed into his hands, is such an act of worship, as no good man could have paid to a mere creature; Stephen here worshipping Christ in the very same manner in which Christ worshipped the Father on the cross.

Acts 10:22

At that time there was great persecution against the Church - Their adversaries having tasted blood, were the more eager. And they were all dispersed - Not all the Church: if so, who would have remained for the apostles to teach, or Saul to persecute? But all the teachers except the apostles, who, though in the most danger, stayed with the flock.

Acts 10:23

Devout men - Who feared God more than persecution. And yet were they not of little faith? Else they would not have made so great lamentation.

Acts 10:24

Saul made havoc of the Church - Like some furious beast of prey. So the Greek word properly signifies. Men and women - Regarding neither age nor sex.

Acts 10:25

Therefore they that were dispersed went every where - These very words are reassumed, after as it were a long parenthesis, chap. xi, 19, Acts 11:19 and the thread of the story continued.

Acts 10:26

Stephen - Being taken away, Philip, his next colleague, (not the apostle,) rises in his place.

Acts 10:30

A certain man - using magic - So there was such a thing as witchcraft once! In Asia at least, if not in Europe or America.

Acts 10:33

But when they believed - What Philip preached, then they saw and felt the real power of God, and submitted thereto.

Acts 10:34

And Simon believed - That is, was convinced of the truth.

Acts 10:35

And the apostles hearing that Samaria - The inhabitants of that country, had received the word of God - By faith, sent Peter and John - He that sends must be either superior, or at least equal, to him that is sent. It follows that the college of the apostles was equal if not superior to Peter.

Acts 10:36

The Holy Ghost - In his miraculous gifts? Or his sanctifying graces? Probably in both.

Acts 10:39

Simon offered them money - And hence the procuring any ministerial function, or ecclesiastical benefice by money, is termed Simony.

Acts 10:42

Thou hast neither part - By purchase, nor lot - Given gratis, in this matter - This gift of God. For thy heart is not right before God - Probably St. Peter discerned this long before he had declared it; although it does not appear that God gave to any of the apostles a universal power of discerning the hearts of all they conversed with; any more than a universal power of healing all the sick they came near. This we are sure St. Paul had not; though he was not inferior to the chief of the apostles. Otherwise he would not have suffered the illness of Epaphroditus to have brought him so near to death, Philippians 2:25 - 27; nor have left so useful a fellow labourer as Trophimus sick at Miletus, 2 Timothy 4:20.

Acts 10:43

Repent - if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee - Without all doubt if he had repented, he would have been forgiven. The doubt was, whether he would repent. Thou art in the gall of bitterness - In the highest degree of wickedness, which is bitterness, that is, misery to the soul; and in the bond of iniquity - Fast bound therewith.

Acts 10:47

The way which is desert - There were two ways from Jerusalem to Gaza, one desert, the other through a more populous country.

Acts 10:48

An eunuch - Chief officers were anciently called eunuchs, though not always literally such; because such used to be chief ministers in the eastern courts. Candace, queen of the Ethiopians - So all the queens of Ethiopia were called.